Hello and welcome to the DesignLife blog where we discuss Holistic Beauty, Personal Development and a little bit of Magic!
Why is it that so many posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are hating on this year? Of course, like any other year, it has had it's ups and downs, but all in all, I had a great 2016. As the year is coming to a close, I would like to take a moment to write an open letter to each and every person that has played a role, however small, in my year.
First of all, thank you to my mom and dad. Thank you for loving me no matter what. I have never needed to doubt that I am loved and that no matter what happens, you will always be there for me. Thank you for being human - you never acted like adults were flawless. So I know that my mistakes are part of growing up. Thank you for daily messages of love and hope and for listening when I needed you to.
Hanco. Thank you for making 2016 magic. Thank you for being my best friend and falling in love with me all over again. Thank you for always being yourself and never changing anything to suit anybody else (including me!). Thank you for teaching me how to have more fun and how to let go of my need to control how things happen and just let them happen (although I'm still working on that). Thank you for having fun with me on YouTube and for letting me play with your Xbox. Oh, and letting me bleach your hair blonde.
Of course, there is so much more I could thank these three people for. They are my favorite people in the whole wide world and I love them so much, but I don't want this letter to accumulate into a book.
To all my friends and extended fam, thank you all so, so much for having fun with me this year! You guys are too awesome. Thank you for the love and support. Specifically, thank you William for being the coolest guy ever and for making Hanco and I feel so at home in Durban! It sucks that you moved, but thank you for all nights out and sleepovers and for definitely never being boring. We'll see you in Cape Town soon.
Thank you Faranah for making me feel like a Henna princess throughout the year! And for hours of talk and Disney songs and strange movies. It sucks that you moved all the way to IRELAND, but I hope that you and Ghulam are happy and that the kids are having fun.
Joey, thank you for being the best friend ever since '95 (lol kidding but still). Thank you for giving great hugs and always being the one who brings the wine. I hope that in 2017 you move as soon as you can to Durban so that we get to hang out more often.
There are many other wonderful people to thank, too. Franco and Corno, thanks y'all for being hilarious (most of the time) and making me laugh. Your family really showed me what being a fam really is. A lotta fighting but a whole lot more love.
The Circle - we had a good run guys! Thanks Adam, Tevin, Ash, Tyrone, Carina, Melandi, Shanay. Thank you for awesome adventures, like the Color Run, The Kongos, beach missions, Origin missions and YouTube videos!
Then, another special thanks to Ryan and Jeanetta for being such great friends and literally being so much fun I can't even. We are really, really looking forward to y'all moving to Durban next year too so that we can have more fun together.
Marni, Soné, thanks for being such adorable, fun, busybodies and for all of your love throughout the year! You two are just the cutest.
Tayla and Tammy, thank you for being the best landlord and for making us feel so at home. Tammy, thank you for your kindness!
Stefmeister! Thank you for all the laughs and great DIY videos!
Also, to my friends that I don't get to see all that often, but who have a special place in my heart and will always be in my prayers and my life, thank you for being such wonderful people that (even though I hardly ever see you) I am sure of your love and kindness no matter how distant we are... Johann HAM-man, you will forever be the BEST brother in the WORLD. Ever.
Mara, mi hermana. Yo siempre pienso en ti. Te amo siempre.
Marianka en Romanda, julle is so groot deel van wie ek is vandag. Dankie vir alles.
Jessica, thank you for your quick visit! It was wonderful to see you this year and I hope to see you again soon. You haven't changed a bit, you are still just as wonderful!
Arno! Thank you for sharing memories of us on Facebook! We really had some good times and I miss you. And Ali! I miss you too!
Then I would also like to thank each and every person who has ever watched or commented or liked one of our YouTube videos. It has been so fun to make videos for 031Living on YouTube this year and I love being able to share the experience with others. Thank you to everyone for your support. SPECIAL thanks to Janike and Rihané! We always love seeing comments from you and we hope that we can one day make a YouTube video with you too! Lots of love <3
Thank you to Hanco's mom and dad for always watching our videos too and for the support (and obviously so much more!). We love you so, so much. Thank you for your feedback and kind messages all throughout the year.
Phew! So many, many more people that I am grateful for. To each person I don't know, who walked by me and gave me a smile, thank you. To each person who packed my grocery bags at the shops, thank you. To the people who make the food I eat at restaurants and who to those who grow and pack apples and to whoever makes 90% dark chocolate, THANK YOU. To each dog or cat that allowed me to pet them this year, thank you. You for sure always make me feel better. Thank you to the Creators of Google and YouTube and thank you Steve Jobs for Apple.
I wish I could thank each and every person who contributed to my 2016 - but there are so many, it might take me another year! And even though each and every one of you deserves a personal thank you, I can only send the world love and I hope that it will reach you. No, I am sure that it will reach you, because I know that when anyone sends love into the world, it grows and expands and flows to where it needs to. My prayer for 2017 is that more love and more joy is sent out into the world and that it grows and expands and envelops all those who allow it into their lives.
I sincerely hope that you all had a wonderful December, whether you celebrate Xmas, or not. I hope that you spent lots of time with your family and friends and people who care about you and make you feel good. I am really happy and blessed to say that I am ending this year in such a good place, even better than how it had started and I have no regrets from this year and no bad blood between myself and anyone else.
The best advice my now-self would have given my beginning-of-2016-self, is breathe. When you are glad, breathe it in, and if you feel any negative emotion, breathe it out. So, because I can't go back in time and tell my past self, I will take this with me into 2017. Breathe in joy, all year round. Have courage and be kind.
Love you all
Kayla
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| 2016 in a nutshell |
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