It was my birthday a few days ago!

TWENTY. NINE!

As I was driving home with Hoki the evening of my birthday, I kept thinking to myself that 29 felt… scary. It’s the first time in my life I’ve felt that on a birthday. Usually I’m filled with a combination of optimism and (more recently) relief that the previous year was over.

But unlike 24 – 27, 28 was an absolutely wonderful year! So many good, rewarding things happened and I have absolutely zero regrets about any of the big decisions I made these last twelve months. So just like when you finish a really good book and have to move on to the next in a series, turning the last page on 28 makes me feel a little bit sad that it’s over and a little scared that the next year won’t be as good. But as ever, I still feel that sense of optimism and I hope that I will be able to say the same thing about 29, twelve months from now.

This next year is going to be good! I can feel it.

 

 

Oh, and one other thing that hasn’t changed: like previous years, 28 taught me a LOT. And so to keep the tradition alive, I’m sharing my annual list of 29 things I’ve learned as I head into my 29th year of living:

 

1. It costs a LOT more to move than you think it will.

2. I’ve learned exactly how many household items fit in a 6×12 U-Haul trailer, the back of a pickup truck, and my trunk.

3. Patience. It seems I am always being taught the importance of being patient.

4. I am where I am supposed to be. I was supposed to move back here to Arkansas.

5. But also, I know I was supposed to be in Boston. I still don’t know why, and perhaps I never will, but I do know that I was in the right place. Which has a lot to do with the next thing I learned, which is…

 

 

6. Sometimes you don’t get answers to your prayers and sometimes you’ll never find out why you were supposed to do something.

7. Sometimes you can make a big change in your life, only to return back to the way things were not much later. And I think this happens because we needed to learn something that we wouldn’t have otherwise learned. Let me explain: I felt very strongly that I needed to move to Boston. I knew Heavenly Father was guiding me there. And then three years later, I moved right back to Arkansas. In the beginning, being back here, in roughly the same situation as when I left, made me feel as if the three years I spent in Boston never even happened. BUT, while being in Boston was hard, it taught me a lot of really important things about myself that I might not have otherwise learned.

8. I now have a passable knowledge of how mortgages work. Basically I feel like I’ve now passed the Adulting Basics 101 course.

9. Homeownership is slightly terrifying (if something breaks… there’s no landlord to take care of/pay for it for you). But it’s also mostly wonderful (it’s mine… ALL mine. And I can do whatever the heck I want with it)!

 

 

10. Homeownership is more expensive than you think… even if you go into it knowing that it’s more expensive than you think. 

11. Every aspect of adulting is a LOT more expensive than you think, as I keep learning. EVERY year.

12. When God gives you a stewardship over someone (or multiple someones), He also gives you the ability to feel His love for them, which goes a long way in helping you yourself really care for them

13. I actually don’t love talking about my photography/art with people outside of my fans. Not sure why, but it just makes me feel really awkward and also a bit braggy?

14. I also have learned what the symptoms of rabies are. I can’t decide if this knowledge is either really useful, or not at all.

15. Bitterness gets you nowhere. It doesn’t protect you and it doesn’t save you from feeling hurt.

 

 

16. It’s harder for me to be productive when I’m happy. I guess sadness is a great motivator? That’s sort of a depressing thought, but it has taught me that I can’t always rely on “not being where I want to be” or “not having what I want to have” as my motivator. So my goal for 29 is to learn how to be motivated by happiness, rather than wanting. I think that’s healthier in the long run, so I’m glad I’ve realized this now.

17. Trusting in God’s plan for the future and therefore not over analyzing things that don’t need to be over analyzed (which SHOULD be very few things, although my head would disagree).

18. How to trim crepe myrtles. Very useful when you have crepe myrtles in your yard. Otherwise, not super useful.

19. How to fog a house to get rid of bugs. Very necessary when you live in a house built in 1905 out in the country.

 

 

20. Living on a dirt road means your car is always dirty and your floor needs sweeping weekly. It’s moments like these (as I’m driving down my dirt road, windows down, bluegrass playing) that I realize I am a far cry from the city life I was living just one year ago. Picking ticks off of Freya every night also helps drive that point home as well… but in a much less pleasant way.

21. God loves me and is listening, even when it doesn’t feel like it sometimes.

22. Don’t be afraid to just be an observer sometimes and enjoy the moment that you’re in. You don’t always need to react or make a decision (yet).

23. Pick your battles. Some things really do not matter as much as you think they do in the moment.

24. Mom really does know what is best for you, and can help talk you down from any stupid decision or needless worry.

 

 

25. Relax. Be yourself. You’re the most beautiful that way.

26. It’s ok to take a break from the hustle sometimes and really figure out what you want to do. Even if it’s for months at a time.

27. Seed ticks are the absolute worst.

28. Taking apart a drain and unclogging a sink (in a new house… so let’s think for a minute about who clogged the sink?) is one of the grosser experiences one can have in this life.

29. And finally… trust. And be vulnerable. This will lead to great things.

 

And that is my list of…. well, not everything I learned this year, but at least the most important things. Did any of these stand out to you? Oh, and I’d love to know what YOU learned in your last twelve months. Share in the comments below!