The Lessons We Learn

Mom emailed me a little bit ago and asked if I was going to make a follow-up post to my One Little Word project. For those of you that remember/care, my word was CHALLENGE. I can't tell you how many times this year I've kicked myself for choosing that word. It's kind of like praying for patience, you know? It's never a good idea to pray for patience. ;)

I won't be sad to see 2009 go. This year has been such a roller coaster for me, personally, and for my family. I'm not going to dwell on those things, because there's no point. It would also be short-changing some of the AMAZING experiences that we had this year, and truly I'm not sure we could have appreciated them as much if we hadn't had to go to (what seems like) hell and back in the past twelve months.

Instead, I think I'll share a few lessons I learned while riding the roller coaster that was 2009:

1. It's okay to say no.
2. It's okay to say yes.
3. What worked in the past might not work now.
4. Don't dismiss a solution just because it's never worked before.
5. If you aren't mentally healthy, then you're just shooting yourself in the foot. Do whatever it takes to get it together mentally and emotinally.
6. Sometimes, dreams come true. And they're better than you could have ever imagined.
7. We aren't on a set path. A million little choices get us where we are, and they can also take us in a different direction.
8. J.J. Abrams made the Star Trek reboot awesome, and Chris Pine is a better Captain Kirk than William Shatner.

Okay, so how did things go with YOUR word this year? Post in the comments, or post about it on your own blog.