2011 felt like a year where I spent most of my time dealing with the ongoing but dwindling after effects of previous years. Deaths, breakups, decisions, accidents, mistakes.
Mostly bad. There were some positive consequences, too, but they feel overwhelmed now, in the final waning hours of the year. I’d still like to acknowledge the good, though.
Debt: my debt, as I’ve said many times before, is gone, leaving me in a lucky and awesome place that I wish more could share. My debt was about half the result of overspending, and half the result of a car accident that totaled a rental that I was sure I had insurance on (note: I didn’t. Oops).
Paying off my debt was the result of being inspired by a woman I thought I loved enough to marry, an inspiration that thankfully has lasted longer than the relationship.
I’m writing this while on my way home from a two week Mexican vacation that is fully paid for and that does not leave me scrambling to pay my upcoming bills, a feat that was beyond me just a short while ago.
I’ve contributed more towards charities and causes that matter to me this year than I have in my entire previous life, thanks to the chain of events, bad and good, that have led to my current financial state. I have no idea if my small contributions will have any effect at all on the causes I’ve chosen, or the victims of those sad events, but they just might. And in a small way those positive effects may stem from a broken engagement and a totaled car on a lonely mountain road. And isn’t that a great story? Who knew where those events would lead? Where else might they go?
Goodbye 2011. Hello 2012. Here’s to mapping out as much new territory as I can.
