2003, a retrospective (How’s your year been)

last year’s thread by the lovely Blue Kitten

So, how has your year been? Are there any stand out high or low points? Has it been a generally good year or a year of struggles and heartbreak? Did you achieve your goals for the year? What did you learn from your experiences?

For me 2003 has been pretty much a good year although emotionally it was a rollercoaster ride of gigantic proportions.

• High Points
• Getting to know some amazing people better and starting the foundations for some great friendships
• Finally meeting some of the people I have been chatting to for years, these people hold huge chunks of my heart and will continue to do so
• Tripping at Dreamworld with mr_fluffy
• My work and my continuing love for it
• My great grades with uni
• Visiting Melbourne and Perth and Canberra
• My Beach party in august (thanks so much anth and liz for the loan of the beach house and thanks to everyone that came)
• Taking up vocal again (I forgot how much I missed singing)
• Finally deciding how I want my life to be
• Discovering what my passion in life is and how achievable it is
• My baby sister getting pregnant
• Accepting who I am
• The spiritual growth I have gone through and the strengthening of my gifts
• Coming to terms with missing everyone and the physical distance between us
  I’m sure there’s more but that’s all for now
  
  Low Points
• Some pretty bad choices were made early on in the year that worked out for the best but was devastating at the time
• The horrible emotional rollercoaster I’ve been on
• My battle with benzos as emotional crutch during hard times
• My chronic insomnia that has me relying on aforementioned benzos to sleep
• Cold turkey Xanax withdrawal (never ever again)
• My on-going and scary at times medical problems
• My baby sister getting cancer
• The hurt I caused to and received from people I love
• Saying goodbye to a few dreams
• Falling in love (yes this was a low point)
• Uni fucking up my results and not getting them to QTAC in time to support my application
• Getting fucked by the tax department

In general 2003 has been a really good year, filled with friends, fun and beautiful times - some that are way too personal to share, there was a fair deal of struggles and heartbreak, the emotional ride I was on for most of the year wasn't pretty but in general the good outweighs the bad by a fair bit and 2003 has been a really big one for personal and spiritual growth.

I have achieved most of my goals for this year and the most important thing that I have learnt is that not everything is under my control and life is actually meant to be uncertain – that’s half the fun

hmmm ok i can do this...

Highs

• Making new friends that have enriched my life and touched my heart
• Re-gaining a friendship that I lost
• My promotion
• My pay rise
• Sticking to my budget and making huge steps to rid my debts
• My new car
• Ridding alot of people that were bad energy on me
• My son turning 8
• My anime collection
• Being moderator of Life and the wonderful people I've met through there.

Lows

• My mum's mental illness
• Dad's black spots in his lungs
• My sister abondoning her kids
• Being homeless for a short period
• Failed relationship
• Insomnia
• Anxeity and Panic Attacks

Wouldn't say its one of my memorable years - lots of good, but the bad seems to overshadow it alot.

But I'm alive and well - so its good

HIGHS:

- Being made redundant from the architectural firm & then scoring my dream job a week later back in interior design

-The $15,000 pay rise that came with the new job

-My ability to prove for the 5th year in a row that it is possible to work full time, party & do full time uni at the same time (& work saturdays too ;P).

-Discovering my creative side again

-Completing my Master's Degree & topping the class in my final
project

-My constantly growing friendships with my best friends: Trudi, Yuri & Jilly

-My trip to Melbourne in June (particularly the last 4 days ;P)

-Discovering that I wanted to be more then just friends with Tarsarlan

-Travelling between here (Brisbane), Melbourne & Sydney

-Discovering what it means to be independent

-The 3 week holiday I will be having in Melbourne in less then 5 days (including 2 nights with Tarsarlan in an executive suite

-Beginning to read things other then design magazines & autobiographies

-Finally getting a new computer, with much thanks to the help of Tarsarlan *mwah!*

-Taking up my friend's advise & starting my own Live Journal



LOWS:


-Continuous communication problems with my parents

-My father discovering that he has over 20 skin cancers on his arms & back

-The distance that separates myself & Tarsarlan

-The weird shocks to my head that have begun to reappear again

-Losing a ring at work that meant a lot to me


That is all I can think of atm, but I might edit this later on if anything else comes to mind

another year

Well it's been a massive year for me too - Kitty I hear you on the whole emotional rollercoaster thing. I can't believe it's gone so fast, so lets see what has been...

HIGHS

* finishing my honours year at uni and coming out with a 1A.
* renewing a few old friendships, making new ones and having others keep growing into something wonderful.
* getting a good job with my qualifications that will take me where I want to go.
* the amazing relationship I have with Cuddlefish becoming stronger and deeper and being more in love than I ever believed I would be.
* mastering how to cook good Indian.
* getting a handle on a lot of the emotional bullshit that has caused me too many hassles.
* my health finally starting to normalise.

