So I have recently been very ill.

Off work for more than a month, and feeling as awful as I felt when I had Glandular Fever some years back.

It took a lot of investigation, but after blood tests, I found out I was anemic, this means the iron stores in my body were very low, so low that my immune system was affected.

After I started on a regime of immune boosting herbs and vitamins as well as very strong iron tablets I started to feel bit by bit like myself again. It dawned on me that I hadn’t felt ‘myself’ since Spring.

The last 9 months of this year have been tough.

It’s no coincidence I suppose that the hardness fully gestated in the same time it takes to grow a baby.

Through these months I’ve birthed an entirely new phase in my life and as we close out 2019, as we close out a decade – I want to look back on what this year taught me.

1. I learnt that you can’t take everyone with you into your new life. I’ve had significant people leave my life this year and significant people try to reenter. This is a theme that has been present for the last 10 years. Leaving people behind. Welcoming people again.
2. In keeping with number 1, I learnt that unfinished business can cast the largest of shadows on your life. As tough as it has been this year, I’ve learnt to speak my truth to people even if it appeared as though they didn’t want to/couldn’t hear it, all in aid of closing things out correctly.
3. I learnt to give myself closure. To understand that closure is a process, part of which involves a good dose of self-forgiveness.
4. I learnt to forgive.
5. I learnt to love myself as I truly am, warts and all.
6. I learnt that I’m not at all as conventional as I always thought I was. I want different things to many of my peers, and that is ok.
7. I learnt to find strength in how different I am.
8. I learnt that sometimes I have to change my plans and that is ok.
9. I learnt how to say ‘no’ to protect my own wellbeing.
10. I learnt how to let people down in order to keep myself well.
11. I learnt to trust in a plan bigger than myself.

What has 2019 taught you my friends? As we approach the end of this year, can you make your own list?

Learning these things mean I can approach this new cycle of my life with confidence and excitement.

I’m ready for what the next 10 years of my life will bring.

Much love Txx