2010 Year-In-Review

My friends from undergrad always write a Year-in-Review at the end of every year. It’s a way for us to all reflect about what’s happened over the past year and to use those reflections to lead us into improvements for the following year. Not necessarily resolutions like “eat less carbs” but things to help us enjoy life more fully.

So, here is my 2010 Year-In-Review:

biggest accomplishment: learning to appreciate myself

biggest failure: did not use free time to learn another language, experiment in cooking, or read! Sigh.

biggest good change: cut back significantly on worrying about everything all. the. time. allowing myself to live in the moment.

biggest bad change: keeping in touch with peeps (this blog only served as a way for me communicate less on an individual level with people I care about)

other notable changes and accomplishments: began volunteering for things I really care about (youth health education), rediscovered how much i love my siblings, created a life in a far off place, experienced a World Cup, became a good host to guests, discovered that I don’t hate running (!), allowed myself to learn to say “no”, allowed myself to learn to say “yes”, achieved a better work/life balance, began to truly believe that those i love are always with me even when they are very far away, was a good friend to my best friend, got my first sister-in-law (!), kissed a hippo, laughed a lot, played with a lion cub,  swam in the Zambezi River, saw lots of wild cats, slept under the stars, camped during a thunderstorm and only got scared once, opened my heart.

places i went:

South Africa (johannesburg, pretoria, cape town, kruger national park, durban, east london, port elizabeth, rustenberg, bloemfontein, ETC.)
dar es salaam
arusha
serengheti national park
tangire national park
ngorogoro crater national park
zanzibar
usambara mountains
victoria falls
livingstone, zambia
baltimore
boston
maine
dc
frankfurt