Surely I’m not the only one that feels like 2017 literally FLEW by. Tyler and I had so many exciting things happen in the past year, as did many of our family and friends! If I had to summarize it all, I would say it was a (quick) year full of major growth and change. Some painful, some pleasant.

2017 was good to us. We were married, some of my best friends got married, we got a dog, we vacationed, babies were born (eeek). We spent tons of time with family and friends. We built a website together (okay, fine… Tyler built the website). We bought a business together. We explored new dreams and ideas and planned for our future.

Yes, 2017 was great….

Yet, it was also painful. We lost friends, felt pain from words chosen to hurt us, grieved over loved ones that left us for a better place. We felt the sting of pain as friends struggled to conceive.

The beautiful thing about life is that there is almost always good to outweigh the bad. I won’t lie and say it’s always easy to remember that, but I try to force myself into finding the good in everything, even the painful experiences. A major lesson I learned in 2017 was that words are powerful. Ouch. I read the words countless times. I cried letting them wound me over and over and over. I say all of that to say this – words are equally powerful in a good way. We can choose to use our words and our voice to lift up our brothers and sisters. We can inspire, motivate, and encourage anyone just by simply sending them a positive message or a friendly expression. SMILING as we go through the grocery store, complimenting others as we wait in line at the DMV (which by the way…. this new southside office ROCKS), or commenting on an old friend’s picture on Facebook can truly change the world.

I blogged earlier this year about losing Mary Bolen, one of my best friend’s grandmas. It was tough for many people to lose her and a big part of why: she was a LIGHT. She was the queen of Facebook comments, messages, and shares. She loved sweet gestures and to put it simply… truly cared about those around her. Thank you, Mary, for the inspiration to be the light in a sometimes dark world.

In 2018, it will be my mission to spread more love. Just think, if we all make this a goal for the new year, we can lift the spirits of so many people around us. Let’s start the ripple, y’all.

Spread the love, be the light.

Cheers to 2018!