I did so many things in 2013 that I would had never expected — and some things I wish wouldn’t have happened. Looking back and reflecting has been interesting and challenging. I know it is half way through February, but I wrote this a while and am typing it up now… Here are three words I would use to describe 2013 (I got this idea from Jessica Lawlor!)

Question
2013 threw a lot of questions and doubts my way. Being away from my “normal” life for the first half of the year allowed me to come at my world with a fresh perspective. I questioned a lot — my self, my relationships, my desires, my church, my spirituality. At the end of the year, I still had a lot of questions, but I grew a lot from the questions I battled with.

Observe
My reason for this word flows from the previous one. I took a step back in various areas of my life to observe my surroundings and myself. I also chose this word because I learned to observe and appreciate my surroundings. I took a challenge to take a picture every day of the year. This little challenge taught me to always be looking for something new and interesting, even in an “uninteresting” day.

Broken
A big thing 2013 taught me about myself was that I am a messed up, broken 20 year old. From the outside, it may have looked like I had an awesome life — I lived in Europe and traveled the world, I had good grades, I had a job offer for when I graduate, I had two jobs in my field, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I am so thankful for everything I have. But for much of 2013, I was falling apart. And that’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes it’s need to build yourself back up. But it’s not fun.

I’ve come up with three words for 2014 that I hope will define my year a bit more positively 🙂