How I’m Bringing Last Year’s Lessons into the New Year

Final reflections: It’s been a helluva year.

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As 2024 draws to a close I’ve tried to turn inward and do some serious reflection on the past months. This year has had more twists and surprises than I ever could have imagined. I understand that I can never actually predict what a year is going to look like, but I never could have predicted the lessons I would learn or the experiences I would have. I’m looking into 2025 with nothing but gratitude for my experiences and a sort of anxious curiosity and what will unfold.

I’ve spent the past several years doing some pretty intense introspection, attempting to heal past hurts and relieve the chronic illnesses that have ravaged my body. Now, when people ask me what I’ve been up to (since I have withdrawn from much of the crowd I usually hang with), I realize I can’t tell them I’ve been dismantling decades of carefully curated false identities that were forced on me like scaffolds that go up in a cathedral restoration.

As I sift through the layers of false beliefs and delicately conceived personalities that were created for me, a lot of negativity and damaging beliefs start to come out.

I tumble back into the self-loathing and disgust that ran my life for so many years. I wrestle with the notion that I so deeply want to re-wire my…