2012 - wha' happened?

I can't help it. As much as I'm a bit of a New Year's Eve scrooge (seriously, the amount of pressure people put on this one night out of 365 is insane) I can't help but do the same reflecting-on-the-year-gone-by thing that most of you are probably doing as well. If you had asked me a week or two ago how I felt about 2012 I probably would have responded "Whatever. I was sick. I sat around a lot. I didn't really do much at all." The more I think about it however, the more aware I've become that that's just plain wrong. Sure, I didn't run any marathons, climb any mountains or finally embark upon that post-grad degree I've been talking about for oh, about 5 years now. But I did a buttload of other things, and all in all, 2012 was kind of cool, in it's own little way. (Is buttload one word or two? Oh, the things that occupy my mind sometimes).

I went to concerts

After declaring 2012 to be a non-gig-going year in the interest of saving dollars and energy, a whole heap of my favourite artists decided to visit our sunny shores. The temptation was way too much. I couldn't resist. Highlights were: Radiohead, Evan Dando and Juliana Hatifield, and The Beach Boys. And Priiince. Good lord Prince. How awesome you are.

                
                   

I got technological.

I'm not a computery-gadgety kind of person, but I can feel that slowly changing. I love my Mac airbook, my iPad and my Kindle. The Kindle in particular...the idea of being able to go on holidays without limiting myself to only two or three books is amazing. Like, remember how we used to have discmans and we'd carry around those CD wallets that only held a limited number of CDs? And now your chosen MP3 player lets you have everything you could possibly want to listen to? That changed my life and certainly helped me pass my music degree. I'm feeling the same amount of life-changeyness about my Kindle. I've already been reading far more than I had been for that last few years.

I turned 30

I left my twenties behind this year with hardly a second glance. I studied hard, worked hard, travelled a bit and learned a lot. Broke my heart, once or twice. Moved out of home and moved back again (lather, rinse, repeat). Bought my own apartment. Everything that's supposed to happen in your twenties pretty much happened. Am I glad it all happened? Yes. Would I go back? Not a chance, my friends, not a chance. 

Photo courtesy of @sootsmagoots 

I went with my gut and made my own decisions

I spend a lot of time being bored in doctor/naturopath/random-medical-professional's waiting rooms this year, and was told a whole lot of conflicting information about what the best things are to do, so that I can be healthy and have energy. I learned that some medical professional's are genuine and caring and honest, and some have an agenda of their own to push on their patients. Not particularly nice, but true. So I decided to give the waiting rooms a miss for a while, and have been feeling pretty good about that decision.

I started a blog with my sister

Doing stuff with G is always fun. I do still feel like we're finding our feet in regards to what this blog is all about, but I've certainly had a whole lot of fun on the journey so far.

I went places

Not too many, and not for too long, but I enjoyed it all the same. In March I spent an extremely agreeable week on the south coast with some of my favourite lady friends. True friendship is letting each other read all day in our pyjamas and no one judging anyone if they decide to have Twisties for dinner. More than once. I spent an all-too-brief weekend visiting family in Brisbane. The older I get, the more I realise how awesome it is to have friends and  family that care so much about one another. We are lucky.

I learned that it's good to have some expectations of myself and others

I think learning how to navigate our relationships - with ourselves, friends, partners, family, colleagues - is a lesson that we continue learning all our lives. It's like learning to play an instrument. You never stop improving, and wanting to be better. It's a good thing, but can also be incredibly frustrating at the same time. When do we ever just get to sit back and be good at it, you know? What we find annoying or frustrating or unlikeable in others is often just a mirror, reflecting the expectations we have of ourselves back at us. A lot of the time, but not all the time. It's okay to say no, and to expect something better. You'll know when that time is, trust me. 

I cut my hair, I ate less sugar, I played guitar and spent time writing writing writing. I read blogs and figured out what I like and what I don't like. I read book reviews and then wrote down the names of the books and read them too. I babysat some of my favourite small people - such an easy thing to do - to help out some of my favourite big people. Now I'm thinking about what I  hope 2013 holds. I'm not one for hard and fast resolutions, but it's nice to make some kind of plan and set the tone, you know?

Happy New Year. I hope you are doing exactly what you want tonight, be it chugging champagne with 200 of your nearest and dearest, or watching the fireworks in the comfort of your living room.

xo