A belated 2012 wrap-up

Last year I set some goals:

1) To be more grateful, and to express that gratitude where it is due.
2) To be more adventurous, even if it kills me.
3) To make a new friend for keeps.
4) To prioritize by good, better, and best, and then to choose "best."
5) To be happy.

I think I should hold myself accountable for these before I spill the beans on all my new ones, so:

1) I believe I've become a more grateful person because of my ward, which has been a huge blessing for me, and I delivered more thank you cards and texts this year than ever before. Check. 
2) I ziplined through the jungle a few weeks ago (upside down!!), so that "adventurous" thing seems to have worked out. And if that doesn't count, then we can talk about how one time I climbed a tree in a skirt. Check. 
3) I definitely made more than just one good friend this year. More importantly, I realized that I can keep a lot of good friends around at once, and people who don't know each other but do know me usually get along just fine. Cha-ching. 
4) I'm not sure I always chose "best" in everything I did, but I sure did try! I think this will have to be a lifelong goal for me and I knew that when I set it and I should have mentioned it then. Check? 
5) And finally, I was definitely happy in 2012. Big fat CHECK.

Ok and I have to share a few extra goals I think I met:

:: I blogged really consistently! With the exception of December and when it's all averaged out, I had approximately one post every few days. This rocks because I didn't expect to use my blog as a journaling method, but now I know that I really can do it! I really can make this little guy into something for posterity! Also, I'm proud of the variety I have on here from post to post. Anyways, that's enough of my blog pride.
:: VISITING TEACHING. I told myself I would just make it happen every month of 2012, no matter what, and I totally did that guys!! The best part of this is that I really feel like it's become a part of my testimony. Learning to care for one person at a time has always been a struggle for me, but I have witnessed the miracles and therefore the value of doing so. Also, I know that few endeavors bring us closer to Christ than service to others. VT has now become a lifelong goal/requirement for myself.
:: I've made some headway on my procrastination issues. At the beginning of last semester, I became really swamped really quickly because I insisted on leaving my homework until the night before it was due, which meant I didn't have enough time to think about it (ya know, in the shower and stuff), which meant I didn't understand half of my two hard math classes. But I wised up pretty quick, and by the end of the semester I was doing my homework the day it was assigned, asking questions the day before it was due, and discussing it with peers in between. Homework (and everything) is far more valuable if it's not crammed into the smallest amount of time possible.


Overall, I feel really great about 2012. I have [of course] been looking through old social media and journals and whatnot, and I see progress. I see how 2012 was better for me than any year before it. And one of my lifelong goals is to make every year better than the last. In that regard, 2012 was yet another success story.


And now I'm going to go write another post about this year's goals. I'd include them all in the same post to save on internet real estate but...I just don't want to, so whatev. 

Picture for funsies (because it's from the same day I climbed a tree in a skirt):