Regaining My Center

As I reflect on 2024, I can't help but see it as a year of restoration for me. A year of bringing my life back into a state of equilibrium, a place where I feel like myself again. But this version of me is different, stronger, having weathered the monsoon that was my life, exacerbated by COVID, but now it finally feels like a turning point has happened.

Looking back, 2024 has been less tumultuous than previous years in my twenties. It was a year to enjoy the seeds I've sowed these past four years. The constants remained – seeing live music, witnessing art, and investing time into cherished friendships (old and new).

It was the first year without my grandfather, Michael, a year of learning to live with the absence while also embracing the beauty of change and new beginnings. I said goodbye to my sanctuary for the past three years and moved into a space that is even more comforting and comes with the most healing love I've ever experienced. I said goodbye to a job that I felt so comfortable at, but had outgrown. Instead embarking on an entirely new opportunity. And while New York City remains my beloved home away from home, this year, I prioritized discovering new horizons.

And when the insecurity sinks in about all my choices, and it does, I think what I reflect on is this: the future is uncertain. No matter what one may try to convince you no one truly knows where their path will lead. We have some control though to do the best we can with what we know at the time and when things get too comfortable and start to feel stagnant, we can embrace change, pack up our closet, and take the road less travelled. To quote Robert Frost, "I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

This is the first year in a very long time that I have felt less optimistic about the year ahead. It is also the first year an intention or word hasn't come to me. There is still time. There is always time.