LOWS

* spending 3 months unemployed and the nasty depression that accompanied it.
* nearly breaking up with Cuddlefish and running away interstate.
* continuing shitty relationship with my family.
* assorted piles of stress from family, money worries, uni etc.
* continuing knee problems.

There's a tonne of other stuff, but I guess these points stick out a bit and are shareable

Smiley

Highs

• Getting a job in the field i love.
• Making some fantastic new friends, not only in SYD, but also Bris, Perth and MEL. And strengthening bonds with current friends.
• Buying decks.
• Spending bulk money on myself for a change.
• Travelling to WA and QLD.
• Getting my lil car back on the road.
• Learning what true love is.

Lows

• Loosing above mentioned "true love".

^^^ Thats about it really. Unfortunately that one low has dominated the last 6 months of my life, but, not any longer. New Year is almost upon us, so its a new start for this DJC*.

DJC*

I would have to say that 2003 has been a very successful year. I would rather focus on the highs rather than lows...

- finishing my bachelors degree
- getting accepted into a masters of law
- getting a job interview for the one job I really wanted, and then finding out that I got the job!
- building relationships with my friends and my life partner :D
- rebuilding the good relationship with my family
- seeing my brother doing really well at school

Highs

- Finishing uni
- Getting a job suited to my uni degree
- meeting probably some of the coolest people on earth
- My 21st party
- realising that true friend's help you through tough times.

Lows

- Panic Attacks
- Having my employers at my part time job think that I was hopeless, due to being constantly scattered.
- Being told that I didnt belong with a certain group of people.
- Having a close friend betray me
- Meeting Keej

My year has been for the most part horribly low: lots of depression, couple of suicide attempts etc...

The good stuff though, although it's only been in the last few months, has been fucking awesome: Moving interstate, making it on my own, got a stable job, happy with where my life is, and I have met some really fucking amazing people.

It's all a learning experience, don't regret any of it.

--President Raz--

Highs

• I watched my daughter learn loads of cool things and got to see the world through her eyes
• I got married and became part of another wonderful family
• Turned 21 and realised I was - gasp - still alive!
• Celebrated 2 full years without drugs
• Started my own business
• I met a bunch of great women on a parenting message board

Lows

• Post-natal depression/exhaustion
• Ongoing social anxiety, which seems to get more and more debilitating
• Endless arguments with my parents about everything
• Feeling lonely a lot of the time
• The fact that my best friend couldn't be at my wedding
• Debts, debts, debts!

Just other year..........

Highs:

* Got promoted twice this year, and ended up as a department manager, which improved my people skills, and pay raise.

* My god-daughter (my best mate's daughter) called my name for the first time, and realising how much she meant the world to me. She always brightens my day when I am going thru low periods of my life.

* Realising how strong the friendship and close I am with my best mate whom I have been friends for nearly 12 years despite we almost lost our friendship over stupid drug-related arguement.

* Caught up with my father who came up visit me for the first time in 3 years.

* Caught up with my grandfather for the first time in 2 years.

* First Candyflipping expereince with a fellow bluelighter who was also his first time... a very surreal experience, and long story, which lead made me learnt a lot about myself.

* Seperated and stayed away from the Gold Coast crowd.

* Got close and became friends again with my little sister.

* My social life improved, accepted who I am, and made some good friends.

* My trip/holiday to Central Queensland.

* My 25th birthday BBQ.

Lows:

* Fall into a debt again despite clearing my debts earlier the year.

* My grandmother still refuses to speak to me for the 4th year in row.

* My younger brother moving back home with mother.

* Almost lost my driver's licence, now on 12 month good behaviour bond.


Thats pretty much it, its been a good and quiet year, but little bit of a roller coaster year emotionally. I am pretty happy what I have archieved this year so far...... hope it will get better in 2004.

very interesting and life changing year (nothing new there)

HIGHS

* made some really fantastic friends and realised that the family & friends combo is possible

* moved to melbourne

* finally got a half decent job

* fell so hopelessly in love with the best guy in the whole world and i'm so frikkin happy its not funny.

LOWS

* i'm not even gonna mention uni. i think i'm gonna give up on the whole thing if i dont get into RMIT. which i dont think i will. and thats being realistic.

* i have absolutely no money and its gonna take at least another month to get on top of things

* the guilt associated with having to rely on Sllip for everything.

* being screwed around by centrelink

but all in all i'm still happy. i know that i can get through any nasty things that come my way, and what makes it better, i've got someone who can help me with it all too.