Reflecting on 2017

I’ve been procrastinating writing this post. Guys, reflecting is HARD! And awkward. And uncomfortable. But I like doing it at the end of every year. It’s a good check-up on how things went. What things I want to improve on. And what intentions I want to set for the new year.

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2014, 2015, and 2016 felt like BIG years.

In 2014 I landed my first “real” job which changed my career trajectory.

2015 was the year of the marathon and everything that came with conquering this huge goal.

And 2016 was the year of everything. The year I lost my job but founded a company. The year I applied to grad school on a whim — and therefore started grad school. And the year I became a yoga teacher. Despite being the least zen girl I know. 2016 overall was just this huge year of growth, realizing who I really was and what I wanted to become.

So, what about 2017? In many ways it’s been more of the same. And hey, that’s not a bad thing!

Today I’m sharing  some struggles and wins from 2017 as well as reflections on the last 12 months. It’s also my last post of 2017.

Let’s dive in!

2017 In A Nutshell

I started and ended 2017 the same in many ways. A blogger. Grad school student. Wellness event thrower. And yoga teacher. Okay, so I’m a yoga teacher in a much bigger capacity now than I was a year ago. But I haven’t made any huge, life altering decisions this year.

For me that’s BIG. It’s the first year since I was in college that I didn’t completely change my career. Uh, I’m a career hopping millennial and not afraid to admit it.

My guiding word for 2017 was FOCUS. About halfway through the year I felt like I was failing miserably at embodying that word. More often than not this year I have felt scattered and unsure where to devote my energy. Do I focus on the nagging grad school project I should probably be working on? Or answer blog emails that could lead to potential partnerships?

I didn’t feel very focused 99% of the time. I felt the opposite. But turns out my intention to focus worked better than I thought it did. I didn’t drop out of grad school. Even when I kind of really wanted to.

 

The Resolutions

At the beginning of the year I set a bunch of resolutions, as I always do. I’ll be honest, I usually forget about half the resolutions I set after I press PUBLISH. But I still love setting these goals. They’re a reminder of what I wanted to accomplish throughout the year. And you know what, my 2017 resolutions went better than I thought they did:

✨ I hit 10K followers on Instagram

✨ Learned how to use Pinterest to drive blog traffic

✨ Grew TREMENDOUSLY as a yoga teacher.

✨ Attended a number of conferences aimed at entrepreneurship

✨ And… I even got better at remembering peoples names. I’m still actively working on this, though.

My Biggest Struggle of 2017

I’ll be honest, there were butt ton of struggles that remained constant throughout 2017:

I struggled a lot with guilt. Guilt that I wasn’t doing enough with my life. Guilt that I wasn’t making enough money.

I struggled with the comparison trap. Comparing myself to other bloggers that came outta nowhere and are now blogging full time.

I struggled to find balance. Not that anyone knows what balance looks like. Sleep hasn’t been a priority of mine in 2017, to say the least. And I’ve payed for it a number of times. I’ve always had the philosophy that I’ll sleep when I’m dead (or when I graduate grad school…) but I also know it’s just something I need to be better about prioritizing.

And I struggled to be content with where I am. Instead of enjoying the current stage my life is in, I spent much of the year hyper focused on what’s next. What happens after I graduate? Yes, having a plan is a good thing. But over planning the future to the point that it makes me anxious? No bueno.

My Biggest Win of 2017

My biggest accomplishment of 2017 (besides not dropping out of grad school…) was putting myself out there.

Putting yourself out there is SO scary! But I did it over and over again this year. I promoted the events I was hosting. Shared my blog posts all over social media. I even put myself out there as a yoga teacher and sent my resume to a handful of studios.

And hey it’s paid off big time.

My blog has grown exponentially. My wellness event business has been featured on outlets such as Pure Wow. And I even started working at a yoga studio I LOVE.

I’ve learned over and over again that as terrifying as it is to put yourself out there, the benefits SO outweigh the fear. It’s worth it.

When I first started going through pictures of 2017, I started to worry that I wouldn’t have anything interesting to recap. No big, sweeping lessons from 2017.

Unlike previous years where I’ve lost my job, conquered HUGE ass goals and made life changing decisions, this year feels a bit more low-key in comparison. But in reflecting and taking a second to take a step back, I realize that that’s both OKAY, and also not entirely true about 2017.

It’s been a year of continued growth. I feel like every year I become a bit more Kayla, my true, authentic, bizarre and awkward self.

It’s been a year of honing in on what I want to do after grad school. I wish I could say I have the perfect dream job lined up after grad school. But that’s not true. What I do have is an idea of what I want my post grad school life to look like. At the very least I’m on the path to make that happen.

It’s been a year of learning to say no. To mediocre job opportunities. To partnerships that aren’t the right fit. To people that don’t value my time an energy. In saying no to these things, I say yes to myself.

It’s also been a year of shedding my old excuses. Using my awkwardness as an excuse for why I couldn’t do certain things. Talking myself out of auditioning for major yoga studio in NYC.

I’ve said this a million times, but I’m both excited and scared for the year ahead. A year of a lot of unknowns. It’s weird to think I have NO idea what I’ll be doing when I write my 2018 recap. That’s scary!!!!

But I’m more excited than scared. Like, way more excited than scared.

So, that’s my 2017! Would love to hear your struggles and wins for this year + lessons learned.

See you guys in 2018 🙂