A leadership excercise: What really changed for you this year?

Terry recently challenged his blog readers to really think about the change that's happened in the last year, as well as the source for each change. Here's the exact challenge:

Before we get to the year’s end, engage in this helpful and challenging leadership exercise: LIST ALL THE WAYS THAT YOU HAVE CHANGED THIS PAST YEAR. What is different about how you think, feel, act, and what you do, care about, or consider now that you didn’t in January. What routines do you engage now that weren’t a part of your life earlier? THEN LIST THE SOURCE THAT PROMPTED EACH CHANGE. Why is it that you’ve changed in each way?

He asked us to post our responses in his comment section, but given the year that I've had, I figured it'd be better suited as a blog post.

I learned to stand up for myself as a human being. /// In the past, I've let myself become a doormat for some people, thinking it was Biblical to let people walk all over me [let 'em hit one cheek, then let 'em hit the other!]. Not only did it hurt my perception of who God created me to be, but it made me feel like crap all the time. I finally realized that I needed to care about myself the way God cares about me when I saw God bring me to a place where I'm accepted and appreciated for who He created me to be, not harped on for who He didn't create me to be.

I learned how to be more independent. /// Moving 12 hours away from home will do that to a girl.

I rely on faith and hope more. /// In a situation where most would say all hope was lost, I stuck it out. I trusted God was going to do something because He promised He would. And He did. And every day I feel blessed because of it.

I'm more conscious of what I'm putting into my body [and I've learned to cook!]. /// A year ago this November, I was diagnosed with PTC, which basically means there's too much fluid around my brain, and it puts pressure on the brain and optic nerve. After having a pity party for a few months because of it, I finally started looking at what I was eating and how much junk was actually in it. Now, I tend to make a lot of my own food, which is pretty fun once you get the hang of it.

Those are the big ones. What about you? How has your life changed in the last year?