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(This is cross-posted at BlogHer.)

When I was first approached with the topic of this post, it was a really awesome feeling that I was able to think of all five things right off the top of my head. 2009 has been a great year. A number of big things have happened, including things that are widely accepted as being life-changing, like taking a new job and preparing to move to a new location. Because these things are so memorable, most of them have already come up in posts I’ve written during the last twelve months — but here they are, all at once. Five things I’m proud of from 2009:

1. I’m proud of my new job

In September, I left the place where I’d been working for over two years and accepted a job with a new company. It was the absolute best choice for me and I’m very happy that I made the switch.

I got this job through “unintentional networking,” which means I heard about it through a friend who knew I was looking. (The same friend, in fact, that I’ll mention again in #5.) The whole process of applying, interviewing, and training for this new job was extremely easy and seamless, which makes me feel like it was meant to be and it’s where I will be for the foreseeable future.

2. I’m proud of my new apartment

I haven’t moved in yet, but the date is set for early January. I have the address, I’ve paid the deposit, and I bought a sofa and chair from Craigslist. I’ll be living on my own again, which I’m very excited about — not that there’s anything wrong with living with a roommate, but I’ll be turning 30 in six months and sometimes you just reach a point where you know you need to be on your own. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I don’t plan to have a roommate again unless it’s — well, you know, a dude that I’m more-than-friends with.

I’m proud of my apartment because I made the decision that I wanted to move, I did the research, I chose the place, I’ll be the one to pack up all my belongings (and arrange to have people help me move the really heavy stuff), and I’ll be paying the bills. It feels good.

3. I’m proud that I’ve learned to enjoy being social

I’ve had good friends throughout my entire life, but it’s just been the past few years where I feel like I’ve made an effort to get out and meet new people on a regular basis — and I genuinely enjoy it. I attribute a big part of this change to online dating (referenced in a post I wrote in August after I passed the one-year mark of my membership with an online dating site).

There were a few weeks in 2009 where I literally had plans of some sort every day for a week — I believe my record was eight days in a row. It can be tiring sometimes, but I’d rather be tired and happy than well-rested and bored.

4. I’m proud that I’m blogging differently than I used to, and I’m okay with that

I blog when I want to, if I want to. I reached a point this year where I don’t feel like discussing all the minutiae of my life anymore. I still do that to an extent, but now I do it on Facebook — a place where I can limit my audience to people I know, and where I can talk about what I’m doing in a few lines rather than writing it out in paragraph form. It takes a lot less time and I find that once I’ve said it, I usually don’t feel the need to bring it up later (in extended form) on my blog.

One of the things I’ve held onto is the writing I do for BlogHer, and I do that because I’m proud of it, too. I’ve met a lot of really fantastic women through being associated with that site, and I’m not ready to give it up yet.

5. I’m proud of this one friendship in particular…

The vast majority of the guys I’ve been good friends with through the years are men I’m not physically attracted to (and so far, I’ve never had a situation where I started out not-at-all attracted to a male friend and we mutually decided at a later point that we wanted to be more than friends — you know, like you sometimes see in the movies). This makes sense, though. After all, isn’t it much easier to be friends with someone you’re not attracted to?

I’m proud that someone I started dating at the beginning of 2009 has transitioned to being a really good friend. After we stopped dating, there were a few strange months that sometimes required conversations about “where we stood,” but for the past 4-5 months I can tell we’ve reached a really good place. We date other people, but we spend time together pretty often and we’ve had the opportunity to do nice things for each other. (For instance, he helped me move the living room furniture I bought a few weeks ago, and I served as a character reference for him — which required me to talk to an interviewer face-to-face — when he applied for a job that required it.)

Something that helps with the whole transition to being just-friends? You can’t be “friends with benefits.” (Well, at least I can’t.) It’s difficult to get used to in the beginning, but if you stick it out you’ll find that you can spend multiple hours together, alone, and you don’t have to worry about anything happening.

I care a lot about this person, but it’s nice to have reached a place where I no longer feel like I’m waiting for him to change his mind and suddenly decide he wants to date me. He’s played a big role in my life this year and I have a feeling that he’s someone I will know for a long time. And that’s a really great feeling.

What are you proud of that happened in 2009?

Related Reading:

Liz Rizzo on BlogHer wrote a post called Makes Friends with Exes. Even though me and the guy that I just mentioned were never officially a couple, I can identify with some of the feelings she wrote about in her post.
http://www.blogher.com/makes-friends-exes

Ashley Reading is proud that she set up her own website this year, and she’s currently working on her second.

Jill recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of her blog, something that she’s very proud of.