Year in Review: 2010

I wrote the following on the plane while going to Australia a couple weeks ago:

Well hello blog…it’s been quite a while. Like so many things that I used to do regularly in my life before I started working, it was so easy to let writing slip. But today I was talking with a good friend from work who mentioned how hilarious it would be if I wrote about all my baking and eating (while traveling) adventures, and I realized oh yeah, I actually did that for the last two years of college! So I opened up this blog and realized that at the very least, I can write a “year in review” entry for the eighth year in a row. It was a pretty fantastic trip down memory lane to look back on my blog entries from 2009 – the craziness of Duke, the excitement of a new relationship, the charm of Venice, the return to Australia, the move to Boston. One thing I was wrong about, though, was the expectation that 2010 would be a less fun and carefree year. Worried about my long distance relationship and the prospect of having to work all the time, I suppose it was natural to be apprehensive, but I have been pleasantly surprised by just how incredible a year this has been. True, there have been frustrations, long nights, difficult family situations, and moments of questioning, but overall, this has been an amazing year of self discovery and learning in all aspects of my life.

Some highlights:
- Work ski trip, where I first realized how close I would become to my peers and how incredibly fulfilling it is to work in an environment that is so social and friendly (other highlights would then be the 17 other social events that occurred…haha)
- Those funny managers and competent consultants that made the difficult cases bearable, kind of like laughing at everything when you are doing a problem set at 1 or 2 in the morning
- Travel to Australia and London and France and all the exotic perks of having an international boyfriend with an amazing family
- Discovering how my passion for travel can have a business outlet in learning about airlines and beginning to understand where I want to direct my career (baby steps, but it’s a start)
- Realizing that, at least at this point in my life, business travel is almost as fun as leisure travel. Living in hotels, playing the points game, earning status, getting everything paid for…nothing wrong with that!
- Seeing each member of my immediate family begin to move on with his/her life – be it moving to a different place or (finally!!!) selling my childhood home, which helped me realize how unimportant material things truly are
- All my trips to NYC and Duke and other places to see friends and have fabulous weekends catching up over fantastic food
- My fairly luxurious lifestyle in Boston which I have 100% provided for myself, which makes it all the sweeter
- Developing some genuinely close friendships with beautiful, strong, and diverse women at work who I hope to keep in touch with throughout our careers, wherever they may lead

As I went back over entries from this blog in the past year, it was illuminating and reaffirming how my words from months ago still resonate so strongly with me. My love of airports, airplanes, traveling, and genuine passion for discovery of new places through food and culture is every bit as strong today as it was a year ago. True, having a day to day job can constrain some aspects of this, but as I sit on this plane on the first leg of my four part journey to Bali (eeeee!!!), I am utterly content in the knowledge that I can still control the aspects of my life that bring me the greatest joy.

Now that I have lived independently in Boston for a full year, I have discovered a lot about myself and how I function in a relationship as well as on my own. I feel that I kept my resolution from last year of trying to constantly see the positive side of situations. The goodbyes in my relationship actually have gotten less painful as I have grown used to being apart rather than being together. Of course, questioning of what I want in life personally and professionally resulted from distance as well. I learned that life is not without temptation, but now realize that temptation and obstacles are probably put there for a reason and to teach me something either about myself or how I view my relationships. I think that over the course of the year, I grew more able to fully understand my strengths and weaknesses both at work and in my personal life, and by understanding them, my hope and resolve in the new year is to come up with the most effective strategies for working through them. As I head into what are sure to be two incredible weeks full of romance and discovery in Bali, Perth, and Sydney, I am so grateful for this turn my life has taken that enables me to have these exciting adventures with people I love!

I also resolve, as I did last year, to try to take a step back every once in a while and realize how fortunate I am to have so much – a fulfilling job, hilarious and meaningful friendships, a growing network of friends around the globe, and a wonderful relationship.
And perhaps, I will try to write a little more. Because self reflection is always more effective when it’s written down and I can look back on it months later and smile.

Here’s to 2011, which I hope is a year full of even more travel, self-discovery, and more defined direction in my career and personal life!

Looking back on this a couple weeks later, I'd like to make another tentative resolution to write in this blog more. It really helps me gain clarity on so many things.