A lot can happen in a year

“Even though I said all the things that mattered most / While I held on tight to the end of the rope / I could keep you close, but I couldn’t keep you here / A lot can happen in a year.”

~ Shinedown Three Six Five

The first of February is an anniversary for me. Four years ago I took a leap and started a new job, a full time job that I do really love, even if there are times that I sigh when I have to go in to work. A lot has happened in the four years since that leap of faith.

But in the past year, lots of crazy has happened. I have lost more than a handful of friends and a senior cat, a mother-in-law, an uncle, and now a brother-in-law, as the other half adjusts to not having his eldest brother on this plane of existence. Mistakes were made. I’ve had falling outs with friends and things pop up unexpectedly that threw us curveballs. It’s been a rough year mentally at times, with a great many feels that.

But it’s also been a good year. I have lived in my own abode now for over a year. I ended up gaining two more felines, adjusting to their former feral personalities as my once “baby cat” is now the eldest of the pride. I have made new friends and strengthened relationships with old friends and family. I have had a great year of adventures and memories, of writings and making the abode my own and dreaming of the future and planning for some surprises. I’ve continued another year of my glad tidings project and accomplished goals I never thought I’d even set. The good outweighs the bad.

The beginning quote is from the latest single of the band Shinedown and is a song I’ve been playing a great deal the past few weeks. It’s a good reminder that a great deal can and does happen in a year. Jobs can change. Friends can come and friends can go. Some people are born. Some pass away. And at the end of a year, we reflect on what has come and gone.

I could choose to reflect just on the negatives of this past year, sinking into a depression that could leave me spiraling. But it’s just something that I have chosen to not to. I need to see that magic that comes from the good. I need to embrace the small things that make life worth living. I need to remember that the bad days are just blips in time that ebb and flow just as much as the good. And today, as I look out at the several inches of snow that coat my back yard from the blizzard that hammered my little swath of the Midwest yesterday, I marvel over how much good has changed in the past year. I wonder where I will be in a year from now.

Keep looking out, not looking down / You won’t find the answers in the ground / Where will we be twelve months from now?

~ Shinedown Three Six Five

Will I have more novellas finally published or will the remain unfinished? Will I get my next serial novel off the ground? Will I find new stomping grounds to explore? Will I have more new friends? How strong will my existing relationships be? What adventures will I find in the next twelve months? Will I be enjoying my job just as much in a year?

Will I continue to find the peace, the hope, the love, the joy, the light and the magic in every situation, good or bad?

A lot can happen in a year.

Stay magical, friends.

Write your own story.

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