What did *you* learn in 2006?

[Haole Girl]

I learned you are never too young to fight for peace (Ava taught me that)

...and never too old to flirt (I taught myself that)...

And even people who voted for GWB, twice, can admit they were wrong.

I learned just how much we walk on the razor's edge (Peggy reminded me w/that quote)...

and, no matter how healthy a person eats or how much they exercise, fate can still take it's toll.

I learned, I can still make new friends...the Lounge helped me re-discover that (you know who you are)...

and, it's just a waste of time to hold back, in life, when it's so short.



What did you learn...or re-discover...in 2006?

[Shell Beau]

1. You learned some valuable stuff!!

:)

[Haole Girl]

19. Thanks...

:-)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear KC2!

I am honored to be included in your list, sweetie.......

Other things I have learned:

You can never tell the folks you love that you love them, too often...

I am bigger and stronger than my pain.........

It's never too late to discover and develop your talents....

Happy New Year!

:toast:

[Haole Girl]

20. You'll always be on the top of my...

..learned-most-from list, Peggy!

Happy New Year! :toast:

[RetroLounge]

3. I've learned lots

I learned that I do not know as much as I think.

I learned there is no shame in suffering from depression.

I learned I am not a doctor and should not self-medicate.

I learned that families can come in many forms.

I learned that anyone can be gone at anytime, so cherish the present.

I learned that my kids are much more resilient than their parents.

I learned that no matter how much pain and despair are present, there is always room for more love in my heart, if I let it in...

I am learning to let it in.

RL

[Haole Girl]

21. You did learn a lot..

..thanks RL! :hug:

[MissHoneychurch]

4. I learned

that the DUers are a fantastic bunch not only online but also in real life

[Haole Girl]

22. I hope someday we can meet too, MHC!

It's amazing how the internets can connect people...no matter how much geographical distance separates them! :hug:

[Guava Jelly]

5. Oh a few things

I Learned that heartbreak was a hell of a motivator.
I learned that Love can exist on many levels
I Found out some things about myself from A Tin Man ,A Cowardly Lion, And A Scarecrow..(don't ask)
I learned that being nice and sincere and dishing out a compliment or an "I'm sorry" or a hug when its needed or just listening to
people and just being a friend .Is a wonderful way to make friends and it has worked both ways......... Thank you!
And I learned my laundry needs to go in the dryer :7

[Haole Girl]

24. Great things, too..

...ROFL- on that last one. I have a down jacket now smelling like an old sponge because I didn't dry it in the dryer!! Live and learn, right? ;-)

[intrepid_wanderer]

37. WOW!!

... I just put my laundry back through a fresh washer cycle... started it before going on a 2-day/3-night ski trip to Park City, UT (~35 minutes away).... THANKXX GoPsUx!


I've learned,not only to dry my washed laundry (I hope I did anyway!!), but....


Taking risks can really pay great dividends - I moved to the Salt Lake City area (about 25 min South) in February after almost turning down the opportunity based on my 'beliefs' and stereotypes about the dominant Mormon Culture here in "the valley." ... though it is true that 'they' claim 'belief' in the "ONE TRUE GOD" or whatever, the group is as diverse as I would never have likely hoped.


Utah (YES, UTAH) Rocks!


:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[bluethruandthru]

6. I've learned ....

to focus on the many things that are good in my life...not the few that aren't.

I've learned that if you treat others with kindness and respect...they will almost always treat you the same way.

I've learned that if you don't pull the weeds early...they'll be a much bigger problem later on. :)

Happy New Year Everyone!

:toast:

[Haole Girl]

25. Oh wow...

..those are great lessons to learn...

I especially like the Golden Rule one...and it is so true.

Happy New Year to you, too! :toast: :party:

[SPKrazy]

7. Well, Let's See...

I've learned that it's okay to find your voice and use it!

That people are all pretty much the same when it comes to how we feel and think (not that we're not unique, just that we are more alike than we are different)

I've learned that meeting people online at DU is really cool and the lounge is a GREAT place. (I always kind of avoided it before)

I've learned that I can make myself do something with regularity like exercise, and that makes me feel great.

