New Year...

I have wanted to write my normal "Toast to the New Year" column since before the big day, but haven't been able to get it done. Not because of time restraints or laziness (although time has been more valuable than land these days.) I haven't written it because I'm not sure about it yet.

This has been one of the hardest years of my short little life. I made several large steps this year...getting a "real" job. Buying a house. Being scared of impending surgery. Quitting my first "real" job for a new, bigger, better job. Feeling like I lost my dad, more than once. Moving across the country alone. And most of all...living through it.

Making it work.

I haven't had this much hurt in my life before, and don't look forward to it continuing much longer.

Through all of these "trials" I have found a few things to be true.

1. I will make it.
2. I will continue to be strong no matter what comes my way.
3. I can trust myself.
4. I can let other people help me.
5. I can celebrate the good things even if other things aren't that great.
6. I am good at what I do.
7. I will continue to grow as a person and that growth will expand into all parts of my life.
8. I am worth it.
9. I will continue learning, falling down, and getting up.
10. I will make it.

I have said several times to close friends that I have not been proud of all I have done since moving. I have had to grow up a lot and in that growth I have made decisions, some with outcomes I have had to struggle through.

I will make it.

I have learned a lot about "the real working world" since I've been in Seattle. This has taught me about relationships, and how to make them work in the office and in the bar. They have to be different. Especially when so many people are out to get you. Work is just that. Work. When you let that simple idea slip, you become the weak one. The one the real worker bees despise. That I will never be.

I will succeed.

Now, as the first NFL season I have worked full-time ends, I look forward to the next step.

I'll be moving to L.A. soon. I'll be working in a stadium that most honor as one of the greatest places in baseball. Dodger Stadium. (Not to mention the property that makes the most money for my company annually.)

I'll be leaving what is now my uncomfortable comfort zone for half a year to make a new "comfort" zone. Only this time I know more. I know who to be the first day through day 15. I will continue to make mistakes and learn along the way, but I won't do it the same as I did it in Seattle.

I will excel.

Next January when I write I hope to be in a different place.

I hope to be near the Superbowl with the Seahawks. I hope to be at a higher level in my career (regarding responsibility, knowledge, and of course, monetarily.) I hope to be looking forward to my next move. Somewhere different. Exciting. Challenging still.

I hope to be around my family. I hope to have more visits and not miss the "big stuff." I hope to gain a balance between work and play. I hope to have a dad again.

I look forward with anticipation while not looking back once. I won't forget the lessons I've learned. I choose to move forward. Learn more. Hunger for more. Achieve more.

I will make it.