My Decade in Review

[X-posted to Daydream Believer]

I can’t say that this has been the best year, bookended as it was by job loss and a miscarriage, with the deaths of two uncles and a high school friend sandwiched in between. There have been high points — I finally started a business that is well on its way to being successful; I finally finished the first draft of a novel I’ve been trying to write since 2004, and another novella besides; and I got to work at home all year, which has been a blessing. Otherwise, it’s mostly been a year of loss, and coping, and struggling to stay afloat, both financially and emotionally, and I’m ready for it to be over with. I don’t think I realized just how ready until I started writing this.

So let’s review the decade instead, shall we?

Overall, on a personal level, I’d call the Oughts a win, full of milestones on the highway of life: I turned 30, finished my degree, met the love of my life, got married, and became a homeowner, in that order. I know most people have that stuff over and done with by the time they’re 30, but I’ve always been a late bloomer.

On the downside, there was that falling out I had with a group of close-knit friends, and that still makes me sad, but I think I came out of it a better person than I was going in. I went through a lot of jobs, and had a couple of failed attempts to start a home business, but all of those taught me new skills. I managed to go all decade without getting published (save for a short article I sold to a Canadian magazine at the very start of 2000, which I was sure was going to launch me into a decade of publication and pro-writing), but I’m earning enough income writing online that I still qualify as a professional writer, and hey, I finished that novel, so now I actually have something to sell, which gives me a goal for the new year.

I also went through a lot of soul-searching and questioning regarding my faith, and the things I was taught about who God is and how He works and what He wants from me. As a result, my faith is stronger, my understanding of and trust in God is deeper, and I have a firm grasp of my identity in Christ, all of which have allowed me to weather the storm that has been this decade’s final year with a sense of peace and steadfast hope.

In short, I became a grownup. I don’t think that’s a bad way to spend a decade.