As I sit on my bed in my apartment on this bittersweet New Year’s Eve, I cannot help but almost tear up at the thought of the past 364 days. This time last year, I was all dolled up in a sparkly romper and black lipstick driving around the City of Angels with a potential life mate. This year, I ordered sushi from Uber Eats wearing a sweatshirt and yoga pants, as a new and borderline emotionally numb me desperately searched for the inspiration for this post. It’s safe to say that many things have happened this year. 2016 was a life-altering year that left about as fast as it came. I’m still contemplating throwing on that same romper and hitting the reset button tonight, but I cannot do anything without first, reflecting.
My life changed. Relationships changed. Money left, and money came. Above all, I saw Beyoncé in the flesh.
Leading up to today, I saw a multitude of posts on social media about how crappy of a year 2016 was for politics, celebrity deaths, and mankind in general. I can agree that the world is not getting any better (and that 2016 absolutely confirmed that sentiment), but if I were to focus on that fact alone, I would be miserable. “Better late than never” is the phrase that comes to mind as I candidly reflect on 2016 in the final hours of the year, in the Pacific Time Zone, realizing that I will be the last of my family and friends to make it out of 2016, God willing. I am ending this year with a bang!
This year began on a strange, yet promising note. I just knew that I could continue to use my credit cards and savings account to live life as carefree as I had prior to my move to Los Angeles in fall of 2015. My entire year would be defined by this ballsy idea that everything would work out in the end. I just never projected that things would have gotten awful before I had one of the biggest, yet most fundamental, breakthroughs of my young adult life. In short, 2016 went a little something like this:
I worked, hated my job, worked some more, worked for free, stopped working for two months, launched Denim & Lipstick, struggled through a breakup, almost lost friends, experienced anxiety, depression and weight loss, found a therapist, found a church, applied to 1,000 + jobs, got stranded on the side of the road in middle-of-nowhere California, almost went completely broke, traveled to three new cities, took control of my health and emotional well-being, landed a great full-time job, stopped caring about others’ opinions of me, and glowed TF up.
Everything worked out, just as I suspected, because I dared to believe. I felt like 2016 intentionally turned out the way it did for so many. Some needed to be elevated, others needed to be humbled. Darkness needed to come under the light, hence the sheer fact that America’s native misogyny and racism propelled Donald Trump into the White House. Now that harsh truths have been exposed, we are more equipped to face our raging enemies, not just from a political standpoint, but also from a personal one. 2016 was necessary for us to grow, to become more conscious, and to evolve into greater versions of ourselves.
The Extras
- Sephora is bae. I have a newfound obsession for skincare, which got me to VIB status this year.
- Seeing Beyoncé at work was the highlight of my luxury retail career.
- “Glowed Up” by KAYTRANADA feat. Anderson .Paak is my official song of the year, if you can’t tell.
- 2016’s official lesson was that God answers every prayer on his time.
Here’s to a happy, prosperous, love-filled 2017.
Cheers!
xoxo,
-Kendra
Denim & Lipstick 