So, we have come to the end of the year. Let me tell you, this year has been the best year of my life.

My dreams came true.

I am in the best place emotionally in over fourteen years. I’m having a good time and my life is finally loving me back.

I came into the year with a lot of questions:

• What do I want to do professionally?
• Am I ever going to fall in love?
• How do I get used to my new normal?

In January, my new house was getting renovated. At the same time, my best friend Patrick Saylor was getting ready to move down here. This will be the first time since college I had moved out of my parents’ house. Pat came down from Lake Tahoe on Super Bowl weekend and we went to Vegas. When we got back, I saw that my bed was moved into my house. Almost a year before, I was at my friend Artin’s housewarming party where I asked myself if I would I ever be able to buy my own house.

During the first part of the year, I was more than a little bit obsessed with finding a girlfriend. The more I thought about it, the more I started doubting that it would happen for me again. I was obsessed with going on match.com every day and emailing in a desperate attempt to even have drinks with a girl.

Then it happened.

My cousin Babek was traveling back and forth to the Philippines to visit Claiza, a girl that he met online. Babek and I are really close and we try to have dinner with one another once a week. I asked Babek to ask his girl if she might have a friend. One day, Babek was at my family’s house and asked if we could talk. He said that Claiza’s best friend Leslie wanted to meet me. Leslie and I started talking and I quickly fell in love. My parents and I went to the Philippines where I asked her to be my wife.

Yes, I am engaged.

And right after I put this post up, I am going to change my Facebook status to “engaged.”

The second question that I had is what I wanted to do for a living. I had a bad experience when I went to Lake Tahoe and Utah the year before. Since my family is financially stable, what was my motivation? I received an email from Dean Jim Ellis askng me if I wanted to speak in San Diego. I called Rich and he said let’s do it. I had so much fun on stage that I could not think of doing anything else. It’s not work, it’s fun.

Perhaps the best thing that happened to me this year was to watch my mom, my dad, and my sister relax and really enjoy their lives. They all have sacrificed so much for me and it’s fun to watch them just be happy. I traveled a lot. I was in Vegas, Anaheim, Philippines, Scottsdale, Seattle, and I’m going to the Philippines and Hawaii next week.

Last week I got to meet and hang out with the most seasoned speakers in the industry. Larry Winget and Joe Calloway. I had an amazing trip. I will go into that next year because it deserves its own blog post.

I feel that my writing has grown to a whole new level. I plan to release my autobiography the summer of next year.

What you need to know most about me is that I am happy. I still have the same challenges as before but I am trying to make peace with them. I still get frustrated but I am happy. I am off to the Philippines and then Hawaii for New Years and I will continue blogging when I come back.

Timelapse - Lighthouse (Oct 2012) from IMK Digital Multimedia on Vimeo.