I’ve been sharing these lists now for quite awhile, and it always surprises me the reoccurrence of themes and their cyclical nature. This season was no different.

1. The power of deciding can quickly change your results.
I know this sounds like a “duh, Danielle” statement, but sometimes it bears repeating the obvious. Especially when it’s something we’ve always heard or thought would probably be true, but we haven’t actually seen the results from it ourselves. This last season I made two big decisions for my health – physically, mentally, and financially – that I saw results from almost instantly. I decided to get serious about paying off my debt and take action about my health. I’ve already paid off my credit card, and I’m working on my student loans next! And I completed one round of this new fitness and nutrition program, and I’m working through round two right now!
2. Starting something new and exciting can be life-giving and also scary.
Very scary! Like I have no idea what I’m doing and have zero followers on instagram scary. But it’s also exciting! So exciting and refreshing to start something new. It provides opportunities to learn new things, new skills, meet new people, stretch your creative muscle, get out of your comfort zone – aka GROW. Which is always exciting and life-giving in my books.
3. Writing through the pain can be therapeutic.
This isn’t a new concept, and it’s not even a new concept to me. But I finally implemented it this winter with a particular situation, and it helped tremendously. I don’t know if or when I’ll hit publish, but it helped work through some of those hard emotions like anger and resentment. Some of my favorite creatives out there that provide writing prompts that you can use and share publicly or write privately in your journal are Allison Fallon, author of Indestructible, and Laura Tremaine, host and creator of #10ThingsToTellYou.
If you’ve been following me for a bit, you may have heard me talk about both of these ladies. I was on Ally’s book launch team for her latest book Indestructible – one of the, if not THE, best book I read in 2018 – and love her story and her honesty in her writing. I also participated in the #10ThingsToTellYou social media challenge last fall, so you may remember some of my posts from that! Laura now has a podcast, and she gives a weekly prompt and discusses it each week on the podcast. It’s so much fun, and I shared one of mine over on instagram last week. Some are deep and some are light and fun – I highly recommend checking it out if you don’t follow her already!
4. Grief never ends.
It can change, but it doesn’t end. I’ve written a lot about grief here on my blog because I’ve experienced a lot with it. But even with experience, I’m still always learning something new. I recent discovered Nora, and her honest, raw, humorous writing on grief has helped me and given me a new sense of hope for my own grief journey.

5. Our experiences are meant to help others.
Over the last few months, I’ve had friends (IRL and virtually) go through life changes or will be going through life changes that I have been through and experienced myself. I firmly believe that we are here to help and guide each other through life – the joys and struggles – through our experiences and what we’ve learned. Having a unique experience and being able to share that with a friend is very special. And we shouldn’t waste that.
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