2017: The Year I Finally Did Stuff

I feel like I had a pretty good year.

And generally I'm not somebody who makes resolutions or talks about my life in terms of years, but I feel like after this past year in particular, I have a lot to build on moving forward both personally and professionally. After being somebody who would WANT to do things but always found a way out, I finally started to actually DO things. I wanted to take a brief moment to categorize and talk through some of the highlights.

LitConcepts

I've always wanted to own a business and ultimately support myself with said business, and the first few steps were taken in March. I officially filed for an LLC in the state of Texas, acquired a Tax ID, and started doing a lot of research into media and web development.  A company website is currently being built, and I'm currently working on the first project. There's a few different directions that this could currently branch out into, and there may be a bit of foray into each one to see where it leads.

Marathons

I had never really thought about doing a half-marathon before, and to be honest it actually originated from a bet that was placed a year before. My brother and the rest of my family had run one in December 2016, and I jokingly had said that I would sign up and run it faster. I then ran my first half-marathon in March 2017, finishing with a mediocre time of 2:22 and giving myself a stress fracture in my right foot. Though it was a couple of months before I could run again, I was absolutely determined to run another, and signed up for a second half-marathon in December. Running through the rain in the middle of a crowd was not something I had seen myself doing a year before, but I'm glad I did. What initially started as a bet turned out to be a positive addiction, and has helped me set goals and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Travel

I've written about this pretty thoroughly (though most of my posts were lost transitioning web hosts) but I think that the 5 day odyssey through the western United States was easily the highlight of my year. Wanting to do something, deciding on going for it and leaving for a drive across the country at midnight felt like a game-changer as far as what I perceived I could do. In a sense, that freedom was liberating, and I can't wait to do something else like it. I feel as though I learned more about our country from this trip than I had at any point in any class I've taken. Being able to drone and share my impromptu adventure on social media meant that I was never bored despite taking the trip alone.

Outdoors

Lastly I had never really thought myself a hiker, or somebody who enjoyed being outdoors. Primarily because of the traveling, as well as what initially started as a trip to Enchanted Rock with friends, I started to spend an increasing amount of time hiking. As it turns out it's something I enjoyed so much that I even got a Texas Parks pass that I hope to use quite a bit once the weather warms up.