Growth

The most fascinating thing about the new year for many of us is the idea of it being a fresh start. In reality, it's yet another day in the same season, but we humans like the feeling of starting anew. If we're being realistic, the best time to make the change you want to see is right now, by doing something different. That's, however, not all there is to a new cycle on the calendar. It can also be a reminder to recount.

2024 was my best year yet. Might sound like I had such a thrilling year and perhaps all of my goals and dreams came true, but it isn't exactly so. In a nutshell, I learned a lot in that year. And you know what they say about learning: it tells that there's growth happening somewhere. And that's what 2024 was about for me. Growth.

A good place to start is that I wrote a lot more than I had ever done before. I started with the ambition to publish for every day of the year, but I could only keep the streak for two months. I was able to do at least 320 out of 366, but my real focus is on the fact that every time I came on the chain to publish, I put myself together to self-reflect and process my thoughts. In other words, my self-awareness and my ability to write expanded. And I'll tell you why this matters to me.

I felt a lot of pressure in 2023, and it made me withdraw from so many things and people. It was a cloudy time for me, and I started the year that way. I hear it's one of those things you experience in your 20s as you transition into being independent, trying to figure out life for yourself. To top it up, I was even in an unhealthy relationship. And I waltzed into 2024, not exactly sure what the heck I was doing. I was serving my country at that time - an excuse that felt plausible at the time, though it quickly lost weight after June.

Showing up every now and then, writing, gave me something. It allowed me to explore, as I wrote on different niches. And bit by bit, I was growing, ever so subtly. Would I say I am where I really want to be? Nope. But I am far more grown than I was a year ago. And all thanks to writing? Nah... There's more.

The gift of people. I enjoyed plenty of that in the last year. An example was when I had it rough for a long time. There was this one friend that availed themselves to help me endure it, and it still surprises me that they first showed up in the same year and did that. My circle is small, and I like it that way, but my connections with the people I hold dear become even stronger.

Mistakes. Oh, yes. Just as I had many wins, I made quite a number of them in the last year. But the mindset I keep holding on to is not letting regrets get the better of me. What I fixate on now is not allowing those mistakes to haunt me and hold me back. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose learn. This mindset now helps me turn setbacks into stepping stones.

Moving forward in this new year, I trust that I'll come again at the end of the year to recount and be thankful. Goals are in order, of course, as are new resolutions. Whether it feels like a fresh start or not, now is a good time to do something great.

Happy New Year!