Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you're choosing that word. Now, imagine it's one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?
It's taken me a while to come up with one word to describe 2010. It's been a lot of things, some good and some bad, but i think the one word that encapsulates the year for me is DIFFICULT. Why is this my one word for 2010? Everything about this year has just been so difficult, so hard, such a struggle. I'm a Ph.D. candidate working on my dissertation and that in and of itself is a challenge to say the least. I'm looking for a job, too, which is always difficult. Personally, it's also been a difficult year and there are lots of reasons for this that in truth stem from my professional career as teach and student. Writing a dissertation is an isolating process, and that has been compounded in the last half of the year by the fact that once May arrived, I basically had no reason to be on campus, which means that my chances for actually interacting with people significantly declined. Even though I did try to make a point of participating in department activities and being social, I still spend a lot of my time alone. Which hasn't been good for my overall temperament. I'm used to being alone--at least, I thought I was, but this year has been a whole different level of alone, and that's just been really difficult to adjust to. Actually, I can't really say that I've adjusted all that well. I guess I'm coping, but I'm not doing anything to make it better. As I have been reflecting on this prompt, it has occurred to me that 2010 has probably been the most difficult of years for me in a really long time. Perhaps that's normal for someone who has all the things going on in her life as I do, but still, I can't claim to be living a horrible existence. Many many people have it much worse than I do. While this perspective helps, it still doesn't change how I reflect on 2010.
Here I am, imagining it's December 1, 2011. What one world would I like to capture the year? SURPRISING. I would love to be able to look back at 2011 and be surprised--to be surprised at all that I was able to accomplish in terms of starting a new career, to be surprised by all the new friendships I have made, to be surprised by all of the old friendships I have managed to retain and rekindle, to be surprised by where I call home, to be surprised by all that came into my life as a new chapter began, to be surprised by me and all of the little things about me that have changed and made me into a stronger and happier person, to be surprised that there was one moment, just one moment in the year when I could say that I felt happy and content. SURPRISING. Is that too much to hope for? Guess I'll need a year to find out. Guess I'll need a year to make 2010 surprising.
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