Closing the door on 2009

So 2009: Great things have happened-- big things too! But I haven't really reflected on them.

Now's the chance. Let's start on a less positive note and make it positive. Then move on to a success.

#1 Problem of 2009
Direction. Rather, a lack there of.

I graduated with my masters in December of 08, already working in the field I was working to be in. I took classes in the spring, but since I wasn't really working towards anything I didn't put all my energies towards them. I let things slip. While I walked out of the class with good grades, they didn't mean anything to me and I felt that I didn't get much out of the classes (because I didn't put much into it.

Solution in 2010
Set short and mid-term goals, reevaluate long-term goals, and strive to meet them this year.

Goals for 2010
Decide one way or another on if the PhD road is for me. No more flip-floppy waffle. Set a path and work towards it. I've learned enough about myself in 2009 that if I don't do this, I don't move forward. I stay in stasis and feel myself mold. So no more of this crap! Onward!

#1 Success of 2009
Becoming honest with myself and my loved ones.

If my lesson of 2008 was the need to not only oblige in reciprocity but expect it in return, 2009 has renewed my belief in honesty. Semi-secrets (rather, secrets that only existed in a fictional sense) had for so long pressured me and made me fear to be myself. As I approach my Saturn Return (29.5, slated for Nov. 2010) I'm done with false pretenses, or at least needless ones. The bull crap of keeping up appearances is no longer on my plate and everyone who has a problem with it can kiss my butt. :)

This honesty has removed such a weight off of me and I feel freer than I have since I was a kid. I had no idea how much of a toll pretending to be someone else, even in the half-assed way I did it, was taking on me. I feel better, stronger, and more comfortable with me as a result.

Honesty, builds on the idea of reciprocity from 2008. I accept and love people for who they are, so they are going to do the same for me. And if they won't I don't need them complicating my life.

Success for 2010
No clue.

The lessons I learn each year (oddly, normally in the summer months) sort of find their own way to me.

Minor Setbacks of 2009 and Ways Forward

2006 - 2008 I worked hard to get into shape. I lost a lot of weight, was working out regularly, did yoga, was careful what I put in my body and moderated my drinking. After my nearly deadly encounter with some Peruvian venom in 2008 my body was wrecked for a few months. Yet I never really got back on track... I started drinking a lot over the winter holiday of 2008 and I've let myself go. While it's only 10lbs on the scale, I can feel the muscle mass, stamina, flexibility, and overall sense of well-being and health have declined dramatically.

I'm currently seeing a chiropractor to get my back in alignment again and will use this new year and new decade to renew that commitment to myself. Maybe not to the nearly obsessive compulsive level I was BV (before venom) but that's for the best.

Either way, I feel like 2010 is gonna rock, hardcore. Hope you do to!