These are the important lessons I’ve learned in 2017:

• Anyone who supports you, champions your cause, and/or loves you unconditionally is worth their weight in gold.

• I am very blessed to have a number of people in my life who are worth more than their weight in gold.

• Not everyone who says “I love you”, “Congratulations”, or “Thank you, that means so much”, actually means it.

• It is entirely possible to encourage another person when you are feeling completely discouraged yourself.

• Integrity matters far more than the words that come out of someone’s mouth. Those words, though, can be a fairly good indication of  integrity – or the lack thereof.

• There are some things which should be left in the past: do not let them define the present.

• There are some things which some folk will never understand. That doesn’t mean they don’t matter; it means it’s a waste of time and energy trying to talk with them about it or hoping they will change.

• I will most likely continue to trust people and assume their “goodness” far too readily, and that will most likely continue to backfire on me. Apparently, there are some lessons I never learn.

• Just because I often find myself on a one-way street doesn’t mean I have to unpack and live there forever.
  I am learning to see the signs and walk away.

• There is no shame in tears. They are natural, and they are necessary.

• People talk about “grace” far too easily. Showing grace to the undeserving is hard, painful, and usually invisible.

• There is, in fact, an ear piercing that helps with chronic pain.