“Happiness comes from living as you need to, as you want to. As your inner voice tells you to. Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be.”
Shonda Rhimes
Well we are officially 1 month into 2023 and I am super excited to tell y’all about my 2022.
I rang in my New Year with COVID. Not a great way to start my new year, I had to cancel flights, call out of work, and then rebook flights. It was a headache. But I did get to spend an extra couple days with my family and watch bad reality TV, which was a lovely start to the year.
January was a very lowkey month, I was getting over COVID and traveling back home after my COVID delays and of course the first thing I did when I got home was shave my head. But then February changed my life as I knew it and I could not be more happy with the change. In mid-February I had a shitty day at work, like the shittiest day I ever had in the 9.5 years I was at Chick-fil-A. Someone who I thought was a friend looked at me and essentially called me a liar and that they did not trust me. That day I came home and immediately started looking for jobs and applied to one at a local restaurant that a friend of mine worked at. That simple little job application on Indeed was one of the greatest decisions I had ever made.
On February 18th I had my first test shift at a job I interviewed at and I immediately loved it. And I am so grateful for the girl who trained me that night and showed me the ropes of a serving job, because it was unlike anything I had ever done (Shoutout to Jo, love ya).
Immediately after that shift I went home and wrote out my 2 weeks notice to Chick-fil-A, which is something I never in my life thought I would be doing. And 1 of the 2 weeks I was off for so I only had 1 week to say my goodbyes to my coworkers (who were more friends) and the guests I saw every day, gather my very much spread out things, and finish up any of the last projects I was working on, and process all that had happened to me in the past 10 years at Chick-fil-A. That place raised me and then in a quick instant the same place that I learned so much in, fucking destroyed me.
So I started a new job on March 8th officially. And boy has it been a roller coaster since then. I get to work with one of my greatest friends in Winston and someone who has impacted my life so much. I have made so many friends at work, friends that I can only hope will last a lifetime. I have been successful in my work career, that same job that I started at as a server in March I became the General Manager in November. I am so grateful for the many opportunities I have gotten at this job in the 10ish months I have been there.
In 2022 I have made so many friends. Starting a new job was one of the most stressful experiences I have ever experienced. If you know me, meeting new people is one of the hardest things.. But I am so, so grateful for the friends I have made. My friends who I have made from The Porch have made having a job 10x easier and living life 100x easier. I have known them all for less than a year, but I know I’ve made some good friends and hopefully some life long ones. And if you know me you know that I have made almost all of my friends exclusively through work or I have convinced to come work with me. And for most of 2022 it seemed like it was going to be the same way, but right at the end of the year I met a non-work friend who helped me ring in the new year by turning my hair white (which was a great way to ring in the New Year in my opinion).
From March on my year was filled with making new memories and cultivating new relationships with new friends and for that I am so happy. In July I was promoted at my job and jumped at this new role and ran with it, because for the first time in what felt like years I loved my job. And right now I still love my job, which is crazy to me.
I got to do so much hiking this year, with not having to be at work crazy early anymore I got to explore the mountains a lot more and be more at peace in them, which was lovely. Hiking cleanses my soul and helps me clear my mind and not think about anything but myself and peace. Hiking I love you.
Before I end this I want to talk about some crazy events I had in 2022: going on a tubing trip and having to walk the highway because the bus broke down, being evacuated from my apartment for 2 days because of a crazy fire in Winston, waking up one morning and having no toenail and my friend telling me the ghost in her basement took it, having a bunch of friends over to bake with me, somehow miscommunicating when one of your best friends moved away and didn’t get to say goodbye to them, and finally going camping and it pouring rain in your tent because I didn’t put the cover on right.
These are just a few of the crazy events that happened to me and I know there were so many more.
As I sit here in the beginning of 2023 and reflect on my 2022 I am thankful for so much. I am thankful for my new job, I am thankful for the happiness I have endured this year, and most of all I am so thankful for the new friends I have made this year.
2022 for you I am grateful and to 2023 I hope you are even better than the last.
Welcome To Schrödinger's Turner 
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