Top 10 Moments of My Decade

     There is one day left in 2019. One day to look back on not only the year past, but the past 10 years as the decade comes to a close. Now I know I have not been active here this year but this little place still holds a special place in my heart. Even more so as this is my FIFTH YEAR of truly being a content creator. It is crazy to think back on it and how I came about to creating my personal little brand.

     I can remember sitting in front of my computer and thinking “You know, maybe I can do this…” I can remember every aspect of creating this little space and I have loved every minute of it. I have grown as a person and as a creator through it.

     For the end of the decade, most people are probably creating this stellar videos but I wanted to do something a bit different. I have gone through a lot of changes the past 10 years, both good and bad, so much like what People did when they counted their Top 20 Most Memorable Moments of the Decade, I wanted to share my top 10 most memorable moments of MY decade. These are 10 moments out of 10 years that have made me who I am today. 

1. Becoming a big sister - Being told I was going to be a big sister had a huge impact on who I was a person and how I needed to act. I was going to have someone, hopefully, looking up to me and wanting to copy everything I do. Not only did it change my way of thinking but it taught me patience, kindness, and, most importantly, there is always time to be a kid. It is safe to say that getting to be a big sister is by far the coolest job I will ever have. 

2. Graduating college - Such a MONUMENTAL accomplishment which had 4 years of tears, essays, mid-terms, finals, and one large capstone project behind it. I worked my butt for 4 years to earn my degree and I found what my true passions were because of it. I was able to realize even though a small part of my soul will always remain in sports, especially soccer, my heart is with marketing and social media. 

3. Graduating high school - I learned a lot in high school and 85% of it had nothing to do with the curriculum. High school graduation was important because it showed me how loved I was by family, both biological and non. 

4. Moving out on my own - While I didn’t move out into an apartment by myself, the first year I lived with one other person who sort of disappeared after the first semester so I say i lived by myself. Living on my own was a true test - I had to fend for myself with food, money, everything but it also taught me who I was as a person. Not living with my parents I was able to really start stepping out in the world and finding my own way. It also taught me how much on an introvert I truly was. 

5. Being diagnosed with anxiety and depression - while this happened 11 years ago, the past ten years have been a roller coaster of everything. There was a time I was trying to forget I had been diagnosed with these mental illnesses and it was a huge hindrance to my health. Over the past ten years, I have experienced what it was like to do all sorts of self care and whatever I needed to better understand the illnesses and to also make sure I was in the best place mental health wise. 

6. Volunteering with theatre department in high school - I am not an actor, I can barely remember lines and being onstage in front of an audience makes my knees shake but I love the feeling of being part of a theatre company. In high school I took theatre and was lucky enough to not be apart of two award winning plays but also spent a lot of my time helping behind the scenes. There was something different about being behind the scenes and I like to think thats where my love of being part of the team that works behind the scenes came from. Getting to be apart of the theatre department helped shape my high school life and later on, helped me realize what I truly wanted to do for a living. 

7. Visiting Salem - Salem has been on my bucket list for so FRICKIN’ long and I finally got to see the city that holds a bit of my soul. Salem holds a power no other city could for me. I felt something special in Salem and I cannot wait to go back. 

8. Moving into The House of Chaos - if you don’t know what the HoC is, it is the house where I spent two years of my life post college. It was almost like a revolving door of people always coming and going. I met some of my greatest friends living there and managed to keep growing as a creator and a woman. I learned a little bit more of myself over the 24 months spent there. We were thrown against a hurricane, a couple of break-ins, a snow day, a couple of injuries and so much more yet I came out stronger than before. 

9. Starting this channel & blog - Obviously, this would be on the list! Looking back on my last 5 years of being a content creator, it has allowed me to be creative and to really explore my passions. I got to have my first ever brand deal, I was apart of a blogging community where we hosted our first meetup and a couple of giveaways, I was apart of another blogging community where I got to host a couple of Instagram lives and none of this would have happened without me taking the step and creating this little slice of the internet, carved out for me. 

10. Being editor my senior year of high school -In reality, this probably should have been number 1 on the list because everything I have gotten to do and be started with me being editor of the yearbook. I found my passion for writing, for photography, for design, all because I was chosen to create a little piece of our high school story. Because of this, I joined the newspaper in college and started to hone my craft; I created this blog to use my voice; I started my own photography business; and I was brave enough to meet some of my best friends.

     Looking back at these ten moments of the past decade that have had such a big impact on my life, I yearn for the next decade and what it'll bring me, what I'll learn, where I'll go. 
     As always, I hope y'all will join me on this next adventure.