Happy New Year! I hope 2016 finds you happy, healthy and relaxed.
I don’t know about you, but 2015 for me was insane intense, delivering almost everything. There were highs and lows, laughs and tears, successes and failures, and a lot of wedding planning to boot. I dealt with most of it with a big smile and laughter, even if on the inside, I was a nervous wreck.
My Biggest Achievements
I co-authored a book
I always dreamed of being a published author and it happened in 2015. I’m still pinching myself in disbelief.
The only problem now is that I need to get serious about writing my book in its entirety!
I quit my part-time job to work for myself full-time
This was a blessing and a curse. For a while, I worked 7 days a week, days and nights, juggling a part-time project management gig for the government and multiple clients. Talk about exhausted from juggling way too many balls!
As things went pear-shaped in the project management gig, I decided the time was right to jump ship. I start the new year with a clean slate and a state of wonder over which direction 2016 will whisk me in and what opportunities it will deliver. This is both exciting and terrifying.
My most challenging moments
I almost lost my companion of 13 1/2 years
When I whisked my dog Kahlua to the vet in November, as she hadn’t eaten for days and was continuously vomiting, I suspected it would be bad, but I didn’t expect her decline to be so rapid. Within a few hours, she was jaundiced, suffering from liver and kidney failure and given days to live if that.
I’m not naive. I know that at the age of 13 1/2 her time will come. But it was still a shock to the system being faced with that decision. I couldn’t do it and I had to believe she could pull through, that she would fight, and that she would live.
And so I hit Dr Google hard, researched as much as possible, started playing around with recipes, buying baby food to syringe feed her, and just lying beside her with my hand on her body to show her I was there. I’m not religious, but I also prayed. As she started eating bits and pieces, I found myself cooking 6 different meals to get her to eat. It didn’t look good. I’d catch D looking at me, and I knew he was pleading with me to let her go peacefully. But I refused as I saw signs of improvement here and there.
And here we have it. 2 January. Kahlua and I had just returned from a walk (not in this photo – this photo was taken during visiting time at the vet’s in November). She’s also about to heartily plough into a big bowl of chicken mince, veggies and rice noodles.
Strangely enough, she seems healthier than before the liver and kidney failure, with a new spring in her step, hardly any signs of arthritis, a curiosity to explore, and an appetite for life, long walks, play-time and food. Her blood work is also a lot better. Of course, the vet still gives her a few months so we will see how we go. That’s why I call her our Christmas miracle in more than one way. To fight for something you love, to be all encompassed with emotion, to feel raw and lost, and then to realise you have another chance… my heart has been taught a very big lesson and it has also opened up…
My cousin, one year my junior, passed away suddenly
Due to get married late October, Vanessa passed away suddenly in August after a tumultuous life which finally looked like it was turning around. I wrote about it here, a post where I bared my sadness but also shared my memories of the beauty in having reconnected with her again in the last two years.
What was your hardest moment of 2015? Guess what, you got through it and made it to 2016! Keep fighting – you can do it!
Biggest Lesson
Ugh. That’s how I feel about lessons. When do we stop learning them! But then again, that’s the purpose of life right. To live and learn and to fight another day.
Book publishing is not for the faint-hearted
The biggest lesson I learned in 2015 followed the book publishing deal. Being a published author is one thing but trying to sell your book! What an eye-opener! Fortunately, I feel like the blinkers are off and I now know what to look out for and do next time round. So if you need some honest, no-holes barred tips feel free to contact me!
Happiest Moments
This is going to sound terrible, but I can’t name one BUT that’s because generally, even with some really sad or shitty experiences, I was generally happy for most of the year AND because there’s been a lot of happy moments. Wedding planning has generally made me happy; receiving the dress – happy, booking the venue – stoked, celebrating Christmas with family – fun times, hanging with old friends I hadn’t seen it what felt like forever – awesome, changing my first shitty nappy (my god-daughter) – surprisingly joyful/traumatic, getting my first tattoo which is very symbolic – not as painful as expected and very satisfying (also possibly addictive…).
I summed up my attitude in Chasing Happiness, where I recommend living life embracing moments of idiocy, laughing loudly, and smiling.
What was your happiest moment?
How about you? How was 2015 for you and what do you have in store for 2016?
I have no idea what 2016 will bring. Well, aside from finally getting hitched!
