I often look to the new year lamenting the things I didn’t get around to, the resolutions I failed to keep.  That fun run never registered for, the volunteer work that never eventualised, that novel draft still an incomplete hodge podge of scribbles shoved in a bottom drawer.

Last year I told myself I would write this year; write well and write often.  With just three blog posts to my 2015 name you can see how that promise to myself went.

So I’ve decided to reflect on the things I have learned, experienced and observed this year, rather than dwelling on my terrible commitment to unrealistic goals set during the drunken summer evenings of 2014.

In no particular order, here are my key takeaways from 2015:

• Sweat rash is a debilitating condition.
• I should take a break from Facebook.
• Blondes do have more fun.
• Boxing is gross regardless of gender.
• Medicine balls are most springy when ricocheting off ones nose.
• The smaller the world gets, the less we love each other.
• Magic Mike XXL is a cinematic masterpiece.
• Effective leaders seldom care what others think of them.  They concern themselves with good strategy and doing right by their people.
• Toilet training is expensive.
• Frankfurt book fair is the Disneyland of word nerds.
• I heart Justin Trudeau.
• Being de-commissioned = boned.
• Shopkins everywhere!
• Three year old kinder = participation obligation.
• Diets will be the death of me.
• Thermomix is a cult.
• It matters how you explain world events to your kids.
• Music can be medicine.
• I will always snore while having beauty treatment, resistance is futile.
• Kale chip are not chips.
• Time hurts all wounds.
• Blogging on an iPad is shit.
• Jon Snow lives… Please… Doesn’t he? 

The lesson that sticks with me most from this year is something a dear friend told me as she considered some of life’s tough stuff. I’ve thought of it often throughout the year, and reckon it makes sense of things that are often too complex to understand.

Some people go through life like a swim in the ocean. It’s exhilarating, refreshing and enjoyable. To surf above the waves, salt drying on your eyelashes, sun on your shoulders, laughs in the breeze. Every so often, a big wave comes through, a bit darker than the others, and it pulls you under the water.  You bob up for air, sometimes frightened and effected.  Each new swim will remind you of that moment but, for the most part, you carry on splashing around in the surf.

Look under the surface though, and there is someone near you being dumped over and over again. Each wave is dark and pounding on them.  They may look like they’re swimming along with everyone else, but listen for their gasps between each wave. Your friend may not be swimming strong. Are they smiling or struggling? Reach down and give them a lift above the waves – they might not be showing it but they’re about to slip under.

And if you’re under the water with a lung full of salt put your hand up – even just for a second… Someone who loves you will notice and try to pull you to safety.

In short: look out for your mates and avoid Kale chips at all costs.