Dear 2016

You were a really tough one. You put a lot of really difficult situations in my path, and you were filled with hard recognitions of who should have really meant the most to me, but you also gave me so many opportunities. I had the chance to meet new people, make new friends, begin to truly learn how important it is to look after myself. You drew me closer to my family, and my faith, and you made me appreciate the good times so much more.  You helped me strive to chase my dreams, and you sparked immense amounts of inspiration in my heart. You helped me understand how a simple face to face conversation could turn your week around, and you helped me grasp a better concept of what true joy means. 2016, you taught me a lot dear friend, but 2017...I cannot express how thankful I am that you're here. In honor of the new year, I decided the best way to kick it off is by choosing my word. 

Since I was in junior high, I had the opportunity to participate in our local churches girl’s bible study, and when every New Year rolls around, we each get to choose our “word”. This concept to me seemed so simple at the time, but after my 5^th year of choosing my word has rolled around, I began to truly understand the importance of this tradition. I suppose I should explain what “choosing your word” really means…

Each year, instead of setting a New Year’s resolution, we each chose one word-any word, that would represent what we want to do in the oncoming year. Whether its something as general as “grow”, or something more specific such as “happy”, it can be whatever you want to accomplish that year. This year I decided that I wanted to a word that represented several goals of mine. In the year 2017, I will have to not only make a decision on what my future job will be, but I will also have to applying for endless amounts of scholarships. Not only do I want to complete that, but I also want to put 10x more effort into my photography than I did this year. I want to work for the things I want, so that was when I decided my word for 2017 would be…

Pursue.

I WILL pursue photography.

I WILL pursue my future.

I WILL pursue my goals.

I WILL pursue the best memories.

I WILL pursue happiness.

I WILL pursue to be a more devoted Christian.

I WILL pursue self-love.

I WILL pursue MY 2017.