ENTERING 2019

2019, I loved you.

Like every year, you carried both the good and the bad, hope and despair, excitement and stillness, joy and sorrow.

Sometimes they came all at once, sometimes they made space for each other.

If it weren’t for you, if it weren’t for everything you brought to me and to the world,I wouldn’t be stepping into 2020 with such intention, hope, and desire.

To every feeling I have experienced—

And to the ones I haven’t allowed myself to feel—

I send my greetings, my gratitude.

To every moment, a thousand thank you.

2020, I have wishes for you.

But as I walk towards those wishes,

I also grant myself permission to stumble, to fall, to rise again.

And if ever I forget that permission—

"Hey world, remind me!"

I carry with me the lessons I have learned,

the perspectives I have shifted,

the pain of shedding my old self,

the dreams I have yet to reach,

the many lessons still ahead.

If I have truly learned,

if I have tucked my homework under my arm,

Then I choose to step away from:

Places, people, and situations that do not uplift me, that drain me, that tighten my chest.

Because as we grow older,

as we gather experiences,

we start to understand the priceless value of time.

I am in that phase now.

My time, my energy, is valuable.

So instead of wasting it,

I choose to spend it with those who:

Love, respect, build, uplift, heal, encourage, and celebrate.

And I do so consciously, intentionally.

To believe in oneself.

To trust in oneself.

To courageously plant the seeds of dreams.

To nurture them, root them, claim them.

To love you for you, and me for me.

To stand shoulder to shoulder, as dreamers, as companions.

As long as I live this way, I will keep sharing.

Sharing the paths I have walked, the lessons I have learned, the methods that have worked for me—in whatever way fits the moment.

Because while I know that everyone's remedy is within themselves,

Sometimes, our recipes are made of pieces we've gathered along the way.

Some from our own realizations,

Some from the wisdom of others,

Some from the answers to the questions we dared to ask.

To a year where we apply the wisdom we have gathered.

To a year of growth, courage, and becoming. ✨