Dear 2016,

It's been an eventful year. To say the least. This year has changed so much in so many different ways, for so many different people. For some, it was the year of love, it was the year of growth, the year of discovering. But for me, 2016 was the year of learning.

This year I've learned, not everything needs a reaction. I've learned that things happen and sometimes you can't control it. I've learned you're not always going to be liked. I've learned that you're never going to please everyone. Most importantly, this year I've learned what I deserve. So many life lessons learned in just a year.

The biggest lesson I've learned was my self-worth. It's so easy to get caught up in everything that's happening in life, and just start going with the flow. That you forget what you're worth and how important it is to try to make yourself happy. This year, I decided to start putting myself first. I learned that it's ok to be a little selfish sometimes.

So much has happened. There has been plenty of politics to follow, enough Kardashian drama to go around, to Beyonce's iconic Lemonade album, and everything in-between. So many people have described 2016 as a total "shit show" and they can't wait for it to be over. For me, I can admit it was a shit show in some parts, but I'm so thankful for this year.

This year, I've made so many wonderful friends, so many memories, I've traveled, I've completed another semester in school, I've reconnected with old family and friends. But along with all the good, came the bad, I've lost some friends, I've gotten into fights, I've had to remove some people from my life, and I've made some mistakes.

Despite all the bad that's happened this year, I've learned so much from everything. As a country, we're going through so much bad this year. I hope that as a nation we can take everything bad that happened and learn something from it. It's so important to not let the bad define you, us or anything. It's how we take it all in and make it good.

Thank you 2016. It's been eventful. I hope 2017 is wonderful and better.

xoxo,

Kyana