Filed under: Daily life | Tags: 2011, 2012, daily life, earthquake, happy new year, July 22nd, rambles, show your heart, tsunami
Here we are again, at the dawn of a new year. What happened? Time sure seems to fly, and it’s almost a little frightening how quickly the past year has gone by, despite the hardships.
Going into 2011, I remember thinking that there was no way it was ever going to be as great as 2010 – which although a fairly uneventful year, brought a lot of firsts for me, and a lot of precious, unforgettable memories. 2011 hasn’t been as productive. I’ve written less than I have in years, to be honest, studied harder than I’ve done since…I can’t remember. And despite my efforts, I was unable to finish Jaded, even though I had such high plans. And now I’m standing at a crossroad, the same one I’ve been on all year, and it’s time to pick a path and work thoroughly on this thing.
I’m not going to make it my new year’s resolution, that wouldn’t work. And although I think I had one, I seem to have forgotten.
2011 has been a year of great diversity; happy as well as sad times, like any other year. But 2011 hit harder. It was a year of shock, confusion and terror.
I remember watching the news for hours, days after Tohoku and the Tsunami. The destruction seemed endless – and it was, with Fukushima, and the worry of nuclear disaster. In the midst of it, people decided to start accusing each other. Why does people attack one another in the face of disaster? Everyone has their reasons. Isn’t the important thing that people wanted to help, that they were engaged, willing to do something, be it anything from lighting a candle, to donating money or any other kind of help.
Then of course there was July 22nd. The Friday that shook Norway to the core. It’s hard to believe that it’s been five months already – although in many ways it seems like it was yesterday, in other ways it feels like it’s been an eternity. It came out of nowhere, and was unlike anything we’ve experienced since WWII. The damage is unrepairable, the loss is unthinkable. We’re never going to forget (particularily not with the media ripping it open every single day), but neither are we going to forget the way we’ve responded to this tragedy.
2011 has been a year of lessons. I think the grandest one has been the lesson in love.
In April, I organized the SHOW YOUR HEART Trondheim street team, by request of G himself. It was a rough week of paperwork, phone calls and planning, and although we didn’t get the response I was hoping for, there were people out there who showed their hearts and gave their aid. Globally, organisations, SYH and others, got together and did what they could to help. I’m not the kind of person who gets involved with these things normally, I do ocassionally make donations, but this was my first time organizing something, setting up a stand and putting myself in the field. What I learned from it is how much it’s worth. For someone to take a step and involve others, and to know that you’re making a difference – it’s an awesome feeling.
SYH Trondheim Street team
Someone said that you can’t do anything good without partially doing it for selfish reasons. I’ve been studying literature history this past semester, and it was also a factor in the well-made play; a good, clean conscience is something you get from doing something good for others – so that you can feel good about your self.
I’m sure that is the case with some, but isn’t it better to do something than not do something at all? Regardless of what the motif is, if you’re making a difference, that’s all that should matter really. For me, it was the case of a personal request to help (after I had asked if I could), and when urged to, I sprung to action.
Norway also showed our hearts after 22.07. I think we can all learn from this; a national tragedy, that affected so many and shook an entire nation – but the response was love. Respect, love and roses. We chose to focus on support rather than revenge, and on love over hatred. And we all came together as one. In the middle of all the grief we were able to say that we were proud. Sure, there has been discussion, conspiracy theories, conflict and accusations. What else is there to expect?
But I think we’re on the right path forwards.
I think that we can learn from this year, and the way it’s been handled. We can learn from Japan, their level-headedness and structure in a time of crisis, and we can learn from the ocean of flowers that emerged this summer.
Of course, it’s also been a regular year in many ways. On my part that included procrastination, stress, technological failure, extreme carelessness and results thereafter (hand in hand with the technological failure, which evidently persists up until the final hours of the year), new friends, new experiences and some absolutely fantastic memories. I’m finally able to say that I’ve been cosplaying to my heart’s content (not really, I wanted to get so much more out of this year, but at least it’s more than last year), and I’ve learned that there just isn’t enough time. Something always have to go to make room for something else.
Through 2011 there have been many lessons. I’ve been able to see both flaws and strenghts in myself that I might not have been aware of earlier. It’s been a hard year, but I’m still standing. Imagine that. Had you told me that during the angsty August, or when I was drowning between October and December I would have laughed at you. I think I’m getting to the point of maturity where I can finally see how events shape a person. This year there has been a lot of talk about previous ones, and I’m starting to see things that weren’t so clear before. I’m not great at working on things, I’ll admit that, but at least I’ve come some way from before. At this point, I think that 2011 will be a year to really take with me and learn from and then use in some way later. It’s sure to come in handy.
Hm. Maybe that’s it. New Year’s Resolutions shouldn’t be about dieting, excercise, marriage or any other “trivial” thing that most of us can’t stick to anyway. It should be about being the best version of yourself, taking in experiences and putting them to good use.
Then, you can conquer the world – or at least pretend like it .
What awaits me next is a turkey dinner, fireworks with the family at midnight (wonderful weather, though blistering cold >_<), and the annual horror movie-thon~!
At least I hope so. As usual I’ve forgotten to defrost the turkey properly…..
Happy New Year guys ♥
Thank you so much for all your support again this year (ー人ー)
In lack of proper photography, have a terribly photoshopped webcam-pic to round things off~
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