My Thank You List for 2016

Holy shit 2016 was quite a year!
So much happened in 2016, some good, some bad and some tragic.
Deaths, Natural disasters and a presidential election that engulfed the world took significant focus throughout the year and made so many people wish the year would just end.

Well, 2016 has finally come to an end which means it is now time for my thank you list for 2016, and just like the last two years, I am going to focus on all the things I am grateful for instead of focusing on the negatives that plagued 2016 worldwide.

So onto 2016

First off I'm thankful for my home, I love living in Pokeno and living with my friends.
I'm grateful that I get to go home and spend time with my friend's son almost every night and watch him grow and develop (as well as recruit him into being a Warriors fan nice and early).
I enjoy living far enough away from Auckland city to enjoy the peace and quiet supplied by the countryside but close enough where I can travel to Auckland with relative ease.

My desk on my Birthday

I'm thankful for my job, I've had a few changes in my role which have kept my interest up and made working more enjoyable.
After working 9 1/2 years in a job that made me miserable for a boss I hated (and I'm sure hated me just as much), I love being able to wake up and not hate having to go to work.
I'm grateful to work in a team that helps each other and to have a boss that supports me not only on work-related issues but also issues I have going on in my personal life.

Thank you to my friends and family for all the love and support given to me in 2016.

Family

I can honestly say 2016 was a hard year for me, and there were many months where I was in a bad place, but no matter what happened there was always someone willing to help me or even just listen to me.
I am genuinely thankful for that and hope that you can always rely on me in the same way.

Movieworld 2016

I'm grateful for my Gold Coast trip.
Thank you to my 2nd family for inviting me to join you for a week on the Gold Coast.
I didn't tell many people but I got back with my ex (the one mentioned in my blog "The One") a few weeks before we flew out and she made the decision to end it via text on the first night of my holiday.
Due to no one knowing we were back together I couldn't really say anything to anyone so instead of getting upset I focused on just enjoying being on holiday, and I truly loved the whole trip.

Thank you for peer pressuring me to do rides that I was terrified of doing (I'm sure you all have funny stories about me freaking out on rides to tell everyone now).
Thank you for not making fun of me for becoming an overexcited child when I saw an actor dressed up as Batman fighting of Joker goons.
Overall just thank you for the best week of my 2016.

And lastly, I am grateful to find my passion for writing again.
One of my goals for 2016 was to try and write on here more, and I did, I went from writing one or two pieces a year to writing at least one article a week for the entire Warriors season.
Thank you to Gareth, Charlie and the Faithers crew as well as NZWarriors.com for not only reading my work but for inviting me to write with you and for helping get my work seen.
My season review was my most viewed piece by a landslide, and it was all down to being able to promote it on your pages, and I'm hoping to be able to promote my work more effectively with all of you to step my writing up this year.

Overall 2016 had its fair share of downs for me, but it has just made me appreciate the ups a hell of a lot more.
2017 so far has been amazing for me, and I cannot wait to see what is coming my way.
I want to be more consistent with my writing on here and will be looking at trying to branch out to new subjects to see what works and more importantly what all of you enjoy,
I'm also in the process of revamping the blog with a new name, look and so on, so watch this space.

Good luck to all of you in 2017, I hope it brings you all you desire and more and I
will talk to you again in a few weeks when my 2017 Warriors season preview is complete.