What was 2016 like for you?

This is a topic I’ve been rather interested in for the last couple months. I’d like to know, what was your experience in 2016? What did you do that year? Do you feel it was a good year or a bad one?

I’m asking because it seems people are now saying it was a good year, but I swear I remember people saying it was complete shit. There was something in the air that year, surely I’m not crazy for thinking that.

As for me, I actually wrote an entire blog post about it back in June, and it’s crazy to think it’s been ten whole years since it all happened. In short, I was still figuring myself out and I was extremely awkward. But I did have fun… to some extent. Even though there’s a lot I also very much regret.

I’d be curious to hear what you guys have to say about 2016, if you remember anything from that particular time period.

I was in undergrad, getting my associates degree, just out of high school from the year before overall, the atmosphere felt pretty pessimistic. People nowadays have nostalgia over that era. I wasnt as carefree back then, still kinda cared what people thought about me, but I had fun back then. To me, I dont get that rosy about it, since I was also focusing primarily on getting solid grades, that belongs to 2008-2013. By 2016, I had started going hard into learning the ins and outs of meteorology and was seriously pursuing it as an actual career path. I dropped that idea a year later. I was also becoming rapidly known as the family and friends tech support guy. If I had to rate it out of 10, id give that entire year personally a solid 6-7 (haha 67)/10  

2016 was a very complicated year full of lots of ups and downs for me. Two things stick out to be in particular though.

For one, that's the year I graduated high school! I struggled a lot in school, so we weren't entirely sure I was going to graduate at all. But for my final two years, I took online classes instead of in-person to alleviate some anxiety and get me away from bullies, and I managed to pass enough to graduate. I didn't go to a ceremony, but my mom still had her old cap and gown, and so we took pictures in the back yard to celebrate. My neighbors across the street, a little old couple Bruce and Mabel, noticed and sent me $20 in the mail to congratulate me :)

However, that year was also really hectic. That year was the Clinton VS Trump election, and because I had just turned 18 in time for it, I had to suddenly rush to learn how to vote. And it was a terrifying election as well, suddenly seeing someone so hateful and dangerous being widely praised by the public, suddenly realizing that my own vote, while important, would only make a dent. I stayed up late that night to watch the results and I just cried the entire time knowing that everything was going to be different. It completely shifted my view of democracy forever.

After the election, I stopped telling people I was trans. I only re-embraced it within the last two years.

Needless to say, 2016 and I have a very... strained relationship.

I was in middle school (8th grade) and a total fucking loser lmao. I got bullied pretty bad during those years, I was emo, I listened to Christian rock bands like Skillet because my dad thought they were cool, I had a stupid haircut, no sense of style, no social media besides Pinterest, undiagnosed issues like adhd and tbh probably autism but we don't know that for sure, one of my medications made me suicidal, got off that med and started a different one and started breaking out into hives on a monthy basis, I had a middle school boyfriend, Donald Trump got elected, Harambe died.

Bad year.