I must say, as the years come along, each one grows in excitement, adventure, and learning. I guess it's only natural.
2014 was one of the best years of my life, I feel bold enough to say. Not "best" as in "it was the most fun ever", because it wasn't. Actually, in many aspects, it was one of the least fun years in recent memory. The year was filled with physical pain and injury, being emotionally torn apart more times than I care to count, college, and the death of someone I knew. But as I kept pushing on and felt like giving up, one thing remained a constant in my life.
I've felt closer to God and stronger in my faith than ever before. Ever since about mid-summer, I threw myself at increasing my faith, and I've been barreling on ever since. On top of joining a group of upperclassmen high-schoolers to restart and lead a high school group at our church, I also started an accountability group with 2 of my friends, stayed a consistent servant to the church by either playing percussion or bass or running the soundboard, and for the only time in my life so far, consistently read the Bible everyday (with a few exceptions). I was challenged in new ways of thinking about how to handle the constantly changing world around me. As the year closes, I feel solid, but know I can do better.
This year, I pushed through many huge milestones of my life. Let's see if I can list them all...
1.) I earned the rank of Eagle Scout, completing the long and arduous struggle that was my Boy Scout career. After 11 years in the Boy Scout system, it felt great to finally earn the highest and most difficult rank of them all.
2.) I graduated high school and started college (and managed to pass all my first semester classes), which is a miracle in and of itself.
3.) I was the lead actor in a play, which helped me learn one thing: I would prefer not being a lead actor again. It was fun, not going to lie, but the amount of time, energy, and effort was exhausting.
4.) Got my first speeding ticket.
5.) Had my first pumpkin spice latte.
6.) Went to my first haunted corn maze (lasted 7 minutes and got so scared I had to leave).
7.) Helped a student self-direct a monologue for a theater project.
8.) Went 58 hours straight with no sleep.
9.) Broke down and listened to One Direction and unfortunately I thought they were pretty good.
10.) Had screaming fans who wanted my autograph and selfies for about 2 minutes.
11.) Went to my first prom.
12.) Bought my first computer.
13.) Insert about 20 other things
14.) "Yada yada yada yada, get on with the post..."
Anyway, point being, I did a lot this year. A lot of it was new. A lot of it was scary. A lot of it was frustrating. A lot of it was fun. I had a really even year. One thing that made my year great was a gift God continually uses to amaze me: my friends.
I say it a lot, and I will continue to say it, I have the best friends in the world. Not only do these people tolerate my existence and choose to associate with me occasionally, but they continually blow me away by supporting me and genuinely caring for me. I know I'm not always the most pleasant person to be around, and that I can get caught up in my own world and problems, but they're always there. There's nothing in the world I could ever do to repay them for everything they've done. I am eternally grateful for them, and pray that God blesses them tremendously in this coming year.
Let's talk about next year for a second.
I feel like 2015 is going to be my biggest year yet. Partially because I think I'll be trying to experiment with my recently granted legal "freedom" as a legal adult. Maybe a few road trips to places an hour away (exciting, right?), possibly go to a two-week church conference, but for the most part, I'll try to carry on my same goals as I do every year:
a.) love Jesus
b.) love others
c.) make money
d.) spend money
e.) do things
f.) be awesome
g.) roll with it
h.) do at least one stupid and crazy thing that I may or may not regret
i.) grow up
j.) never become a complete adult
k.) try something new
l.) face a fear
m.) grow in wisdom
n.) make a good habit
o.) break a bad habit
p.) pray more
q.) meet someone new
r.) pass classes
s.) catch up on all the movies and books I missed
t.) empathize
u.) make memories
v.) prank often
w.) clean my room at least once
x.) never make a New Year's resolution because I probably won't keep it
y.) smell good
z.) push through
I'm charging ahead at 2015 with a blindfold on. I don't know what's going to happen, I just know stuff will. Some it will rock, some of it will suck, but all of it will continue to build me as a person, for better or for worse. As I try to think of a clever way of ending this blog, I can't help but be brought to this picture:
With that, God bless, and I pray that 2015 is a totally rocking year! Peace out, guys!
-With love,
Sam
