2018 in Review = Reflection time!

Welcome to 2019! I certainly didn't do well with my reading challenge in 2018 that's for sure. That's a negative for me from last year, but there were lots of positives too. I finally stepped up and admitted I needed help for my brain health, and then I did the really scary thing and made an appointment at Behavioral Health to be diagnosed after trying to manage it on my own since I was in 5th grade. That was one of the scariest and hardest things I've ever done. Giving birth was so much easier for some reason which seems ridiculous. Maybe that's because I see women who are pregnant and then have children all the time. I rarely see or hear anyone ever talk about their mental health. Ever. I hope that mental health becomes as natural and "normal" a thing as going in for anything to see a medical professional. It's so sad how we hide it and deny it until we are standing at a ledge about to slip off. For me I was one of the very lucky ones who has an unbelievable friend who recognized that I needed help, found out how to get it, passed on the information to me, and literally save my life. I will forever be in debt to Rachel for that. I will also never be able to tell my best friend Amber exactly how much our friendship means to me. She has been the light at the end of the tunnel for me for so long. I truly hope that everyone can find someone who they can connect with like we do to talk about absolutely anything. Plus, over the many years I have always had the unconditional love of my parents. This saved me over and over again. Oh how I wished everyone had that in this world, but I see children every day who do not in my job. It breaks my heart every time. 

https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/at-work/

Unfortunately my reading is what slid right down a hill into a black hole this year as my brain adjusted to its new reality. I fell a little bit guilty about that, but not too much because I have gained so much more from this huge step I took for myself. 

Another huge wonderful thing that happened this year was having a great pal from my library college days apply for and get the Elementary LMC Director position in our district. I hadn't realized just how weighted down I had been for the last few years overseeing the full district of libraries until this happened. It took about 4 months just to finally stop worrying that it wasn't real or for the next bad thing to happen. I'm finally starting to accept the fact that I only have my two libraries to focus on again = amazing! 

Also, professionally I put into action a huge plan I created with students at the middle school to create the space we dreamed of for a Makerspace. Dealing with the funding, purchasing and fruition of the space was incredibly time consuming and stressful, but also a warm fuzzy to have accomplished something so big professionally. It's a fantastic space and the kids love it. 

One last huge positive is that my whole family has continued to be in good health. You don't realize how lucky and blessed you are to have this until you see someone else close to you going through terrible health issues and everything that entails. 

How did you do in 2018? Did you read a ton? Did you accomplish anything you had planned to? Did you struggle? Did you fail? Let me know below. Thank you for reading and following us still or newly. We love you all and I promise to be much more involved in reading and books like I love to be moving forward. Thank you for hanging in there. 

Now it's on to goals for 2019!