This year has been one of the best and one of the biggest for me. 2019 really felt like the closure of so many loops, habits, patterns, things that needed to end… that had remained undone across the past decade.
Until now.
It was challenging, but not challenging in a bad way. Challenging in oh-wow-I’m-so-much-stronger-than-I-used-to-be way. I’ve loved 2019. I healed a lot. I rested a lot. A took chances a lot. I allowed myself to be really gentle (most of the time) with myself. I said “no, thank you” a lot. I cleaned up a lot of old conditioning. And I cleared the slate in preparation for the next decade. It feels damn good.
The best thing that happened to me this year is that I was able to advocate for myself in ways that I have never before. My inner child was very well parented this year, the best ever (!) and I am proud of that. My biggest lesson was that I am absolutely not defined by my past in any way. How liberating!
I heard an intuitive channel last week say “If you’ve done the work in 2019, 2020 is going to be a joyful explosion of everything you’ve been laying the foundations for. If you’ve been avoiding the work, 2020 is going to blast you with everything you’ve been hiding from.” I like that.
Last week in my every-so-often email (if you’re not on my list, get on it here — this is where all the best things happen!) I asked you to share:
- The best thing that has happened for you in 2019; and
- the biggest lesson you learned in 2019 and how it has changed you.
Lots and lots of absolutely beautiful emails later I picked out my favourite 6 to share:
The best: Choosing myself. Over and over again. Learning how to choose to sit with myself and know myself at my deepest core level. Even when it all feels too overwhelming – choosing to let the world fall down around me, feeling and understanding my emotions, and then getting up and brushing myself off with a laugh and a smile, and moving on.
The biggest: All you have to focus on is living as your truest, most authentic self – reconditioning all that is not yours and getting rid of any shame. When you live from that space – when you think, act, speak as your most expanded self – all else follows. And then life becomes simple. You just have to let it be. It’s as simple as being yourself. It’s as simple as choosing love, kindness, compassion, gentleness and ease. Sometimes that is the most profound way of changing the world and finding peace within yourself. All you have to do is love. Even (and especially) through the hardships; life is so heart-wrenchingly confusing. Being able to sit with what comes but not getting stuck in it is crucial. And remembering that no one knows what they’re doing. The only way through is to choose love. — Rachel, USA
The best: I have found myself, I came home to myself it was a long journey of wondering but I finally got home.
The biggest: Do what you love and run from places that make you so unhappy, ask universe with all your heart and she will deliver even if it is not how you imagined things to work out, instead of sobbing and feeling sorry for yourself, see right through it and pick your shit together and do what you love, study and self grow, meditate, practise, chant whatever it takes to be happy and follow your heart, turn fear into love. That was my one big lesson this year and it has changed me forever, and there is no return back only forward. — Lana, Greece.
The best: Being valedictorian at my graduation, graduating magna cum Lauda with 96% for my thesis. Accepting my degree with my baby boy in my arms. My MA was one of the most profound experiences of my life. And motherhood was my dream finally come true. Together this culminated in a beautiful evening that made me burst at the seams with joy and pride.
The biggest: Wow, so many to choose from, it’s probably been the year I’ve healed the most, so I reckon the biggest is awareness. Becoming aware of my ego, my patterns, my coping mechanisms, my lack of boundaries, my need for self-love and beginning to cultivate it. Awareness really is key and for me, that held a multitude of lessons. — Emily
Best thing: I took a major gamble on myself and it paid off! And I went on way more trips, adventures and holidays than I planned!
Biggest lesson: That more than ever I can trust myself and trust that the universe will always provide. — Anna, UK
The best: My bf breaking up with me! At first, it was a complete shock, but I realise that it had to happen in order for me to grow and truly grow up! I started to meditate more, affirm what I actually want, spend time doing things that FEEL good — and it’s been a couple of months and honestly I feel so much more in alignment with myself and more loving. I know what I want now more than ever from a relationship and have really taken this time to fine-tune a lot of things. Most importantly I know I can survive on my own!
The biggest: I have learnt this year is that I have the power to change my reality. If there’s something I don’t like, I can take steps to change it :) — Ella, UK
The best: I quit my (lovely) job working for my mother as a chocolatier to spend an undefined amount of time travelling the US with my partner. We have spent the past 1.5 years working to manifest this trip.
Biggest lesson: I am an artist and I have been denying that identity in a big way. I have learned that reconnecting to my creativity, making art, and moving into an artists life is a must for the next chapter of my life. This realization has given me excitement, fear, and motivation in a way I never expected and don’t want to live without again. — Natasha, USA