I've found that I can and have lost weight, so there's no reason to think that I can't continue

I've learned that all is not what it appears to be from the outside with me, so why should I assume that is true with anyone else.

I've learned that I have capabilities to do things that I've known I had, and that others see that too.

I've realized that my recovery from depression, addictions, and life's pain, is not dependent on others, but on myself and my inner strength and spiritual (not religious) beliefs.

I've realized and learned that no matter what happens in my life, I am NOT ALONE, nor will I be truly alone ever unless I choose that.

I now know that there are many many worse things than sleeping alone.

I feel resolved to continue to grow and make the changes I need to make in the coming year and beyond. One day at a time.

And for BNL (she hates this if she reads it) you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time. (I don't know a fair comparison for vegetarians, you only eat a garden one bite at a time?)


Thanks!

:party: :bounce: :toast: :grouphug:

[BarenakedLady]

14. LoL

:hug:

I'd better get started on that garden soon. :( I can pretend it's not there, but it is.

[SPKrazy]

60. Good Idea!

you don't want anymore weeds to take over

me either

:hug:

[Haole Girl]

26. Those are really great, Southpaw..

Especially, I've learned that all is not what it appears to be from the outside with me, so why should I assume that is true with anyone else.

There was a professor, where I went to college, who used to say, "Things are seldom as they seem."
It is so true.

Thank you! :toast: :hi: :grouphug:

[SPKrazy]

59. ...

Thank You !

:toast: :hug: :grouphug:

[NMDemDist2]

8. I learned to float joint compound

:banghead:

[Haole Girl]

27. I should probably know...

..what you mean, but I don't. Sorry! :shrug:

[NMDemDist2]

49. it's the mud goop you use to finish off walls before you can paint them

my "new" mobile home still has all the expansion joints and vinyl wallpaper so before I can paint anything I have to peel the wall paper, remove the little slat thingies they cover the joints with and then put this mud/compound joint stuff on the walls so they are smooth

room by room, month by month but it looks good once it's done

[Haole Girl]

54. That sounds like a lot of work, but there is..

..definitely a feeling of satisfaction once you're finished with a project like that!

:hug: :hi:

[warrior1]

9. That Hope

isn't just a place in Arkansas.

[Haole Girl]

28. I like this one!

Thanks. :hug:

[fizzgig]

10. i learned it's okay to ask for help

nor is there shame in needing it

i learned it's okay to put me first

i learned that i am not alone

i learned it's okay to not be perfect

i re-discovered my strength

[SPKrazy]

11. Yayyy!

those are great!

here's to rediscovering strength and not being perfect!


:toast:

[fizzgig]

12. thanks spk

in many ways this has been the worst year i've had but it's also been invaluable in the lessons that i've learned

:toast:

that said, i'm ready for 2007

[SPKrazy]

17. My New Year's Motto This Year:

let's leave this piece of shit 2006 behind and move on!

:toast:

[Haole Girl]

30. Re-discovering one's strength can take...

...a person to new heights. Have a great 2007!!

:hug: :hi:

[LSK]

13. I learned what its like to volunteer for a campaign

And the great feeling of donating time to a worthy cause.

[Haole Girl]

31. I hope to be strong enough, mentally...

...to do it again someday. 2004 was a little bit hard on me...emotionally.
In fact, I couldn't get past the first 2 chapters of Elizabeth Edwards' book, after re-visiting some of it. You are a stronger person than I! :hug:

[MrSandman]

15. We are where our choices have placed us...

Some exceedingly bad choices here.

[Haole Girl]

32. Hmm..

..well, sometimes, yes.

Here's to good and wise choices for 2007! :hug: :hi:

[BarenakedLady]

16. Hmmmm

I've learned that I would do anything for the sake of my children and they will always come first no matter what (I mean I already KNEW that, but it has become much clearer).

I've learned that although I may not think so sometimes, I am important to others and loved and cared about.

