Here's the thing about 2016. It was pretty terrible. Which might sound overdramatic when I also add that nothing truly earth shattering in my life happening. There wasn't one big event when the world collapsed around me but more like 300 moments that strung together to leave me feeling defeated and generally unhappy. And maybe 2017 will be different, but maybe it won't, it could get worse.
January// I rang in 2016 with J. and had dinner with his family which mainly revolved around his sister sharing her tales of adventure from the night before. Then I headed off to Florida and got to experience Disney World. Turns out I was very wrong in my thought process about not enjoying Disney because I don't like rides. Disney World is a magical place. I turned 26 and didn't do much to celebrate because I was working. January was also the month that I committed to spending a fifth summer working at camp.
February// I celebrated four years of blogging in this little space. And spent the rest of my time working at the office job and planning for the summer. I had a very low key Valentine's Day celebration and didn't blog all that much.
March// At this point I was working seven days a week. In addition to working Monday-Friday I was also working overtime on Saturday & Sunday. I forget exactly how many days I worked in a row but I know it was a lot.
April// My contract for the office job ended towards the end of the month and as soon as it did I hopped on a plane to visit H. in Ontario. We hit up all the major tourist attractions and had the best time catching up.
May// I transitioned into working at camp full time and right from the beginning it was a bit of a gong show. Blogging moved to the back burner to the back of the fridge and then became that thing you put in the freezer that you keep meaning to defrost.
June// More camp, no blogging. I ended things with J., which was probably my best decision of 2016. Camp was one tale of adventure after the other. I wish I had blogged more but I did keep a written journal and I documented everything using Project Life so I'm letting myself be okay with not blogging.
July// R. arrived home and since we were in the middle of an epic staff shortage she came on board and also moved into my room. We made a lot of jokes about being 26 working at camp and having bunk beds. I think we passed the ultimate friendship test sharing a room, working together and still going on weekend adventures.
August// R. and I went on many weekend adventures and camp continued to teach me a lot of things about human resources.
September// We ran our first two fall camping events! Which was really exciting and also meant I didn't leave camp until mid-September. I started blogging again and also started seriously pursuing year round camp jobs out of province...none of which worked out. I did start helping out with a new Spark/Brownie group which has been a lot of fun!
October// We had some serious weather over Thanksgiving weekend. I got back into the groove of blogging and participated in the Back to Blogging Challenge hosted by Alyssa Goes Bang which really got me back in the blogging groove. I finished off the month with a weekend trip to visit H. & R. and continued to reach a lot of dead ends on the year round camp job front.
November// We had our enrolment ceremony at Sparks/Brownies and celebrated my grandparents 50th anniversary. I was feeling really discouraged about the job hunt but tried really hard to embrace the journey.
December// I embraced the mantra always forward for the remainder of the year because the search for full time, year round employment is still coming up short. I continued to apply for positions and try to be in the moment rather than worrying about what happens next.
I have no idea what 2017 will have in store. I hope that it brings an amazing new job, that I get to spend lots of time with H. & R. and I can keep working on becoming less of a worrier and more of a savourer.
