I don’t know very many people who aren’t happy to see the end of 2010. Almost every person I know and every person who has something to say about 2010 on Twitter has had a less than awesome year. I am not going to disagree, 2010 was hard and it was fast. It was always eventful and it didn’t worry about waiting for you to recover from the last hurdle it threw at you before unleashing a few more hurdles to contend with. It started out as a fight and it ended as a fight too. No easing into 2011 no way!! It has felt like being strapped into a rollercoaster that has too many twists and turns and though you were always hurtling to the end it never seemed to ease up or let you catch your breath.
Most of those people are looking back at 2010 with a big FUCK YOU!! I am looking back with a Thank You.
2010 has been one hell of a crazy year and though most of it was hard and stressful I think it was also a really important year. For me it was a year where I found my voice, no more being taken for granted, no more doing things to please other people before myself, no more slacking off. This year I dramatically quit my job. A job that I hung around at for two and a half years, the last year knowing full well that things were never going to change and never going to get better, but I stayed with the hope that it would. Then one day I just woke up. It was never going to happen, I was never going to get treated any better and I was never going to get paid what I was worth. So with a simple text to my manager I quit. Made that day my last. Had no job to go to but wasn’t worried. Three days later I had a new job with a helping hand from Stevo and now two months later I am still loving my new job and have even had other great job offers. Opportunities that wouldn’t have been there if I didn’t quit the old job. I am happier, I am working less nights, I am sleeping in less (a good thing) and I have more time to get things done that I am interested in and excited about.
2010 I started believing in my own power more and started really putting the power of positive thought to good use. I was sick for a good two months this Winter, on and off, and just when I thought I was getting better I got sick again. It sucked. I dislike being sick. I also had lots of shit skin moments and generally negative thinking. Then I decided enough was enough. I finally got better. I started reading a great book about the power of positive thinking. I wrote up a little list of affirmations to say to myself before I went to bed. Did it every night as I was falling to sleep and well I didn’t get sick again for the rest of the year, some people might call that coincidence but I think it had a lot to do with a positive outlook and positive energy. Since then I’ve been using positivity to help in all sorts of areas of my life and I have never been as chilled out as I am now. Positivity works, and I learnt that for real this year.
I’ve started exercising. For real. I dislike exercise. A lot. I just don’t believe that making yourself be in pain was worth it. Besides having a job that kept me on my feet meant that I never had any real need to exercise weight wise. Then I met Tracey. A chance encounter at the till at work, chit chat about what she was doing for the rest of the day, a question that I generally ask everyone. Tracey’s answer changed my life. “oh I am shooting a commercial, I teach Polercise”. The very next week I was having my first class and I have been addicted ever since. I went from weak unco scared little Carrie to waaay stronger, way more coordinated and a whole lot more confident Carrie. Girl who hated exercise to girl who was at one point, doing two classes a week of Polercise. I dream of owning our own house just so I can finally get a proper pole installed. I suddenly found a sport that I adored! My hated me for it after the first class but now it loves me. It also led to me wanting to improve my general fitness too and I have started going for walk/jogs with Timmy who is acting as my own personal trainer. I am super unfit but after only a few sessions I have improved a heap and I know that he’s going to have me on half hour straight jogs in no time! My legs were seriously unimpressed last week but are used to it now. I bet my heart will be grateful for the exercise too.
So for me 2010 has been a challenge of mind, body and soul that has improved all three greatly. I leave it feeling stronger as a person and despite all the people I mentioned earlier who hated 2010, of the ones that I know personally, despite their challenges every single one of them has finished 2010 a stronger person with a greater sense of self that they had at the start. Friendships and relationships and been tested, some have survived for the better others have ended for the better too. New relationships have been forged. There has been lots of closing of chapters and 2011, for a lot of people, will really be the beginning of a new chapter, for some, a whole new book. There will be more challenges. More hurdles. More rises and more falls, but 2010 has prepared us for the lot.
So everyone, this rollercoaster has finally slammed its way to the end of the track. Who is ready to strap in and go for another ride? Fasten your seatbelts every body, 2011 is going to blow your mind! Be safe, be smart, be strong, have the ride of your life!
Love Carrie xoxo xxxx
P.s. what is your take on the year that was 2010? What are you looking forward to in 2011? Leave it in the comments, I’d love to hear your stories