I've learned that virtual friendships are real. My best friends may all live in other states and countries, but they are true friends. I've even been lucky enough to meet several very special women, whom I love with all my heart. :loveya:

I've learned that I'm not alone in my struggles with depression/anxiety. That I'm not a freak of nature.

I've learned that it is time to take care of myself for once. I am more than a mother/wife/servant/housekeeper...I am a woman, a real person, with real thoughts of my own, desires of my own. Now to find myself again...

2007 will be a year of big changes for me. Starting tonight. Very scary and exciting changes. But I know I will get through it, somehow.

Love and peace to all of you. :grouphug:

[RetroLounge]

23. ...

:hug:

RL

[BarenakedLady]

65. Back atcha

:hug:

[Haole Girl]

34. I'm so glad to hear these things from you!

And, you sound determined...and determination is a wonderful quality to have...sometimes, even better than money or luck!!

Here's to a happy and healthy 2007, BNL!! You deserve it!! :loveya: :hug: :grouphug:

[BarenakedLady]

68. I hope I can follow through

with what I need to do.

Thank you for your kindness to me KC2, it's meant a great deal to me. :hug: :loveya:

[SPKrazy]

61. You Are Loved!

by many here and I'm sure elsewhere

and your kids

Happy New Years BNL

:grouphug: :hug:

[BarenakedLady]

69. Thanks babe

As are you. :hug:

Happy New Year!

[otherlander]

18. In the summer i learned to set up a tent, rock climb, and do the penguin dance

Thanks, outward bound! I learned a lot about poetry too. And that I'm actually not a lesbian.

[Haole Girl]

42. Hey...everybody should know how to set up a tent!

It's a valuable lesson in life...in more ways than one! :hi: :-)

[bigwillq]

29. Happy New Year KC2!

:hi: :toast:

[Haole Girl]

36. Happy New Year to you, too, bigwillq!!

:toast:

:loveya:

[NewWaveChick1981]

33. A lot of things, actually...

I learned that my original choice of professions is what brings me real personal satisfaction and not the job I was doing for most of 2006. I'm back in my chosen profession and love it!

I learned a really good friend is the best friend of all. :)

I learned just how far I can push a flirting thread in the Lounge and still not get the thread locked... :evilgrin:

I learned how to properly operate my digital camera. ;) :evilgrin:

And I learned some other stuff that would get this thread locked if I posted it. ;) :P

[Haole Girl]

38. Ha-ha!!

Great! Now.........you know we are all dying of curiosity now! :evilgrin:

Happy 2007 NWC!! :loveya: :hi:

[NewWaveChick1981]

41. LOL...I'll bet y'all are...

:rofl: :hi: :evilgrin: All I can say is that certain mental images were correct. :P Of whom or what, I will not say....:P

[SPKrazy]

62. ROFL!

someday you'll have to share the "other stuff"

:yourock:

[Maddy McCall]

35. That a conservative website masking itself as "neutral"...

is still a conservative website.

And that just because a DUer runs the place doesn't lessen the fact that it's still controlled by the conservative element that has made another forum successful by being critical of DU.

And that just because a completely narcissistic and insecure person dumps on you constantly about her life's problems and uses you to make herself feel more important--that doesn't make you her friend.

And that some people can be terribly manipulative and cruel while appearing to be sweet, good ol' folks.

Those are the lessons I learned in the cyberworld this past year. I wasted six months at a shit hole of a forum on the other side of the internet. Wish I'd never done that, and I apologize to anyone to whom I sent an invitation to that place.

[Haole Girl]

39. Oh..

..I don't know where you're talking about...but, it sounds like it's for the best.

(I'm usually lost).

Hope you have a Happy New Year, Maddy McCall! :hug:

[Maddy McCall]

40. Happy New Year to you, too, KC2!

I won't send you a link to that cess pool, but let's just leave it like this: If anyone sends you an invitation to join a forum that has "neutral" anywhere in the URL, run the other way. :evilgrin:

Have a great New Year, KC. :loveya:

[LynzM]

43. You learned some good stuff!

As for me, I learned...

