This year has been filled with blessings, hardships, good news, bad news, growth and loss. It was the year I turned 19, the year I changed my major, the year I joined clubs. My goal this year was to find out more about myself – what I like, what I dislike, my values, my opinions – without the outside influence of other people’s opinions. This year was the first time I had ever felt like I truly liked who I was and where I’m at in my life.Â
It may not have been perfect. I spent more days than I’d like to admit in bed, wallowing. But the most impressive part about that is that I would also get up. I wouldn’t let myself keep wallowing and I would fight. That’s one of the things I learned about myself this year; I can fight back. I can do things even when I’m so scared that my hands can’t stop shaking. I accomplished so many things this year that I never would’ve thought to be possible a year ago.Â
The best thing I did this year was let myself be me. I was weird and funny and sad and happy. I let myself feel whatever I felt and didn’t beat myself up for it. I learned that when you allow yourself to feel everything you need to feel, the bad feelings go away quicker and the good feelings last longer. I surrounded myself with people that made me feel seen and loved. I enjoyed going to classes and rewarded myself when I got good grades. I was overall so much nicer to myself than I had been in previous years.Â
So, thank you to 2025 for being as crazy, chaotic and amazing as I needed it to be. I can’t wait to see what else I find out about myself in 2026.