Greater than 2 minutes, my friend!

Heya friend!

Just wanted to thank you and every single member of our thriving community for an amazing 2017!

We had so many incredible moments and reasons to celebrate this year.

First of all, our community grew to a stunning number: 3,227 registered members!

I do hope we’ll get to at least 5,000 registered members in 2018.

You can help too, friend, by spreading the word about this community our by volunteering!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Join @OpenMicXL8 – one of the most inspiring communities for freelance translators! #xl8 #t9n” quote=”Join @OpenMicXL8 – one of the most inspiring communities for freelance translators! #xl8 #t9n”]

Second of all, we won a Community Choice Award from Proz.com as the Best Website for Translators and that’s our second win 2 years in a row!

We also had an increasing number of terrific articles published this year with many new authors and bloggers joining our ranks and publishing lots of useful advice and high-quality content (I actually plan to do a Top 10 list in the beginning of 2018).

The Translators On Air community also kept growing steadily.

We just recorded our special bonus episode, make sure to check it out if you want to see me wearing a Santa’s hat and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Christmas sweater.

Check it out right here below!

We had a blast recording this and you’ll definitely feel inspired after watching this.

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So, yeah, the holiday season us upon us and everyone is sending warm wishes to their friends and loved ones.

Actually, I’m not a big fan of holidays, because this time of year can be particularly hard and overwhelming.

Especially with all those happy posts and holiday wishes bombarding you from every single social network.

I’m just grateful that I made it through this year in one piece and that my family is in good health (actually there will be a new mini-translator on the block very soon) 👶

That’s why I try to appreciate every single day, every single moment of this life and dedicate as much time as I possible can to the loved ones.

Because family is the only thing that matters and I hope that you’ll spend some quality time with your loved ones this festive season.

I also hope that we’ll leave all the bad things behind this year.

I know that we’re doing it every year, but something bad always manages to sneak into the next year and ruin it for some of us.

This time around, let’s really leave all bad things behind and focus on the future.

The future of our profession is very bright and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US has a role to play in it.

I hope that in 2018 we’ll be more open-minded and open to collaboration.

I hope that we’ll learn to accept each other and find a way in our hearts to love all people that surround us.

I’m also looking forward to what technology will bring and to new opportunities and challenges that await us in 2018.

Something tells me, it’s going to be a great years, so please, friend, seize this moment and make this year count.

Be bold. Be courageous. Be proactive.

This is a year to give up all of your bad habits, you know, things like this:

9 Things to quit:

1. Trying to please everyone
2. Fearing change
3. Living in the past
4. Overthinking
5. Being afraid to be different
6. Beating yourself up over mistakes
7. Sacrificing your happiness for others
8. Thinking you're not good enough
9. Thinking you have no purpose

— Common White Girl (@GirlPosts) December 25, 2017

We can shape 2018.

It’s within our power.

So, let’s really try and make this year a year of translators!

Happy New Year, dear friends and colleagues!

Have a fantastic time during your time off work and see you all in 2018!