Happy New Year’s Eve! I would like to remind you to start the Year off to a good start. Please don’t drink and drive. If you are out and drinking, call a cab, Uber, or your best friend (as long as they are sober.) Stay safe this New Year’s Eve!

I took the last few days to reflect on the past year. I am glad to see it go… Goodbye, farewell, turn out the lights, get out! While there were many bad things this past year, there were still some good things. Music for me was a good point of 2017.

I watched many epic 2017 music mash-up videos to share with you, and I decided to go with this particular video. I will warn you in advance, there is a touching tribute to Chester at the end. I cried like a baby; I am not over him or Chris.

Besides the diversity of this video, one of the biggest reasons I wanted to share this is because this time of year, depression, and suicide is at its worst for many people. Please, if you know someone going through some crap reach out to them. If you are going through things and feel like you don’t belong here anymore, remember, you are loved. The world needs you.

Suicide hotline: 1-800-273- TALK (1-800-273-8255)

Reflections on 2017

What was your biggest mistake this past year?

I royally messed up this past year in a major way by hiring a friend to do an important project that I needed done back in April. A year later, no progress has been made, release dates have been postponed again and again. Maybe he felt pressured and put on the spot, maybe it was taken with a grain of salt because we are friends…. who knows.

Remember, folks, never ever do business with your best friend. Luckily we still are friends.

Smartest things I have done this past year:

The things I feel good about that I did this past year:

   Revamping my website and rebranding, changing it into a lifestyle blog.

   All the marketing classes I took for book launches

   Purchasing and implementing Frances Caballo and Joel Friedlanders’ Social Media Course. (Nope, not getting paid to say this. The information in this course has helped me get more of a foothold on my social media circus. I would never recommend to you something I don’t believe in.  I see bigger and better things on the horizon thanks to the wealth of information provided in the material and Frances’ blog.)

   Adding in rich pins and being more active on Pinterest. My followers are not a large base yet, but I get a lot of hits to my blog from Pinterest. I am also pleased to see they stick around and read some of my posts.

What did I learn about myself this past year

I learned this past year that I am quick to judge and critic myself too harshly. I am my own worst critic, but until this year, I didn’t realize how much I slowed myself down judging everything I do with a “hateful” eye. I made the mistake that people I believed in and supported felt the same way about me.

What do I need to do more of next year?

Believe in myself, this past year was a revelation on how little I think about my own abilities and good points.

What do I need to do less of next year?

   I need to stop relying on other people to do XY and Z. I don’t mean not delegate tasks to other people, but I need to learn which people I can delegate too.
   I need to be less critical of myself.

What was I thankful for?

I am the most thankful for my family and friends. They supported me through a lot of bad times this past year, with personal loss, health issues, and any and everything else you can think of.

What hurt me the most?

There were three things this past year that devastated me.

My aunt died right at the start of the year. There was really no warning, it was so sudden it took me months to wrap my head around it and cope with it. Some days, I still haven’t coped with it.
My niece’s cancer came back.
A dear friend of mine, a beautiful Trans-Woman committed suicide this past March. She was one of the strongest women I have ever known, and her passing was a shock. I am still heartbroken, and have so many questions I want to ask her; if only I could.

What did I enjoy the most?

I enjoyed volunteering and being a Trans Ally with the PAGE and BRIDGE groups, and supporting the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.

My best memory of the year was:

September when all my kids, their spouses and grandkids were all together under one roof in the same state.

My favorite book I read this past year was:

Out of the 30 books I read this year, R.A. Salvatore – Hero, Homecoming #3; Legend of Drizzt # 30 was my favorite. It was a bittersweet read for me as a life long Drizzt fan. Homecoming is the last book in the Drizzt series according to R.A. Salvatore’s website.

My Favorite TV show this past year was:

My favorite show was the same as it has been for the past 5 years now, The Curse of Oak Island on the History Channel.

My Favorite Movie from 2017:

My favorite movie is a toss up between Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets because I am a huge Pierre Christin fan.

My Favorite Song I binged on in 2017:

There were three of those:

DragonForce – Ashes of the Dawn

Luis Fonzi ft Daddy Yankee – Despacito

And

Foo Fighters – Run (The whole album is EPIC! Technically, you can name any Foo Fighters song here and you can be certain I binged on it, just like every other year…)

My favorite date night outing was:

My favorite date night this past year was going to see the live theater play of Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery at the Fine Arts Center with my Hunny.

Favorite thing I learned this year:

I learned how to design book interior design for both print books and eBooks.

What goals do I have for next year?

You can read all about my goals in my New Year’s post.

Your Turn!

When you reflect on 2017, what are your memories? Let me know in the comments below!