{"id":728,"date":"2017-12-31T15:40:22","date_gmt":"2017-12-31T15:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/?p=728"},"modified":"2018-01-04T00:25:31","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T00:25:31","slug":"reflections-of-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/reflections-of-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections of 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/2017-2.jpg\" alt=\"Reflecting on 2017\" width=\"243\" height=\"243\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-738\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/2017-2.jpg 243w, https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/2017-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/2017-2-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 243px) 100vw, 243px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It is December 30th as I write this. 2017 is almost over and as with a lot of people, the last few days are a time to reflect on the year that has been, and to make resolutions for the year to come. In this blog post, I will write my thoughts as well as share some of my New Years resolutions.<\/p>\n<p>I'm going to come out and say it, 2017 has been brutal. I thought 2016 was a down year, but 2017 said to 2016 \"hold my beer\". I mean this year has been challenging to say the least. I truly believe that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, and this has been truly been put to the test this year.<\/p>\n<p>The year started out with Donald Trump being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States and in a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/im-not-with-him\/\">previous blog post<\/a>, I shared my opinion of DT. After a year of DT as President, my opinion is no higher and definitely lower than it was a year ago. <\/p>\n<p>Donald Trump wasn't the only reason 2017 was a disappointing year though. I had high hopes for 2017 since 2016 was a down year for me. I was super excited when 2016 came to an end and 2017 arrived, but then I was met with reality early on that 2017 would be a year of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/2017-half-way-review\/\">challenge<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/the-dreaded-c-word-the-inspiring-c-word\/\">loss<\/a>, and what seemed like one struggle after another.<\/p>\n<p>I struggled at times this year with depression, job hunt frustration, frustration with contract roles and frustration with some freelance projects. Also, frustration, and anger with so-called \"leaders\". I won't go into any more detail, except sometimes people's word means nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Enough pouting and bellyaching though. I am a positive \"glass-half-full\" person and I prefer to focus on the positive and not the negative, so I will list a few things that did go right for me in 2017. I learned new technical skills, both on the job and through online courses like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.udemy.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Udemy<\/a>. I also learned to play acoustic guitar (sort of) and I read a lot, not as much as I would have liked to, but a lot. I also exercised and meditated regularly, and I drank plenty of water.  I was fortunate  to be creative in some interesting <a href=\"http:\/\/gergenfamily.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">freelance projects<\/a>, and I wrote some really good <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/2017\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">blog post<\/a> this year. I also made new friends in 2017 and was a good Son, Brother and Uncle.<\/p>\n<p>So 2017 had some positive moments, but are my expectations for 2018 to be the same as 2017? <strong>HELL NO<\/strong>. I expect 2018 to be head and shoulders above 2017. I have great expectations for 2018, and I am highly motivated after reading Jon Gordons, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jongordon.com\/20tips\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">20 Tips For A Positive New Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I know I am not alone in having a bad year, and I know I am not alone in hoping for a better year in  2018, so I say to whoever is struggling like me, stay positive, stay focused, stay present and believe in yourself. <strong>Happy New Year!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is December 30th as I write this. 2017 is almost over and as with a lot of people, the last few days are a time to reflect on the year that has been, and to make resolutions for the year to come. In this blog post, I will write my thoughts as well as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,100,2,62,99,3],"tags":[64,134,133,135],"class_list":["post-728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-determination-philosophy","category-holidays","category-life","category-philosophy","category-politics","tag-64","tag-134","tag-new-years","tag-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspired-evolution.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}