I know I’m a little late to the party on my round-up post but honestly, I cannot believe 2016 is over – what a whirlwind of a year! Although the popular opinion is the 2016 was the absolute WORST year ever, I have to disagree. Personally, 2016 was a year of growth for me in every aspect of my life. It was a year where I really learned a lot about myself and for that, I am truly thankful. December 31st, 2015 was the day my now husband asked me to marry him – what a way to start the year off! We had an extremely short 7 month engagement. In that time I planned a wedding, maintained my blog, moved into a new apartment (we didn’t live together before the wedding) and had the opportunity to start a new career in event planning. When I look back at that time now, I’m astounded that I was able to juggle it all without going completely crazy (I had my moments though). In those 7 months I learned a lot about myself and the people around me, I learned about the importance of family and I learned that life is going to throw you endless curve balls. What’s going to set you apart from the rest is the way you handle them.
On July 8th, 2016, John and I made our vows to love and support one another for the rest of our lives. I remember being so incredibly nervous. I was in tears every day leading up to the wedding! It wasn’t that I had cold feet or any kind of doubts, I just knew my life was about to change in a drastic way, I was scared and excited all at once. However, once the day came, I never wanted it to end. Having everyone I love in one room, celebrating our love with us was honestly the most amazing feeling in the world.All my stress of flowers, decorations and menus just seemed pointless. Our wedding was extremely beautiful, but when I look back on the day, I don’t remember the flower arrangements or the centre pieces, I remember the love and happiness that radiated from every single person in the room. Before I got married, I got some advice to take 30 seconds during the reception and just look around. Take it all in and realize that every single person in that room is there because they love and support you. I remember John turning to me at the reception and saying “ready to take it all in?”. We were both overcome with emotion at the thought of all the love and support in one room – it was truly amazing.
The rest of the year was a learning experience, learning how to live with one another, learning more about each other and learning about myself and what I really wanted in life. Although I started this blog back in 2012, I didn’t really maintain it very much. Between juggling school and a part-time job, I left my blog on the back-burner and promised to one day get to it again. Although it may not have been the best time to start my blogging again (plus launching a YouTube Channel), I was able to throw myself into this hobby early last year.It’s kind of scary at first, putting yourself out there knowing almost everyone will have an opinion. But once you just decide that you really don’t care about those negative opinions anymore, you open yourself up to a world of possibility. When you’re passionate about something, it translates into anything you produce.
I look back on 2016 extremely fondly, I challenged myself in a lot of aspects of my life and although not all of my endeavours were successful, they were all learning experiences. I am so excited to see what 2017 has to offer. I hope you all have an amazing year and achieve any goals you set our to do!
Layan Bee 