The gifts are unwrapped. Family members are packing up and going home. Christmas is officially over. And now the last piece of the holiday season is coming into place: New Year’s.

I love this dark week of December. Chances are you’re off of work or so few people are in the office that you have a lot of time to yourself to reflect. News programs are talking about their top stories. Everyone is putting out their “Best of” lists. Everyone is remembering 2011.

I was looking over old status updates on Facebook the other day. It’s interesting reading all my thoughts over the course of a year in one sitting. It read like a novel that I would call Lost & Found. I left a job, found a new one. Lost a few friends, gained a ton more. Suffered heartbreak that gave way to a new (far better) relationship. Seems like every time a good thing walked out the door, it passed something better on its way in.

I felt the need to apologize for my bouts of pessimism. Turns out that 2011 was far kinder to me than I realized.

Tell me your story. If 2011 was a novel of your life, what would the title be? As the hero in your tale, what did you learn this year about yourself?