2019.

As the end of the year approaches, it is shocking to look back and see all that has happened. So many accomplishments, firsts, lasts, ups, downs - yet lots to look forward to. My achievements for this year included some of the following:

• was the social media manager for a local boutique near my college.
• traveled a ton - such as west palm beach, orlando, miami, washington dc, nashville, raleigh, new york city, philadelphia, denver, and san diego.
• went to firefly music festival for the third year in a row.
• lived and worked at the beach for the summer.
• worked new york fashion week.
• made new friendships and strengthened existing ones.
• finished college.
• landed a dream internship and place in nyc to begin working in january.

Although social media makes life always look like sunshine and rainbows, that's not actually the case. Especially towards the end of the year, I was overwhelmed with great stress in many areas. This included finishing classes and maintaining my GPA, many papers and presentations, applying and interviewing for countless jobs to land an internship in January in order to graduate, and more. Last month, my grandfather passed away which was very hard and took a toll on me since I was so close with him. Struggles are normally stressed to not share, as perfection is what everyone strives for. But hey, life is hard! This is reality. The hardships are what make us grow stronger in life. If I didn't go through certain things in life I would never be the person I am today. We have to remember all of the good that comes from the difficult times in order to continue to grow. 

Two years ago my personal motto for the year was "growing and learning." However, this "motto" is something that I didn't only apply to that year, but continued as the years went on. In every situation it is so important to learn how to grow and learn from it, and to turn the bad to good. Elevation Worship has a song called "See A Victory" with these lyrics: 
"You take what the enemy meant for evil
And You turn it for good
You turn it for good
I'm gonna see a victory
I'm gonna see a victory
For the battle belongs to You, Lord"
​I think there's been so many times that we want to fight our own battles and take control ourselves, when God's right here ready to fight for us. In dark times it seems easier to do what you think is best with a selfish mindset - however all we need to do is give it up to God because He has our backs! I have to admit, I'm 100% guilty of doing this, not only this year but in various times of my life. 
2020 brings an added motto - surrendering. It is so easy to live a life all about "me," when we just need to give it up to God and live according to His will.

I am so grateful for everything that I've learned this past year, as well as the memories, travels, and friendships that came along the way. I am so excited for the new decade and what it has to bring, as well as my big move to New York City to work my dream internship job! I also hope to write more blog posts come the new year - going back to more of my lifestyle/fashion/travel type posts.

If you got this far, thank you for reading and for all of your support. Much love. Here's to 2020!

Xoxo,
Gabrielle