I've been thinking about the past year and wondering what measurable improvements I've made to my life that I'm proud of. In 2015, I accomplished a lot of "outward" things. I grew out my hair, I started dating, I was baptized, and I ran the Chicago marathon, I finished my first "working" year, and I've taken more red-eye flights than I remember.
However, when I mention it like that, it sounds like a great year. You can always tweak your story to sound interesting to others, but to you, to me? Do I feel like I accomplished a lot this year?
Which is why I've been thinking about measurable improvements. Maybe measurable improvements aren't even important. Maybe some years you walk backwards -- maybe life's paths aren't always straight, but in order to move forward, sometimes the path simply does take you backward.
But is there one thing that at the end of the year that I did, that I could say, I'm so happy I did that this year? I don't feel very different being a marathon finisher. I'm not sure long hair has had a positive or negative impact on me yet. I glad I finally got baptized, but faith is still something that I fight for, not one that comes from an outward act.
Maybe a good question to ask is, did you change this year? And, do you like how you've changed?
Perhaps for the past two years, I did change but I didn't like how I changed, but that's okay. Because I think that paved that path for me changing this year, and liking the change.
Change is tough, and I'm still extremely critical of myself and see my flaws everywhere, but despite all the mistakes, I think this year was a year in a direction that I'm pleased with, and I think that's more than I deserve.
