2016

“Something Good” Sunday

There’s a trend on social media right now. People are posting pictures of themselves from 2016. I guess somehow 2026 was picked as the year that we compare ourselves to who we were 10 years ago. I’ll play along. This is a good thing for me to reflect on since it’s Sunday and I’m looking for “something good” to share. Usually I try to pick something from this week that was good. But I guess since I’ve been seeing the 2016 posts this week, it counts.

Here are a few facts about 2016 Sarah:

I ran my first 5k. My school had hosted a 5k/10k as a fundraiser in March. I volunteered at the event and finally decided to train for it and run it.

I came in 4th place for my age group. I was 45 seconds behind the 3rd place finisher I think.

That was in March, and that fall, I transitioned to teaching middle school English after years of teaching elementary grades. This was my costume for the fall festival that year. I went as a burned out teacher. There were three or four pencils and an old pair of glasses shoved in my hair for effect.

I wasn’t exaggerating. I really was stressed and exhausted from the work. This is how I set up our kitchen table one weekend because I had so much work to get done. We were still in our tiny one bedroom apartment then.

I took lots of naps back then too. Always on the couch, always covered in cats. We didn’t have a dog then. We were at our pet limit according to the apartment rules.

It’s amazing how much has changed in 10 years. My physical health has improved to the point where I don’t feel the need to nap anymore. I can’t remember the last time I took one. And my mental health? Well, if you’ve read any of my posts over the past year, you know my mental health has never been better. Which is kind of interesting when comparing it to 2016. It wasn’t bad then. 2016 was a stable period in my life. I was content being a teacher. The “burned out” feeling was normal to me. That was just part of being a teacher and I accepted it. Also, things hadn’t happened yet at that point.

I think my parents had gotten back together then. I can’t remember if they were re-married yet or not. Actually, I don’t even remember when they started talking again. But once they did, my relationship with them would never be the same. And now I don’t have one at all. But that’s a good thing.

My mother-in-law was still with us. Her passing was the catalyst for us to move into her house. It was deeply emotional for us after she died. She was more of a mother to me than mine was. Not just that, but she was the mother I had needed all along.

In 2016, I hadn’t gotten pregnant and lost our child. And of course, the grad school fiasco was nowhere close to being on the horizon.

There was a lot of trauma to come after 2016. But, as you know, there was a lot of healing from it. And that’s what’s good about looking back. The life I had back then and the person I was, is so different from my life and who I am now that it’s baffling how we’re the same person.

I remember what my life felt like back then. I know what it feels like now. I’m happier now. To be fair, I was happy back then. But for vastly different reasons. And that’s o.k. The person I am now had to start somewhere.