I can’t believe 2018 is coming to a close! It feels like just yesterday that I was sitting down to write my 2017 reflections post and now, here I am doing it again for 2018.
This year had many highs and many lows. It forced to me to really look inside myself and figure out what I want out of life. It took me on many adventures, and more travels than ever before. It made me realize things about myself. It made me grow and change as a human being.
This year had so many great memories, but I think I will always remember this as one of the hardest years of my life. I experienced real anxiety and panic attacks for the first time ever. I was thrown into many stressful situations at work and in my personal life. I had to learn how to change and adapt and manage my life and my time.
Unfortunately, my health is the center of all of the hard times and stress. Although I haven’t talked about it much, it started in January of 2018 and has continued through the entire year. I plan to do a whole separate post about this, but, long story short, a benign tumor was found accidentally during an MRI of my stomach to check on my IBS. It took months and many tests to figure out what exactly it was, and then more tests and more months and more doctor’s appointments to figure out my next steps. I have finally figured that all out and in 2019 we finally take action against this. I’m not going to go into any more detail here right now, but I will definitely be updating and documenting the entire journey in 2019. But, the whole saga crushed me mentally and emotionally. The stress of being poked and prodded, of undergoing many tests and having so many appointments. The fear of the unknown at first….and then the fear of what I now know is growing inside me…and the fear of what has to come next. The concern about my extremely high medical bills, and the concern over more that will inevitably come. Worrying about work and my social life and my family having to deal with all of this. While I have been able to distract myself and find ways to deal with everything, overall it’s been a hard year. One last thing I will say about this: I know I will end up stronger because of it.
All that scary and stressful medical stuff aside, had some pretty amazing times in 2018. Here are some of my favorite highlights from the past year:
-Doing my first fitness photoshoot with Nick Cosky Photography
-Ringing in my 28th birthday with my family and best friends
-Writing and releasing my first e-book
-Meeting Luke Pell from The Bachelor
-Spending a week in ALASKA, and falling back in love with nature
-Checking our first National Park off our bucket list: Denali!
-Celebrating my baby sister’s graduation from high school
-Spending almost every summer weekend on the Cape with my family and friends
-Seeing Zac Brown Band at Fenway for the second time
-Seeing DJ Pauly D at The Grand (on a Monday night!)
-Hiking Mt. Watatic for the second time
-Another Girl’s Weekend in NH, our 7th one since 2007!
-Celebrating my grandfather’s 90th birthday
-Seeing Ed Sheeran at Gillette Stadium…a concert I won tickets to on Instagram!
-Writing and releasing my second e-book
-Reuniting with my college friends to celebrate Billy and Molly’s wedding
-Traveling to Nashville for my cousin Lisa’s bachelorette party
-Climbing Mt. Greylock, the highest peak in Massachusetts (it was a pretty foggy day!)
-My brother got a puppy! My niece-dog!
-Climbing my first 4,000-footer, Mt. Cannon, in New Hampshire
-Standing by my cousin as she married the love of her life
-Celebrating 4 years with Tim
-Traveling to Denver, CO
-Checking another National Park off the bucket list: Rocky Mountain!
-Climbing Deer Mountain in RMNP
-Seeing Hamilton in Boston
-Going to my 10-year high school reunion with my best friends
-Celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with Tim for the first time
-Ending the year with one more hike up Mt. Monadnock
All in all, it was a pretty fantastic year. I will never forget the memories I made this year, and all the amazing adventures I had. I’ll always remember this as the year that I rediscovered my love for hiking and being in nature, and the year that Tim and I decided that we want to visit as many National Parks as we can (2 down, 57 to go!)
I know 2019 is going to bring more adventures, more struggle, and more love, and I can’t wait to see what else it has in store for me. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Year’s Eve tonight, and an amazing 2019! Cheers to the memories we shared in 2018, and new beginnings in 2019!!
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