End of the Year Appreciation

Dec31

With today being December 31st, it is no secret that people nationwide are making last minute attempts at creating New Years Resolutions and fine-tuning their goals for the upcoming year. What I find interesting (even though I’m guilty of it as well) is that so many of us wait until January 1st to begin to follow through with ways we believe will better us. If our resolutions don’t work, or if we simply cannot stick to the plan we set out for ourselves, well, there’s always next January 1st for us to try again.

If we could move past the concept of New Year’s Resolutions, we could work on continuously trying to better ourselves. Moreover, we’ll have an entire year to hold ourselves accountable for our actions, rather than just waiting for a “re-do” twelve months from now. What is important for us to remember during these upcoming weeks of “resolutioning” (a new verb that’s quite fitting for this time of year) is that one minor setback is not a failure; we must not allow ourselves to get discouraged if things do not go according to plan. There is always tomorrow to wake up refreshed and begin from where we last left off. If we can view New Year’s Resolutions as the Year’s Resolutions, maybe we won’t be so harsh on ourselves. And maybe we’ll realize that our goals can be fought for at any given moment of any given day—not just for the first few days in January.

With that being said, one goal that I set for myself this past year was to continue blogging, since I had taken an extended break before the year began. Just this year alone, individuals from all around the world stopped by my site to read what I had to say. To me, there would be nothing more rewarding than knowing that one person (not including my mother) occasionally glances through my site. However, to find out that more than 2,000 visitors from sixty-nine different countries read my thoughts, experiences, and stories throughout the year is beyond overwhelming.

Just this year alone, my blog has had more visitors than the last three years combined. To my fellow bloggers, readers, and friends from 2015, I extend my sincerest appreciation and gratitude for your support. (In the tag section of this post, I’ve included the country of each visitor throughout this past year as a special way of saying thank you since it’s much easier than hand-written notes).

May 2016 be a year to remember, and may all of our resolutions come to fruition, regardless of any potential setbacks we may experience along the way. Happy New Year to all of you, and thank you, once again.

92279520-emp.-appreciation

Have a Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving!

Nov27

After a day’s worth of cooking, baking, and eating, it’s finally time to sit down and write! It’s nothing we don’t already know—Thanksgiving is a time to share with loved ones and really think about what we are grateful for in our lives. Whether it’s knowing that we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, health, safety, security, a bit of financial stability, loved ones who care about us, the ability to receive an education, or even freedom in the very country we live in, there is so much that we can all find to be thankful for.

Throughout these last few days, weeks, months, and years, I have become increasingly thankful for simple treasures, and these treasures are all of you. Knowing that there are people reading what you put out there is a true honor and privilege, and I could not be any more grateful for fellow bloggers and readers who continuously support both me and my writing, day in and day out. However you decide to spend your Thanksgiving, I hope it is a wonderful one surrounded by those you love and filled with countless blessings.

We shouldn’t limit our thankfulness or gratitude to one holiday each year, so here’s hoping we can each learn to be more thankful and appreciative in the upcoming year. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and know that we made it! The cooking is past us, the cleaning is over, and now it’s just us and leftovers. Talk about being appreciative!

One Lovely Blog Award

Jul18

ONE LOVELY BLOGGER AWARD:

I recently spent the past few days away from WordPress (well, not completely away since I continued reading posts from fellow bloggers, but wasn’t posting anything, myself) trying to organize myself, my thoughts, but more importantly, take in as much of Spain as possible before this incredible experience comes to an end at the end of next week. So you can imagine, it was really great and encouraging to check out comments on my blog, informing me that I was in fact nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award. I was nominated by http://theblazingtrail.wordpress.com as well as by David from http://barsetshirediaries.wordpress.com. They both have truly amazing blogs, and I would strongly suggest stopping by! And of course, I thank you both for this much appreciated award!!

The rules for the award are as follows:

1. I need to thank the person who nominated me.

2. Share 7 things about myself that you still may not know

3. Nominate 15 bloggers.

4. Notify the nominees that I have done so.

5. Put the logo of the award on my blog site.

About Me:

I’m not too sure what I haven’t already told everyone about myself, so I’ll try my best to dig deep and not have to make anything up.

1. My first name was supposed to be Adam. My mom was in love with the name and planned on having it be my name, but my sister who was 7 years old at the time fought against it. She said there was a kid in her class named Adam who would constantly pick his nose, and begged my mom for a different name. My parents ended up agreeing on Daniel and compromised with my sister which is how I got my middle name, Adam. (Believe it or not, that’s actually not a made-up story)

2. I am currently fulfilling one of my dreams, which has always been to visit Spain and potentially study abroad there, and now I’m actually doing both!

3. I am terrible with directions so I’m usually late to places if my GPS doesn’t come through for me.

4. I am usually late to everything and try to blame my un-timeliness on my lack of directional skills as much as possible.

5. I used to never want to blog or be a part of social media until I attended the Writer’s Digest Conference in January, and was told by various agents that the only way to get your work published is to build a marketing platform and have an audience. I proceeded in making a blog and a twitter account, and (more so with my blog) have come across incredible people, made fellow WordPress friends, found blogs that I cannot stop following, and have been inspired by fellow bloggers to share my stories, because let’s face it: we all have one.

6. I am appreciative to those who follow and scan over my work, but more importantly read it (even if the only person reading is my mom) because it lets me know that just maybe, someone can learn something from me.

7. I gave up eating pork this past January for religious purposes. You see, I used to eat pepperoni pizza a lot and was a huge fan of bacon and salami, but refused to eat ham and sausages because that was part of the no pork rule that my religion follows. So after a trip to Israel in the end of December, I decided to follow the rule all the way and permanently gave up pork and the mixing of meat and dairy products. (Saying goodbye to cheeseburgers has been the hardest part though, incase anyone was wondering).

Since I was nominated for the Lovely Blog Award twice, both times within a few days of each other, I decided to double the amount of people I could nominate. So I guess this is what it feels like to break the rules. From cooking to inspiration, comedic relief to serious topics, and traveling across the world or to your backyard, there are a lot of award-worthy blogs that I have been coming across in recent days/weeks, but just to name a few:

Congratulations to the above bloggers! This award is much deserved, and I look forward to continue reading your lovely blogs 🙂 (see what I did there?). All best, Dan

hurdlestohappiness

Helping Viewers Overcome Daily Obstables and Ultimately Achieve Happiness

Tag Archives: bloggers

End of the Year Appreciation

One Lovely Blog Award