They say 2016 was a horrible year! A detrimental year! The worst year of our lives!

 

Breakups happened.

Hearts and bodies were destroyed.

Friendships were lost.

Fights were put on the battlefield.

Murders and killings occurred.

People have died.

 

And a little part of each of us has died as well

as this year comes to a close...

 

However, if we flip onto the other side of the coin.

We get to see so many other things that happened, other good things:

 

Getting to meet new people or seeing old friends,

Being able to scream or cry or shout or even fangirl/fanboy over the next best TV shows and movies,

Singing and dancing in the rain or in the sun or when the clouds are out (whatever you prefer),

Traveling to entirely new places or visiting old locations,

Falling in love with your best friend or boyfriend or girlfriend

...Or even yourself.

 

Yes, people, 2016 has seen it all. Oh, what a year it has been..., hasn't it?

I don't know honestly.

We are all different people leading different lives, secret lives, outgoing lives, introverting lives, happy lives, and sad lives.

 

Unfortunately, can we really blame anyone but ourselves for how the year turned out? To me, I don't think so.

Like more than half the people on this planet, I've laughed and cried and smiled and gotten angry and felt all those humanlike emotions we feel every day. 

At one point in time (or more like multiple times) during this year, I've even wanted to die more than ever...I've gone through the worst heartbreak of my life, been rejected by the guy of my dreams, failed some of the tests in my classes, broken down the bridges of friendships that I thought would last for a lifetime, and done some pretty stupid stuff to try and put myself back together. I pushed the people who care about me out, and I let every little thought turn into insults. I said things I regret to people I love in order to protect myself. Those little voices of self-consciousness took over my head. I thought I wasn't unique enough, wasn't pretty or beautiful enough, wasn't strong enough, wasn't smart enough, wasn't social enough, wasn't quiet enough, wasn't worth anything.

Not even worth living anymore. 

I eventually became my worst enemy.

But...I picked myself back up in the end. I got to meet some really awesome people. My best friends never abandoned me no matter the amount I pushed them away, and I can never thank them enough for staying with me. Bonds between us became eternal. I always had someone catching me and picking me back up when all I wanted to do was just sit back, cry, and disappear. I got to focus on myself and learn to love who I am. I had the chance to pick up the broken pieces of myself that no one could ever glue back to me. I had the strength to look in the mirror, and say to the girl in the reflection,

"You are enough, and that's all you have to be to be happy."

In the end, I became my own best friend.

 

The question always is: If we look back on the past year, are we the same person? No! Oh, of course, no!

While we may not be happy we aren't the same person when we look back in time, we should be happy we aren't, because then we wouldn't be able to grow. We wouldn't be able to climb up a branch and look out at the beautiful view in front of us and wonder why the struggle was even a struggle in the first place.

We wouldn't be able to say to ourselves,

"Look what I've done…I made it. I've finally made it."

 

So…as my 2016 self, would I take back the year and change all those bad moments?

No, I wouldn't even give it a second thought, and neither should you.

If you had the chance to redo the year, would you?