New Year Thoughts (24-25)
The only accurate way to describe this year, is 366 days of non-stop change. Expected or unexpected, something new was formed, created, or or occurred each day.
Very little breaks or space to breathe, one event after the other, again, and again, and again. This was not a year of rest, 2024.
You were always in the back of my mind. Like a child in December, with Christmas constantly creeping into their thoughts. Holding to hope so tightly in their tiny fists, and letting it all come and go as the holiday passes.
There’s always joy with Christmas, of course. But waking up the next morning comes with a sort of empty disappointment. All that could have been the magic of Christmas, was. The hope has diminished, and next year is now forever away.
All what could have been 2024, was. The hope has diminished- but I don’t feel as empty this year as I have other December 31st’s. Yes next year is forever away but I am not anxious to reach it from where I am.
I needed this year. I needed forceful change, a reason to become the person I’ve wanted to be, and come to the conclusion I am strong and able to persevere on my own.
I have never been without the routine of school, friendships and constant people. Support, reassurance, taking on my self-casted therapist friend role and blending into the background to avoid bothering the rest of this busy world.
What an exercise it was, letting all of that become stripped from me this past year with the nature of time and growth- as well as my own choice.
My hair reached my shoulders as my confidence and willingness expanded as well. 2024 was going to change me no matter what I did- so I might as well control what I can to change with it.
In this current moment where my thoughts are jumbled and self-hate is high, I forget how far I’ve come. I don’t dread the new year anymore, I enjoy grieving what will never be again and reflecting on every new step I made to become who I am now. I have a beating heart, for a start. I did so much more than I ever thought I could.
I stage managed a show, I read an original poem in front of my entire senior class, I turned eighteen, I graduated high school, I won awards in my school art show and literary fest, I broke up with a long-term partner, I discovered my dad had cancer, I published a poetry book, I received two spinal surgeries, I met my current boyfriend and best friend, I grew into my own confidence, style, and creativity- I took action, I tried things, I broke sometimes and got back up again on my own-
I did so many “impossible” tasks this year and more. This is only the beginning.
2024 is not a year of endings, it is a year of beginnings. A year of change, transitions, milestones to begin a new era of life.
There is a bitter sweetness to it. As I reflect on my kindergarten school ID with the words “class of 2024” before I could read or had any concept of how years worked. “2024 is forever away,” almost as if it wasn’t tangible or real for my childhood self, nowhere I could see myself being. 2024 felt like a fantasy, a dystopian dream, something to worry about in the future, light years down the line from kindergarten.
Here I am. A legal adult, alive and breathing, years away from kindergarten with the ability to read and draw better than 5 year old me could ever comprehend. She would like me, she would think I am so cool, and proud of me for drawing, writing and loving what I love just like she always wanted for me.
2024 never felt real for her, it barely feels real for me now, yet here it is, coming to an end. A lost kindergarten ID, a graduation cap behind me, fulfilling my childhood dream of growing in confidence which happens to be mine now as well.
I have a tendency to self depreciate, but I think I will choose this moment to thank myself, for all I’ve tried and accomplished. There are times when credit is due, and I’m claiming this to be one of those times.
I’ve grown so much, I’ve changed, I’ve succeeded, yet this is far from the end.
If you are reading this, you’ve grown so much, you’ve changed, you’ve succeeded and this is far, far from your ending. Thank you so much for being here. For staying. For surviving this eventful year of change and letting your heart remain beating long enough to see the beginning of what this next year could be.
I had hopes, expectations, ideals for 2024. Some came true, some did not, some I forgot about. 2025 is a blank slate. All I know for certain is I am going to stay here through it, embrace every event and step out of my comfort zone just a little more. So maybe I can look back one year from now and thank myself again. If not for growing, then simply surviving. Being. Staying.
Thank you 2024, for all I hoped you would be, all you were and all you weren’t.
And thank you, each one of you, for surviving, being, staying through it all. <3 I’m so proud of you, and I hope we remain in touch through whatever 2025 may bring for each of us.
- C.Joy. (2024)















