Welcome to Day #9 of Gwen Bell’s Best of 09 Blog Challenge. I’m really enjoying thinking through each of these topics and sharing the best of 2009 with you. Really, this is what a blog should be, right? This journey has been like the soulful version of ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge. But maybe better. 🙂
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My best challenges of 2009 were not the ones that I asked for or created for myself. They weren’t personal goals or benchmarks.
In fact, they were things that really caught me off guard. Most of the time, my first response was to sit in my car or in my bathtub and cry. Other times, I stuffed in every tear and told myself to suck it up and be strong. Over the next weeks and months, I learned how strong I could be, and I learned I had resources and creativity in me that I never knew existed before.
I realized that my husband and I are stronger than we think we are. And we’re more connected now than we ever have been.
From trying to run our own business, to losing a third of our income, to learning to build a business, to trying (unsuccessfully) for a baby, to feeling the heartache of broken trust, to learning when it is time to let go and move on, the challenges I’ve faced in 2009 haven’t been easy ones. But they’ve been character-building challenges. I am coming to know who I am and what I’m about, who Chris and I are and what we’re about as a family, and I am finding strength there.
There were many times this year when I felt beaten down, defeated. But each time circumstances or the world said no, I’ve come back, gotten out of bed another day, sat down at my desk, and said, “Yes, I will.”
I have no idea what 2010 holds in store. In a way I hope the challenges I’m writing about next year are about running marathons or learning a second language. Because this year has been exhausting. I’m realizing now, though, that the beauty of this year couldn’t have been attained any other way.
1 Comment
I cannot tell you how much or indeed how well I understand as it may seem at least a little odd, coming from a stranger and all that. But when you say that this year has been exhausting, bells of recognition have rung loudly in my ears and all the way to Heaven. Yes, *exhausting*, same here. I can’t wait for it to be in the bag and to crack a new diary open. Best wishes to you!
Steph~
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