-23- 8 Things I Learned This Year

02.14.2018

Happy Valentine's Day! Today is my 23rd birthday, and to celebrate I wanted to reflect on what I had learned in the last year. As I wrote during my recent new years post, this last year has not been the most exciting year, and I'm honestly a little glad it's over. But! Like any year, a lot of things happened, I grew a lot, and marking those transitions is important to continuing to grow. So here are my take-aways from a year of being 22:

1. I miss playing the piano. I played for most of my childhood, mostly out of obligation to my parents but somewhat for myself. But I stopped playing when I went to university; despite having pianos available for playing on campus, it was hard to make a habit out of playing and I had to go out of my way to play. Now that there's no piano available to play I really miss creating music in my life, and whenever I hear songs I used to play I long to tickle the ivories again. I'm hoping to acquire a piano once we're in Seattle so I can play again!
2. I need exercise to stay sane. I've always known that exercise played a key role in maintaining my mental health, but when I took just 3 days in a row off over Christmas (I usually take 2 days off per week, but not in a row) I could immediately feels the difference in my mood. I was cranky, anxious, and slightly depressed, despite being in a beautiful place surrounded by people I love during a happy time of year, and it made me realize that getting my heart rate up and endorphins flowing regularly is a necessary part of my life.
3. I don't have any food sensitivities! I did the whole30 during the month of July, and while it was a great exercise in discipline and resetting my system, I didn't feel any adverse effects after reintroducing all the foods. Honestly, this has given me a lot of peace of mind since doing the experiment. I never have to wonder if that weird feeling in my stomach is because I had a glass of milk -- it definitely isn't. I never have to consider if gluten-free is a better option for me -- it's not. Nutrition is super personal, and experimenting with my own diet has paid off tremendously!
4. I am, however, very sensitive to the cold. We spent 3 weeks in Tokyo, and as always while travelling internationally I learned something about my bodily needs: cold Lucy is not fun Lucy. I was too cheap to buy a jacket in Japan, and in hind sight it would have been money well spent to help me enjoy the trip and not dread being outside. Lesson learned: spend the money, and be warm!
5. Team. Jess. It was almost a year ago now, but I marathoned Gilmore Girls last winter and am still crushed that Rory didn't end up with the smoldering, smart, bad-boy love of her life she was clearly meant to be with. And no, I did not watch 'A day in the life'.
6. I can run 13.1 miles in a row without stopping, and not die.
7. Never be afraid to rock a dark lipstick. It doesn't look as stupid as you'd think.
8. There are so many things I don't know. Like most people my perceived intelligence has fluctuated a lot over the course of my life, and this past year it's definitely been a year of particularly low perceived-intelligence. As always, it's less what you know and more about what you 'know you don't know'. So I should say, there are now so many things I know that I don't know.

To be honest, I wanted to write 22 things that I learned but it's already 2 weeks past my birthday and I still haven't thought of any more. Better done than perfect!