Ten Lessons From 2017

Just like most people, I have spent the past 24ish hours reflecting on the past year of my life. It has been a challenging but rewarding year for a variety of reasons – one of which not being my consistency while blogging! From the beginning of the year in the relative safety blanket of Lexington to ending the year in Australia, it’s been quite the ride.

Here are the 10 things I learned during a crazy year that took me around the world:

1) Not Having a Plan Is Okay - As a natural planner, learning this one gave me a big ulcer. There were many panic attacks when my 2017 plans fell apart a month before we entered the year but you know what? I found a way to survive without everything laid out in A-B-C order and while I’m not sure I thrived, I did learn a lot. I’m still not a fan of the unknown (and it’s still leading to ulcers) but am a bit calmer when faced with the situation.

There are times I don't even have driving plans these days.

2) Don’t Censor Yourself – While obviously having a filter is important (no one likes the person loudly voicing their opinion about everything), don’t be afraid to say something without overanalyzing it first. Moving to Australia came about because I made myself send a message without reading it 500 times and thinking about how bad an idea it could be and all the horrible things that could go wrong (people who say the worst answer you can get is “No” aren’t correct in my mind but they have a point). That definitely isn’t my normal style but one I need to adopt more often.

3) Overall, Everyone is the Same – There are literally 9,440.46 miles between my old address in Lexington and my address in Australia but people aren’t too different in the two places. Sure, the vocabulary is a little different as are some of the habits but overall, people are people (at least when it comes to these two countries) and interestingly, even the landscape (and cities) remind me of the U.S.

Australia or the U.S.?

4) Take the Compliment – This has been my weakness for a long time. I fully admit I don’t have a lot of confidence in myself, especially professionally, so I don’t know what to do with compliments. But with multiple people telling me to own up to it when someone gives me a compliment instead of brushing it off, this is something I’m going to focus hard on working on in 2018.

5) You Have to be Social – No matter where I’ve lived in the past, I’ve had a safety net that has kept me in my own little safe bubble of only having close friends and not much else. Moving to a totally different country where you know no one and don’t have the safety net of having a college newspaper or what-have-you to help make friends made me step out of my comfort zone. Going places alone and not worrying about sitting at a table for one or introducing myself to people isn’t as scary these days. But there’s always room for improvement so it’s another focus point for 2018, especially in professional settings.

Making new friends with the local population.

6) Just Walk Away – 2017 was a contentious year. From politics to pets, there was always someone wanting to argue about a variety of topics in 2017. Maybe it’s a sign of maturity or maybe it’s a sign of just being tired of all the fighting, but I got a lot better about not engaging in every argument people tried to drag me in to. I wasn’t perfect about it but did learn that walking away is truly the best thing you can do sometimes.

7) Stop Comparing Yourself to Others – There’s always going to be someone “better” than you and someone different than you but that doesn’t mean you’re not good at the same thing (or many things.) Enjoy the things you see from/talk about to other people and stop trying to compare yourself to them and their accomplishments. It’s just a way to make you feel bad about yourself and tear up your confidence. That doesn’t mean you can’t learn from what you see or hear, however.

There may be better pictures of cows out there but it doesn't mean I can't appreciate my own.

8) Distance Shows You What You Really Want – The time zone difference between Australia and Europe (10-11 hours) and the United States (16-19 hours) would be the perfect excuse for me to lose interest in the racing/horse breeding industry outside the country I’m in but the effort I’ve put in to keeping up with it has reaffirmed in my mind that it’s my “Mr. Right” of careers. When I came to Australia, I wasn’t sure if I actually wanted to stay in racing (it’s been a hard few years) for the long term but this trip helped me answer that question and helped ignite my interest in the Australasian markets as well.

9) Reconnect With People – I’m really bad at this but moving away from the U.S. (to a time zone far away at that) has forced me to put effort into staying in touch and even in some cases reconnecting with people. Having to really work to keep in touch with people has made me appreciate them more and even made me more social.

10) Opening My Mind to Different Career Paths in the Industry – Australia has opened my eyes up to a lot of different career paths t in racing that I never thought of. While I know some don’t fit me, there are others that I never knew existed before my trip here and I’d like to explore farther. Thankfully, I have a great professional support system behind me and I’m feeling a bit more brave about stepping out of my box so we’ll see where that takes me in 2018 and beyond!