2019 Recap
The end of the year is almost here and people online have begun posting their top 9 posts with the most ‘likes’ on social as a kind of year-end recap. I love the idea of looking back on this little recap of the year. But then I thought why I am I letting random ‘likes’ on social media determine my top 9? So I cheated and created my own top 9 without relying on the algorithm. This is my top 9 moments I posted on social media from this year, and to hell with the number of ‘likes.’
This year I had to learn to live with my chronic illness, tried to be transparent about it so others know they are not alone, and tried to show my life is more than the happy moments. In fact my life is far more full of pain than joy, with over 800 attacks this year and 160+ days spent in pain. I am hoping for a resolution to my cluster headaches after all I have been through since they started three years ago, but even as a write this I am on my third month in this current cluster of attacks and I am not sure when it will end.
I got to see Rachel Brosnahan and Kevin Pollak from my absolute favorite show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel!
I went to so many drag shows with friends. I just love the absurdity, the creativity, and the love these entertainers pour into each show. Drag is everything I love rolled into one, featuring some of the world’s most amazing creatives.
I was front row VIP on stage in Vegas for my favorite band Aerosmith. It was so thrilling to get to be on stage and feel what the band feels with the energy coming from the audience. Read about my experience HERE.
I met New York Times #1 Bestselling Author Rachel Hollis. She is such an inspiration to me and in that moment I felt like the luckiest woman in the room. We all need moments where we feel special, and being the one person that got the chance to go one stage and meet her out of 4,000 women in attendance was one of those moments. You can read more about that experience HERE.
I got to see the amazingly talented Cleo Wade. Her new book, Where To Begin, fills my heart with courage.
I attended the RISE weekend conference for women and can’t recommend it enough. This was an investment in myself that really changed my outlook on life and I go in-depth into the entire experience HERE.
I worked on my book longer than I have ever worked on any other project. And it may still be unfinished but I am proud of all the work I put in. I have been documenting the process as I go HERE and I am hoping to finish up in 2020.
And last but not least I met my childhood hero Johnathan Frakes at a local fan convention. 🖖 I went to the convention even while having my cluster headaches and that day took all the energy I could muster. But it was totally worth it and I had so much fun!
So many of my favorite moments of this last year revolved around experiences. I had such a hard time achieving any tangible planned wins while dealing with my cluster headaches that I felt pretty empty handed when it came to accomplishing my goals in 2019. But if there is one thing I have had to come to terms with; it is giving myself grace and taking life one day at a time. This is so hard for me as an achievement-oriented person. So often my achievement while in pain is to just make it through the day. But I did have plenty of memorable milestones this year, they just were not things I could check off a list, they were days that brought me joy.
2020 Goals
Knowing how hard this past year has been I am almost hesitant to try to achieve goals. But I have always been the kind of person who does better when I set my intentions, so when Fran Meneses posted a challenge in her Patreon group to draw our 2020 goals I decided to go for it! I set them up in another top 9 format and sketched them out in Procreate on my iPad Pro. Below is what I came up with for next year. I tried to make my goals doable and some are only small steps of bigger goals. I am hoping to have a better year physically in 2020 with less pain, but I know my health is still up in the air and that will limit what I can achieve. But I am going to start the new decade knowing I tried to reach these goals.
I am really excited by the possibility of all these goals. I have been so inspired this last year by creatives like Jessica Hische, Catherine Kay, Christine McConnell, Fran Meneses, Dina Rodriguez, and Cleo Wade, that I know going after what you want can be personal and varied just like you. But I has to have direction none the less. I am excited for the direction 2020 is going to head in.