That it feels really good to be actively involved in a campaign, and you meet some cool people! :)

That anxiety sucks, and feeling like you're not in control of your own self sucks, too.

That taking time for myself, in the form of yoga, is good for myself, as well as my family.

That sometimes the only thing you can do for your friends is listen, and reassure them that it's ok to just be who they are.

That I can still get an "A" in a math class. :)

That I like being a wanderer, but I also like staying still for a while.

[Haole Girl]

45. Some very valuable..and very wise..

..things you've written there. I wish I'd always been able to reassure people that it's ok to just be "who they are." It took me many more years, then you, before I stopped trying to change people. Good for you!

Happy New Year! :hug: :hi:

[LynzM]

46. Thanks, KC2

I feel like I've always been older than my physical age, for whatever that's worth. :) I'm learning to let go of trying to fix everything for everyone... people sometimes (often?) have to learn their own lessons and live their own lives; I can't prevent all of everyone's pain. Briarius and I actually had a big discussion about that last night. I'm a "healer"... I want to help everyone all the time!

Happy New Year to you, as well!! :hug: :hi:

[TankLV]

44. That just when I thought repukes could sink no lower, they always exceed my expectations...

I never dreamed the repukes would be so venial, cowardly, brazen, criminal...

[Haole Girl]

47. Just one more year....

...just one more year, effective tomorrow, until 2008. Then, we will take back the Whitehouse! Whatever it takes, however we have to do it, we cannot allow this destructiveness to continue.

Hold on! :hug:

[KitchenWitch]

48. I learned that it is okay to continue to hope.

[Haole Girl]

51. I just ran across this quote...

Hope you like it:

"A woman is like a teabag... You don't know how strong she is until she's in hot water. "
-Eleanor Roosevelt


:hug: :loveya:

[KitchenWitch]

52. Boy is THAT ever true in my life!

:hug:

:loveya:

[Dangerously Amused]

50. Biggest lesson? Probably, to trust my intuition about people.

I mostly did anyway, but it really hit home this year.

[Haole Girl]

53. You know...

...even in my old age, I have very bad intuition about people. It makes me paranoid, too...because, invariably, I'll trust the wrong ones. Well...hope springs eternal, they say. Maybe, some day, I'll develop a better intuition where people are concerned.

Have a Happy New Year, DA!! :toast: :loveya:

[Dangerously Amused]

72. Maybe you're like me..

My intuition has always been very good, but too often I'll let my conscious - who is trying to be "nice" or polite or kind or whatever - talk me into or out of something when my gut damn well knows better. Then after everything blows up in my face I look back and go, "Oh, shit. I guess there were a few red flags there after all." Well, the truth is that I saw the red flags at the time, but chose to overlook them, to give the person the benefit of the doubt and then hope for the best. That hasn't worked out so well. And the dumbest part of it all is that I don't think I've ever regretted a time when I trusted my intuition, although I've regretted times when I overrode it plenty. But do you think I'd let that valuable lesson sink into my tiny little cranium? NooooOOOOooooo...

= sigh =


Oh well. To lessons learned, a New Year, and good friends like you:


:toast:


:hug:


:loveya:

[crim son]

55. I've learned that time does, indeed, heal all wounds.

I hope I never have to relearn that one.

[Haole Girl]

57. You know..while time doesn't always heal all wounds..

...it can, often, lessen the pain.

I hope you have a happy, safe, and prosperous 2007!!!

Hugs for you.. :hug: :hug: :hug:

[SPKrazy]

63. Time And

Love from others

heals all things!

:hug: :loveya:

[Ptah]

56. That it's stil fun to go Amtrak.

[Haole Girl]

58. You do look like a kid in a candy store, there, Ptah!

Happy New Year!! :loveya: :hug:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

64. Well...

I learned you can start over.

I learned you can get back up.

I learned you can make it if you try.

I learned you can believe in hope.

I learned it's only going to get better.

I learned it's all in my head.

