for good

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

I’m really excited to be heading into 2012.

It’s been quite a journey over the last two years, and for the first time since 2009, I feel like I’m starting off a new year standing on solid ground.

Now don’t get me wrong, there have been a lot of good things in 2010 and 2011, but I really feel like they’ve been two really big years of transition. I really started to realize this after a number of conversations in the last couple of weeks coupled with looking at a whole bunch of old pictures (thanks Facebook Timeline)

The pictures from the end of 2009 make me especially sad. I looked sick. And truth be told, I had stopped eating, so this fact isn’t surprising. I was so stressed and sad and lost and heading into a crazy, new life without the partner that I had spent the last 3.5 years growing alongside. Our break up was absolutely the right thing for both of us, but it hurt immensely and meant that 2010 was an even bigger year of change that I had originally anticipated when I quit my job and decided that I was going to go back to school. While I enjoyed many parts of 2010, I also spent a lot of time figuring out who I was, what I wanted and how I wanted to be spending my time.

2011 brought lots of good things, but was really up and down in a lot of ways. I went back to work full time in March, which made me feel like a big fat failure. Isn’t that what I was fighting against? Slowly I began to realize that I had made the right decision and that working full time as an executive assistant was a pretty okay thing, and that it gave me time to do all the things that I loved. I also realized that I didn’t want to be a nutritionist, and that this fact was perfectly fine. I loved nutrition school, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do as a career. Working 9-5 also meant that I was free to perform, and in the last 2 years I’ve had some amazing opportunities to be onstage with some incredibly talented people in musicals, concerts, and cabarets, including 3 Ashleyx2 shows.

Ash bought me Kristen Chenoweth’s book (gosh, I adore Kristen. I think we’d be such good friends. And how wonderful is Ash for getting me such a perfect gift?!) for Christmas, and I couldn’t stop thinking about this song while I finished reading the book on the train home from Belleville.

Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better, but because I knew you, I have been changed for good”.

The people I’ve met, the experiences I’ve had, the friends I’ve counted on, the places I’ve been, the tears I’ve shed, the mistakes I’ve made, the victories I’ve had – all of these experiences over the last 2 years have absolutely changed me to be the person I am at this very moment.

instagram ash1

Who knows what the future brings, but I’m ready for it.

2012, here I come.

5 comments:

Dani @ Body By Nature said...

Beautiful post Ash! I feel incredibly lucky and grateful to have met you in 2011 and I am so looking forward to many more great times this year.
You're journey, while maybe a bumpy has made you into such an amazing person and one who is a constant source of inspiration and positivity. 2012 is your year to shine baby! xo

Karen Kelly said...

2012 is going to be a great year. I can just feel it and I know I need to re-engage (been talking about it for a while, now I need to DO IT) in my health and my own well being. Thanks for being you and helping along the way.

Ashley M-F said...

Look out 2012...Ashleyx2 are kickin' butt and takin' names! xo

Unknown said...

Dear Ashley,
I found your blog from a mention on the amazing bitch cakes blog. Anyway may I just say how I started reading and now love your blog. You write so beautifully and as I am at the beginning of my Weight loss journey with Weight Watchers down here in Australia I look forward to reading more of your wonderful and motivating blog.
Gi xx

Ali Raney said...

YAY for you! This is such an awesome post. I love all your reflections and learnings and that you are okay with where you are and where you have been. Such a great reminder for all of us to not be so hard on ourselves, and that we are in fact moving forward, even if it feels like a slow transformation - it is still a transformation. Love you xo

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