While most people have spent the past few weeks getting their 2019 in order, making plans for great big NEW things, and working really hard to wrap up the past year… I’ve been watching Taylor Swift’s Reputation tour on repeat.

Not really. But actually, yes.

Here is the thing. 2018 was really freaking hard. Like multiple times I was down on my knees thinking “Nothing else can possibly go wrong.”

And then it did.

Growing a business was hard. My personal life was hard. Things I didn’t even know could be hard were hard.

So while I didn’t want to just not address the new year, I really didn’t want to focus too much on the past year either. Not publicly, at least.

I woke up on New Years Eve and began to uncontrollably cry. All day I cried. A song came one that reminded me of someone, tears. I got a call from a client. Tears. I realized the salad I wanted to eat was two weeks old. TEARS.

Which is why, when someone asked me what my New Years resolutions were, I simply said “I don’t have one. I’m just glad I survived.”

That is the thing about being a business owner, and being a person in general, really. If it’s not great it’s a setback. But you know the thing about set backs? When you are at the bottom of your barrel, and completely sunk into the ground. It can only go up from there.

Until you catch a stomach bug on January 1st.

Kidding. Not about the stomach bug… But about that stopping things from going up.

With a lot of faith, and a little persistence, a bad day, bad week, or bad year has to see its end. And though some of the pain keeps on, eventually, one day you wake up okay. And the next day, you get an email from a potential new client. And the day after that, you have a moment where things start to make sense.

So as 2018 fades into the background, 2019 begins to shine. It’s a new year, and that is all.