2017: Year in Review (Business and Personal)
Hey there! it's been a while! I started writing this post last month with the intention of finishing out 2017 with one final blog post, and hopefully motivate myself into blogging more (one of my 2018 goals). It's not 2017 anymore, obviously, but I believe it's still relevant to do a year in review.
2017 was great in so many ways, and absolutely terrible in other ways. I know that that's kind of the way this whole life thing works, but I don't feel it's fair to ONLY talk about the wonderful things that happened. I need to at least acknowledge the grief of 2017: It was there, and it hurt a lot of my loved ones, and that's all I want to say about that.
2017 had so much packed into it, that I can hardly remember anything that stands out about 2016. I remember thinking to myself back in 2015, the year I got married, "I wonder if any year to come will be able to top 2015" and by golly, 2017 was the year to do it.
A few highlights:
- Buying a freakin' house. This was something I honestly didn't think was possible. In January 2017, I wrote "We will buy a house" on my vision board, and kind of laughed to myself until May, when we found ourselves pre-approved and visiting open houses. Even though I believed in the power of vision boards before, I am now officially convinced they work miracles.
- Traveling everywhere! St. Croix not once but twice, Costa Rica, Quebec, Montreal, and the best trip of all, the Alaskan Cruise with my family. I also wrote "travel more" on my vision board. See above.
- Landing my dream part-time job. In November, I started working as a health coach for Breast Cancer patients at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This is my dream job for so many reasons but one of them being that is is so fulfilling and rewarding to do this work. The hiring process is a funny story, but the short version is that I didn't think I needed a career change until CJ pushed me to see what was out there for careers in the nutrition field. This is why you must stay open to change and possibilities and put yourself out there!
- Getting a kitten, and then watching that crazy little kitten become BFF's with our dog.
- Becoming a certified EMT, starting to work on the ambulance, and then fizzling out after 4 shifts. I guess I could write "Having the world's shortest career as an EMT" not because I didn't like the work, but because the health coach job offer came along and I only have time for so many jobs in my life! Luckily, I'm still a certified EMT and plan to keep that active!
Last year was full of lessons, of crushing goals, and going for it even when I didn't think I needed to make a change. 2017 was a year of personal success as well as business success. Speaking of business success, I adopted a new approach to my business ideas and it really helped to take some pressure off. In the past, if I did an event and it wasn't "successful" by my standards, I would beat myself up about what I should have done to make it better. Recently, I started to look at my events with a more inquisitive approach, and a less black and white, successful vs. unsuccessful approach.
At the end of a busy mermaid yoga season this summer, I took some time to reflect back and see what worked and what didn't, what was easy and what wasn't, what did I ENJOY doing, and what caused more stress than it was worth. Looking back at my events with this "trial and error" lens really helped to see things more objectively.
Another thing I did different in 2017 was to ASK FOR HELP! I worked with a team of business mentors at SCORE (small business counseling), I hired an accountant, I hired musicians, caterers, and coordinators for my events, I paid for advertising on Facebook, etc. In other words, I went PRO and it felt really good.
A few things I'm looking forward to in 2018:
- Starting Health Coaching Training with Wellcoaches!
- Leading MORE yoga retreats to magical places with magical people
- Collaborating MORE with amazing people: yoga teachers, chefs, musicians, business owners, and other inspired and inspiring folks. I really believe that we can achieve more by working together, plus it's 10x more fun to share the success with someone!
- making 2018 the best, happiest, healthiest, most successful year ever!
Thank you for reading my year in review! I'd love to hear, what do you want to see more of in 2018? How can I help make this year the best year ever for you, too?
xo,
Amy
