It feels like I blinked and another year went by. I can picture myself at the end of 2017 dreaming of 2018, nervous that it would not be able to come close to 2017. I had just returned from 5 months living and traveling abroad in Australia and my life felt like an absolute dream. I was hiking and exploring the corners of the world, doing all the things I had dreamed of doing in high school. Looking forward, I was nervous that I would have trouble readjusting, jumping back into internships and school and that I would lose that sense of adventure in the bustle of everyday. But as I look back at 2018 I am so proud of myself. I spent 8 months of the year living in San Francisco for internships, and spent every free moment hiking, camping and breathing in the wilderness that surrounds the city, learning that I need that for myself to reset and feel centered. I started to really feel the self confidence that people have always told me that I have. I deepened friendships, made new connections and tried to be as fearless as possible. I dove deeper into photography and captured moments I know I will cherish for the rest of my life. I really began to take note and recognize what makes me happy and what doesn’t and tried to choose joy and positivity each day. I learned that laughter is the worlds best gift and that human beings come into your life at a specific time for a purpose and can teach you so much that you didn’t even know you needed to learn. That joy is contagious, magic is real and that you can really live the life your 10 year old self wrote about in journals if you put fear aside and jump in. I go through my photos from this past year and I get giddy that this is the life I am lucky enough to be living, which is why I think it is so important to take the time at the end of each year to let it all sink in. Life is grand and confusing and magical and strange, but man oh man it is so sweet, and how lucky we are to be living it and experiencing all the ups and downs and figuring it out as we go.
Looking forward to 2019, I know it will be a year of big life changes. I graduate in the beginning of the year and my life will no longer be pieced into 4 month increments. In August, I move to San Francisco full time to live and work and I couldn’t be more excited and also nervous to begin this new stage of my life. So, since it is the end of another year, it is time for the good ol’ goal setting. Each year I set goals so I have things to work on and be mindful of to keep myself growing in the new year. In 2019, I want to surround myself with nature as much as possible, to take photos of the everyday and keep working on my craft, to strengthen relationships and really focus on friendships that bring a light to my life, to keep working on that self-confidence and self-love, to be more patient, to keep following my heart, and to release control sometimes (just go with the flow bruh). I don’t have to know what I am doing every step of the way, I just need to continue to follow my intuition and my gut and I know it will lead me where I am supposed to be and I will be looking back this time next year thinking heck ya, it’s been another hell of a year.
Here are some of my favorite moments from the past year (musings continued after):
2 internships, 30 hikes, 7 gal pals, 1 apartment in Lower Haight, 20 rooftop sunsets, 5 campfires, 8 bowls of Pho, 20 sunrise, 2 cities, 7 waterfalls, 8 banana slugs, 10 hand stands, 30 trees hugged, 300 polaroids, 1 Women's March, 5 sunburns, 4 sandcastles, 13 mountains, 30 yoga classes, 8 face-swaps, 1 studio-shoot, 50 bike rides, 15 car jam sessions, 1 freezing cold dip, 7 national park, 10 state parks, 365 days of laughter, 2 epic road trips, 20 beaches, 30 terrible nature jokes and so many more amazing memories. Here’s to 2018 and to 2019 being just as epic. Thanks to everyone who has made this year one of the best yet.
Cheers - keleniak
#heckyaSF