Image Credit: @artbytes via Bitlanders
2018 is gone and 2019 is here. To welcome the new year, I thought it would be a great time to look back and be grateful for everything that happened to me in 2018. Not everything that happened to me in 2018 is all good. There are some happenings that are quite undesirable. Yet I believe that in every misfortune there are lessons to be learned.
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
– Melody Beattie
Daily Gratitude List
Image Credit: @StartUpStockPhotos via Pixabay
In the past few months, I have been listing at least 5 things that I am grateful for every day. By doing so, I started to become grateful on even the little things that I have often ignored. Making the short list every day, gave me a new perspective on the events of each day. A more positive perspective.
Unachieved Goals
Honestly speaking, I have lost track of my Goals for 2018 (www.bitlanders.com/blogs/my-goals-for-2018/5631880). I still have them in mind perhaps I got a little bit closer, but I have not accomplished most of them. However, I had some accomplishments that I had not included in that list.
9 Things I Am Most Grateful For In 2018
9. A Lot of Lessons Learned
Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.
-Vernon Law
I am far from getting the goals for 2018. But, I have learned a lot of insights as to why and perhaps how to achieve them this 2019. Though I have failed in reaching most of my goals for 2018, I have learned a lot of lessons from last year's experience.
One, I realized the reasons what kept me from achieving them. The biggest challenge for me is I get distracted so easily. I get out of focus easily.
Two, some of my goals are quite “too big” for me to achieve them in one year. I actually moved some of those goals to my “Lifetime Goals” list.
If you are familiar with the S.M.A.R.T. goal, goals must be achievable in a certain span of time. See the video below.
Video Credit: @FlikliTV via Youtube
8. New TV and Refrigerator
I may have not achieved most of my goals for 2018. But I have earned saved enough to buy something for my family. I suppose it will not hurt if I provide a little pleasure for my family.
One is the smart TV that helps our kids (and us) entertained. This also means, my son no longer has to borrow my tablet to watch his favorite trucks and dinosaur videos on YouTube.
Image Credit: @artbytes via Bitlanders
We also got a new refrigerator to replace my old one, which is already qualified to be displayed in a museum.
7. I got a New Laptop
Image Credit: Procesori
I was aiming for a Lenovo Yoga Laptop. I need a computer that I can work on my graphics and video editing. But that model is quite expensive for me at the moment. I needed a laptop for my classes and paper works. So I settled for a lower processor for the moment.
The Lenovo Ideapad 320 with Celeron processor may not be powerful enough for my graphic works. But, it works well enough for me to write my blogs and some light graphic designs.
6. IT Related projects and Accomplishments
Image Credit: @BlickPixel via Pixabay
I never expected this one. I lost this project to a competitor from another place. However, the client was not satisfied with their work. I understood them when I analyzed their network and PABX systems.
Troubleshooting their systems and redesigning them is not easy. It's a big challenge but it's more than worth it.
The other challenge for this particular project is, I am not familiar with most of the brands used in their system. Based on my experience though, no matter what brand is used, they can always be learned. So the bonus here is:
I earn while I learn.
5. My Growing Income From Bitlanders
I have been writing for bitlanders for over a year now. I have been active on this site ever since. Although, there were a few times that I wasn't active enough. My earning had been going up and down, but generally, it was steadily growing.
Image Credit: @artbytes via Bitlanders
4. Free Lifetime Pro Account for Pixteller
One of the best things that happened this year, is when I won a free Pro Account to Pixteller.com. I won the free access from a raffle by Mostlyblogging.com. Since then, I have been using Pixteller to create the title images for my blogs.
Read my blogs about Pixteller:
Image Credit: @artbytes via Bitlanders
3. New Things Learned
Education is still one of the best things that a person could gain. This year, I have discovered learned a lot of new things. I have written about some of those things I learned this year and posted them here. To mention some of them, I learned to use the following:
- Grammarly - an online tool which helps me eliminate my typographical and grammatical errors.
- Ubersuggest - a great too if you are having some trouble thinking of appropriate tags or keywords for a blog post.
- Coscheduler - if you want to have the best title optimized for Search Engines, this is the tool that you should use.
- Canva and Pixteller- I already mentioned Pixteller above. Alternately, I use Canva to create my graphics.
These are just some of the things that I learned in 2018.
2. Good Health
Image Credit: @geralt via Pixabay
My health is not perfect. My family's health is not perfect as well. My two sons got confined in the hospital this year. Yet, I am thankful that both of them are generally healthy. They may not be on their best condition as the year closed, but both of them are very active and happy.
I'm already nearing 50. I am thankful that I still don't suffer from the illness that people at my start to suffer. But I must be more careful with what I eat and should improve my health further.
1. Loving and Happy Family
Photo Collage creating using Google Photos
Last but definitely not the least. I most thankful for my loving wife and kids. I don’t have a perfect family, I admit that. But my family is my inspiration. They are my “Emotional Why” or the reason behind the goals that I made.
These are just nine of the things that I most grateful for the year 2018. There are still a lot of things that I am thankful for, but I’d rather keep the others to myself.
That being said, let me leave you with this video greeting.
Video Credit: @artbytes via Bitlanders
Happy New Year!
Thanks For Reading
~oO0Oo~
John Reynold Loberiza (a.k.a @artbytes) is a freelance graphic artist, web developer, and blogger. He is also a licensed Financial Advisor under Insular Life.
The content of this blog post is the author's original work. Proper credit is always given to the respective sources of information and images. Please feel free to check out my other blog posts: http://www.bitlanders.com/Artbytes/blog_post
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or email me: jrcreativeideas@gmail.com
~oO0Oo~
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