18 THINGS FROM 2018.
For me, 2017 was all about transition. I graduated high school, moved back to Tennessee, started a new job & college, & tried to figure out where I fit in during my new stage of life. It was spent with excitement, confusion, & a little bit of loneliness (yay moving). However, 2018 was much different. I found myself in 2018 living more freely than I had let myself before. I'm not saying that I was keeping myself under a microscope before, but I was stricter & put more restrictions on myself. In 2018, I also found myself actually "doing" more than I had before. While that may be partly because of college (thanks classes that I never wanted to take, but was required to!), it was also because I wanted to. I wanted to try new things out & see how well I could juggle them...and it worked. All of that being said, I wanted to make a list (me, making lists?! Wow shocking) of things that happened or that I learned in 2018.
1. I STARTED DRINKING COFFEE.
Does this make me an official college student?! Okay, maybe not. BUT I did start drinking coffee this year, which is a big step for me!
2. MY CMA AWARDS DREAM CAME TRUE.
I've been dreaming about going to this awards show since I was a little girl. My dream came true this year. It was magical. I cried when I found out I was going. I wrote a whole post on it, so click on the "2" above to read it!
3. I FOUND MY VOICE WITH WRITING.
I've been writing (whether it be stories, songs, or just random words jumbled together) since second grade. I LOVE to write. Words are so powerful. But up until this year, I never knew exactly what my writing (specifically for my blog) focus was. I found it this year: music & Nashville, the two things that I love most. So, I relaunched my blog to write about that! And with that...
4. I PURCHASED MY WEBSITE DOMAIN.
This was SO HUGE! I had been playing around with taking the dive into purchasing my domain for a while now, but wanted to wait until I was for sure that I really loved blogging/ was consistent enough to justify buying it. This year made me realize that I loved it & it was therapeutic for me, so I gave it my name to make it official!
5. I REALIZED YOU CAN MISS SOMEONE WITHOUT WANTING WHAT YOU HAD BACK.
People can be close, then grow apart. It's a part of life. It may not be what you want, but it's true. It isn't always a bad thing either. Sometimes, it's just God's way of telling you there's something (or someone) better waiting down the road for you.
6. I DISCOVERED THAT IT'S OKAY TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST WITH PEOPLE.
Up until this year, I would be honest with people, but I felt like I danced around the problem & smoothed it over more so than faced it head on. Like I said, I love words...but words are also hard. Finding the right ones can be difficult, so sometimes, I would avoid the confrontation. This year, I made myself a promise to be more honest with both others & myself. It's taking some getting used to, but I'm starting to get the hang of it!
7. I FOUND A LOT OF NEW FRIENDS & FINALLY FOUND MY "PEOPLE" IN COLLEGE.
I love my friends I love my friends I LOVE MY FRIENDS! I am so thankful that I have each & every friend of mine in my life because they make it so much better than it was before!
8. FRIENDS ARE ONE OF THE GREATEST GIFTS.
Going along with the last point, friends are one of the biggest parts of my year. My friends have helped me reach every goal I had this year, whether it was big or small. They are always there for a good hug, pep talk, cry, rant, or popcorn-eating-during-our-break hang. Most of all? They helped me become the best version of myself so far!
9. I MET SOME OF MY BIGGEST INFLUENCES.
This year was great for many reasons, but one reason was because I got to meet so many artists, songwriters, music industry executives, & more that influenced me to do what I want to do with my career one day!
10. I MADE BUSINESS CARDS.
Between meeting a bunch of my influences & being in the Recording Industry program at MTSU, I quickly realized that I always need to have business cards handy! But I couldn't make just NORMAL business cards (obviously. It's me we're talking about here), so I made pink ones!
11. PHOTOGRAPHY BECAME A NEW HOBBY FOR ME.
I've loved to take photos & capture memories for a long while now, but I never invested in practicing with an actual camera until this year. I have to say, I'm really glad I did! It's fun & it also helps with the blog (because you gotta get quality photos if you want a quality website!).
12. I STARTED TO SAY YES A LITTLE MORE.
I've always been an overly-cautious person. I've lived on the "safe side" & have told people that I don't think of myself as a spontaneous person 99% of the time. But this year, I decided to start saying "yes" to more:
adventures, outings, shows, even songs to listen to- and it's been GREAT.
13. I STAGE MANAGED MY FIRST SHOW.
I've acted in, written, & directed multiple shows before, but I'd never stage managed until this year! I had the pleasure of stage managing my sister's theatre company's production of Mary Poppins this past semester & I had so much fun getting to help out & know the kids!
14. I FOUND A GREAT GREEN JACKET.
I had been on the hunt for one for a while now, but this past spring, I found the most perfect lightweight army green jacket. Y'all- I wear the HECK out of this jacket. It's my favorite thing to throw on over any outfit (& it matches everything too!) & it's also the perfect weight!
It's like a superhero in jacket form.
15. I SPENT A LOT OF TIME BEING BUSY...& THAT'S NOT A BAD THING!
I tell people all the time that I don't feel like I'm doing enough unless I'm doing a ton. This year, my schedule pretty much doubled between school & my extracurricular activities, but that isn't terrible! In fact, I feel like I've accomplished more this year because of the fact that I had to time manage so much more.
16. I FOUND OUT THAT I REALLY LIKE DRIVING ON I-40.
Okay so this may seem VERY weird & random, but my GPS took me home on I-40 one day back from Nashville because of bad traffic, but I found that while it may have taken an extra 10 minutes to get home, it was a lot calmer! Now, I try to take I-40 as much as I can- it's a great drive to help decompress from a busy day in Nashville!
17. GETTING SET BACK IN YOUR PLAN DOESN'T MEAN IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.
It may seem to some of y'all reading this that 2018 was just full of a lot of ups; that wasn't the case. In fact, it was filled with a rollercoaster of ups & downs. While yes, I did have a FANTASTIC 2018 with lots of exciting events & successes, I also had a lot of downs, filled with defeat, getting told "no" for multiple occasions, & more. All of those downs mixed together with the good to show me that even though what I wanted to work out didn't happen originally, God had a much better plan waiting for me!
18. 2017 WAS ALL ABOUT TRANSITION.
2018 WAS ALL ABOUT DISCOVERY.
2019 WILL BE ALL ABOUT EXPERIENCE.
I learned so much in 2018- about myself, others, & the world that we live in.
2019 will be a year full of new projects, new classes, new EXPERIENCES.
I can't wait for y'all to take this ride with me!
-GC