I saw This AMAZING looking challenge today and knew that I wanted to participate. I like looking back on the year and seeing what worked and even what didn't. I have a LOT more to say on these subjects, but I'll try to avoid writing an entire novel.
Well... 2017 wasn't quite as crazy as 2016 for me. Thankfully.
I moved back to land (the USA) after spending nearly a year living on a sailboat in the Caribbean in October of 2016. I spent most of 2017 living in our old house in a variety of situations with my kids. A large portion of the year was spent apart from my husband and that was shitty and hard and something I definitely consider a 'fail'...
ANYWAY:
Achievements:
*This year I finally had the time and money to work towards my dreams of acting. I took two different classes at The Actor Factory here in Oklahoma AND had a small role in Are You Afraid of the Dark: A Tribute. I consider this a pretty big achievement, since I've been putting off this dream of mine pretty consistently for years because... well, I was a stay at home mom and was always more focused on helping my kids achieve their dreams, so I'm really proud of the fact that I took concrete steps to accomplish this in 2017.
*I am learning to love myself and I've gotten to a point that I am comfortable in my skin. I've posted about my weight loss this year and about the fitness challenge I've joined here on steemit, but I am REALLY happy that I've managed to accomplish all of this already with sustainable habits and a positive, healthy mindset. That is a HUGE accomplishment for me.
*I found steemit and started writing again. This is obviously very new, but has really been life changing for me already. I am so inspired and encouraged by the awesome community here. I've been inspired to write a few short accounts of my real life stuff AND I've been inspired to pour out a lot of creative writing, which makes me really REALLY happy. I'm particularly loving the weekend challenges with 
I really enjoy making the graphics for the stories as well
*I actually did some Open Mic nights at a local coffee shop that has a house band. I had the band just play some blues and I did some songs by purely improvising the lyrics. I think it went really well and I'm really proud of the fact that I stepped outside of my comfort zone and went for it!
*I've spent a LOT of time with my kids this year. Most of them are grown and out of the house, but I still see them often for family nights once or twice a month, they stop by and visit often and I've spent a lot of time with my grandkids as well. That was something that was sorely lacking in 2016, since we were out in the middle of the ocean on a boat (albeit with at least two of our kids with us).
My middle daughter and I actually got Mother Daughter tattoos together this year (she designed them) and I'm SO in love with it <3
Failures:
*I've been married for almost 25 years to this ^ amazing man, my best friend and the guy I consider my soulmate. Our marriage has been... floundering a bit more than usual (of course anyone who has been together this long has ups and downs) and I feel like the fact that we can not seem to get on the same page is a pretty big failure. I know that we can work things out... I just am finding that lately I am feeling really lost when it comes to this relationship that was always my rock before this. It's really fucking difficult and I don't know what to do to fix it at the moment, so instead we just keep keeping on. The fact that the kids are all growing up and moving out is changing the dynamic of our relationship during this same time that we had 'the boat life' and nearly a year of being separated by thousands of miles. It's just a season of hard times, I guess.
Anything else that I've failed at just pales in comparison to that. Everything else is just... stuff or life or basically unimportant to me in the grand scheme of things. The fact that I feel like I'm currently failing at my marriage is really just breaking my heart right now. In spite of the fact that I know that we will figure this out, at the same time it just feels... hopeless and that makes me feel especially lost.
Other posts of mine that you may be interested in:
My Real Life Stories:
My First Tattoo (and other stupid decisions)
The Christmas that Almost Wasn’t (Broke Ass Parenting Win)
Living the Storm (a small story from our life on a sailboat)