2016 was definitely a whirlwind year. It was like Quentin Tarantino decided to make a movie out of a year--except, this time, we were the actors. Sad part is, there was little to no witty dialogue in this movie. Hell, the soundtrack wasn't even good. The movie was filled with really bad plot twists (aka: Trump winning the election) and so many unnecessary deaths (Alan Rickman, David Bowie, Prince, Mohamed Ali, Gene Wilder, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Carrie Fischer, Debbie Reynolds...do I really need to go on?).

2016 also dealt with the Brock Turner case--a case that shook the foundation of what America will let slide and what they won't, a huge issue in sexual assault cases and rights across the country. There was also the Zika Virus, which broke out and terrified the nation. The Orlando Night Club incident also happened--taking the lives of so many innocent men and women, raising the awareness of the discrimination the LGBTQ community faces. There were terrorist attacks, Aleppo, Brexit, police brutality, killer clowns, Vine shutdown, and Glen from The Walking Dead died.

It was a hard year, to say the least. It was brutal and pushed a lot of us to our limits.

But, it had some of its own notable moments as well. There was the notable Netflix debut of Stranger Things--a show which followed the lives of childhood friends who we all fell in love with, and introduced us back to the 80's, the Demogorgon, Eleven, and something known as 'The Upside Down'.

Black girl magic reigned supreme as Beyonce made a comeback with her album 'Lemonade'--unapologetically tearing her enemies apart and highlighting moments in her own life, which were rooted in sultry melodies and harmonies only the Queen Bey could construct. African Amercian women ruled the Rio 2016 Olympics (Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, ect.) and showed the world that the color of our skin doesn't determine our worth of what we are capable of in the world.

In addition, Lady Gaga and Frank Ocean made a dynamic return into their music careers; Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar; several animals were taken off the endangered species list; Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War, Moana, Jungle Book, La La Land, and Finding Dory rocked the scene of theatrics; Hamilton: An American Musical taught us all what America is really made of and what it really means to be patriotic; the first ever flower was grown in space; the Cubs won the world series; memes were absolutely lit; there was the Chewbacca Lady (please look it up if you haven't seen it); Joanne the Scammer; and the Cubs won the world series.

So, not everything was awful. We remember the bad things because we think that it ruined the year as a whole. But, it wasn't. It was a year of definitive change and evolution, just as every year should be composed of. It should always be changing. Bad things will happen and good things will happen, and that is what keeps us going.

So, as we go into 2017, remember all that happened in 2016--things you enjoyed and things you could have gone without. Remember what made you happy, what made you sad, but move forward.

This is a new opportunity, a new day. Make it the best you can.

Let's make 2017 the best year ever.

Goodbye, 2016. Hello, 2017.