If you search “Ellen Isn’t Giving Up Hope in the Midst of Devastating Events” on YouTube, you will find an eight-minute compilation of acts of kindness and heroic stories, both big and small, from numerous episodes of The Ellen Show.

DeGeneres aired the video on her talk show soon after the Las Vegas shooting in October 2017 to remind everyone that although so much bad has happened and is happening in the world, we shouldn’t forget the good and love that is also being spread.   

The year is coming to a close in less than two weeks, and for whatever reason, this year has seemed to hit everyone a little different than years passed.

Whether it was romantically, academically or financially, this year proved to be draining for many, including myself. When I spent time looking back on my own year, I had to make a conscious effort to remember the good parts of my year because the bad parts were weighing in as so much more important. Once I spent enough time thinking about it, though, I realized that even though there was all this negative, something good came out of every part. I learned and now I realize that even though I didn’t necessarily “want” this year, I needed it.

I took to social media to ask friends and family about their successes this year, and there was a common theme between all of the responses: They came from work and their successes derived from their shortcomings.

Similar to Ellen’s eight-minute video, I wanted to highlight a bunch of these accomplishments to remind everyone that even when things are bad, good will come and there isn’t always a smooth road to getting where or what you want. I hope that in reading these, you will think of the negatives that probably came before each accomplishment, and remind yourself of how you have grown from the bad parts of 2018.

In 2018 we…

…got our first 4.0 in college.

…ran (and beat our personal records) in our first marathon.

…finally got a PAID internship after years of struggling with unpaid ones.

…became healthy after battling with our weights for a while.

…flew our first airplane (solo)!

…finally told the loves of our lives how we felt.

…began therapy for our anxiety/depression.

…learned to start accepting ourselves for who we are.

…changed our environments and came out of our comfort zones.

…got out of bad relationships and finally realized our self-worth.

…finally put our mental health first.

…got into our respective graduate schools.

…started to feel like ourselves again.

This year was hard, but it was important, too. Think about your failures and rework them into your successes. Seriously, let’s quit wasting our time.