[Haole Girl]

67. So true..

..and, never stop trying. :hug:

[Shakespeare]

66. I learned that I don't have to stay with an alcoholic, pill-popping asshole...

...who treats me like shit. That was a GOOD lesson to learn. Much, much guilt involved (there was recovery from a medical crisis on his part involved), but lesson definitely learned.

[Haole Girl]

70. Ouch..

..sounds like a very painful lesson.

I'm glad you made it through...and I hope you're okay now.

Yes, nobody should live like that...I agree.

Here is to a new and improved 2007!! :hug: :hug: :hug:

[Shakespeare]

79. I am wildly, wonderfully OK now.

I didn't just learn that I don't have to put up with that shit--I also learned a lot about my own resilience, and that was a happy lesson.

2007 is going to ROCK. :hug: :toast:

[Guava Jelly]

71. I almost forgot something else I learned

Before you pm a picture of your butt to someone.
Make sure it's actually a pm before you hit enter and not an open thread. :dunce:
:hide:

[Haole Girl]

73. ROFL!

Yes, always a good idea...to make sure it shows..."sending to...." before hitting that button!

:rofl:

[Guava Jelly]

75. yup

i am such a geek

[BarenakedLady]

74. ROFL!

:rofl:

Bet you won't be doing that again. hehehe

[Guava Jelly]

76. laugh it up sister

:mad:
:rofl:

[idgiehkt]

86. roflmao AGAIN!!

:rofl:

:rofl:

:rofl:

love you, GoPsUx

:loveya: :hug:

[idgiehkt]

77. I already knew this

but it kind of really sank in this year...that everything has a price. If I refuse to walk around like Buddha incarnate and instead let people see my human weakness, and my pain, because I want to live an authentic life instead of one behind a facade, then some people will judge me as immature/un'recovered'/overly emotional/whatever, and some will take it upon themselves to 'help' by telling me the error of my ways (and sometimes I'll lose my patience and tell them where to get off, lol). And that if I bring my feelings to the surface in matters of the heart and confess them, it doesn't change the outcome, it just insures I won't look back on something wishing I'd done or said something that I held back. I think I am learning how to be the most authentic I can be, despite judgements, because it's important to me.

[Haole Girl]

78. Well said...

...now, are you sure you're not Buddha incarnate?

:rofl:

Happy New Year!! :loveya: :hug:

[VelmaD]

80. that the universe really is...

conspiring against me. *sigh*

[Haole Girl]

81. Aww..

..I know it can really feel like that at times. But, I'm not...I promise...
Here's to a better year, in 2007!!! :hug: :hug: :hug:

[fudge stripe cookays]

82. Hmmm...

and, no matter how healthy a person eats or how much they exercise, fate can still take it's toll.

I learned that in 2005.

This year I learned to come to terms with my illness, and know that it's not the end of the world. I traveled to more places this year than I did the entire rest of my life combined! Alone, and each one an adventure of meeting new family and creating a giant work of art involving them all.

I learned to have a goal that is bigger than me, and concentrate all my focus and energies in it to create a masterpiece for our entire 3000-something member family to enjoy.

I also learned that I had to get past the depression and gloom that hit last year, and worry about my health, regardless of the things I cannot change. (MS is one thing, but gaining so much weight that I end up with diabetes and heart trouble is not going to help anything!)

[Haole Girl]

83. Well, I hope 2007 is a healthy year for all of us..

...I am starting to say no to every single piece of free food that comes my way. So far, just since the middle of December, I've lost 10 lbs. But, I think a lot of it has to do with running around like a crazy woman....preparing for Christmas, etc.

Anyway, I hope 2007 is a great year for you!! :hug:

[fudge stripe cookays]

84. Thanks KC. Me too!

I dragged my butt back to Weight Watchers right before Thanksgiving, and have been cooking very healthy. Reprehensor and I even joined a gym that just opened here in town. So Ive been bicycling, swimming, and lifting weights.

Over the holidays, I lost 6.6 pounds! Yay me! :woohoo:

[Haole Girl]

85. It seems extra special to be able..

..to lose weight during the holidays, doesn't it. Way to go!! :hug: