In the past couple of weeks people have been talking a lot about how happy they are that 2016 is over, what a terrible year it was. I am not going to deny that tragic events didn’t happen in 2016. And some of these people suffered loss or were dealing with illness. It’s not my place to tell them that 2016 wasn’t a terrible year for them, but it did make me think.

Hearing this repeatedly started me thinking about what my thoughts were on the past year. I thought about things that happened in the world, but most of my memories were of what happened to me, my family and my friends.

While there were definitely some negative aspects to the year, I have to say that 2016 was pretty incredible. When I analyzed this (because I analyze, or over-analyze everything) I realized that I put the most weight on things that I control. This past year I put more effort into making my life full and amazing than I have in any previous year.

Great things happened this year, because I made them happen. I pushed to fulfill adventures that were out of my comfort zone because I knew the outcome would be worth it. Amazing years don’t happen by doing the same thing as the previous year.

As the new year starts there is now a lot of talk about “2017 is going to be amazing” and “This is going to be best year yet” and I truly hope that this is true for everyone. But unless everyone plays an active role in their life and doesn’t just let it happen, I fear that in December I am going to hear “I can’t wait until 2017 is over, it’s been a terrible year”. Bad events are going to happen every year, most of them we have no control over. So again in 2017 I am going to do what I need to do, to make MY life and year amazing.

Before setting goals for 2017, I looked back and documented all that I had accomplished in the past year. Wow… it was a pretty cool exercise!