Reflections on 2010

And just like that 2010 is over.  

What a year.  I'm very tempted to say "THANK GOD!" and "What a crappy year" and "I couldn't wait for it to end"....which are all statements I have been making for the past few weeks.  BUT upon reflection, I realize that I wouldn't be the person I am today if I didn't experience the hardships of the past year.  I believe very strongly in the saying What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...and stronger I am.  And stronger YOU are too, aren't ya?

For those who don't know me personally, I went through a pretty hard break up starting in May 2010.  I won't go into the details, but let's just say that I thought I'd be engaged by now...and on my way to a happy life with an amazing man.  Well, I guess life doesn't always work out the way we expect it to.  Perhaps this happened for a reason.  After all, the breakup put a hard STOP on many projects I was working on and made me take a step back.  I realized I was running myself to the ground trying to manage a full-time job, part-time school, the makeup business, the blog, a volunteer group, a social life AND a relationship.  There were so many things going on I couldn't give my full attention to any one of them and in the end my relationship suffered.

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But I'm not writing this to throw a pity party.  Instead, I want to focus on the positives, and the strength I gained by going through such an experience.  First off, rather than eating my emotions away (which is very typical of me) I used the hurt and frustrations of being dumped to fuel my fire as I trained for and completed my 2nd half marathon.  This was a major accomplishment for me as I never thought I'd be able to do such a thing on my own.  But I did, and it felt amazing :)

I also distracted myself with learning more about makeup artistry and maintaining this blog - that focus landed me a feature in Anokhi Magazine.   My first print press as a blogger and makeup artist!!!  Woohoo!!!
 
Being single also gave me some much needed time catch up with friends.  Old and new, all of them really came through for me.  Whether they were family members, school friends, old roommates, colleagues, or even my fellow beauty bloggers, they were there for me when they didn't even know it, and as a result I've realized just how amazing and beautiful the people in my life are.  That's a very special thing, trust me. 

While I had these great accomplishments and realizations, by the end of October I was still feeling a tad lousy about the breakup.  I have to believe that there was a higher power working in my favour when I found out that my idol in the beauty industry was coming to Toronto.  I am so happy with the fact that I got to meet Kandee Johnson.  Live.  In person.  We hugged.  It was amazing.  She came in when I needed to hear her most and touched my life in a way that I will never forget.  I feel so fortunate to have had a chance to meet her.

From that point on, I've felt a deeper connection with myself.  You may have noticed that I took a bit of a break from blogging and really took the time to get to know ME again.  Somehow I had lost myself in the chaos that was the past few years...but I finally feel like Anjali again...and let me tell you, it feels amazing :)

Soooo....while I did go through a major heartbreak in 2010, I refuse to look back on the year with frustration, resentment, or anger.  Instead, I am choosing to reflect on the amazing experiences I had, the strength and confidence I gained from them, and the amazing people who all helped make it happen.

With all that said, I have one particular group of people to recognize for the success of my 2010...you know who?  my readers.  My beautiful, precious readers.  Words cannot describe the gratitude I have for your constant support and encouragement in 2010.  While I showed my happiest faces in my blog pics, there were days when I was really hurting inside.  You have no idea how much of an impact your sweet and kind comments can have.  YOU had the power to turn my crappy days into great ones, my lazy sit-on-the-couch days into 14km runs, and low self-esteem days into "I can rock anything I want" days!  Nothing beats having an awesome group of people cheering you on - you really helped me get through one of the toughest situations I've ever had to face in my life.  So thank you for being such amazing, wonderful and kind readers.  YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!  
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.  I hope it was full of family, friends, happiness, love and peace.  I also hope that you can look back on 2010 and see the beautiful things that came out of it - let's scrap the negativity and be thankful for what we have today.

Here's to an impactful 2010, and the amazing 2011 that's ahead of us - let's kick its A$$!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Love, 

Anjali 

xoxoxo