Karibu 2025

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Raise your hand if you felt personally victimized by Regina George 2024?

All jokes aside, I chose to begin today’s post with the opening line from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens as it is the perfect summation of last year because 2024 was, unequivocally, the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Going into 2024, I was so sure it was going to be my year. I was getting married on January 4^th and five months later, on June 3^rd, I was going to fulfill a decade-long dream to see the incomparable Taylor Swift live in concert. A dream that was even more enchanting as the concert was The Eras Tour– an epic, career-retrospective 3+ hour tour recounting all her artistic eras. To add insult to injury, from March all 2024 dates mirrored the 2019 ones and that felt like kismet because 2019 was easily the best year of my life. I took the mirroring dates as a sign that 2024 was going to be just as good, if not better, than 2019.

Meanwhile, life had other plans for me.

2024 had the highest of highs in that I got married, and by going to see Taylor Swift in concert I got to go to Amsterdam a.k.a. the number one country on my bucket list, as well as Lyon and Paris. But while that was the season of light, there was also the season of darkness in that the year also had the lowest of lows as my mental health absofuckinglutely plummeted in 2024. I am not exaggerating when I say that I barely survived 2024. The spring of hope Mark Twain speaks of is what kept me alive because the winter of despair almost took me out. It is no secret that I struggle with my mental health, but the last time I struggled as much as I did last year was between 2017 and 2018 when my mum died on December 13, 2017 (a.k.a. Taylor Swift’s 28^th birthday) at 1:10 a.m. That year of firsts without my mum – first Christmas, New Year’s Day, her birthday, Mother’s Day and my birthday – was extremely difficult to navigate because learning how to live in a world where the love of my life no longer exists is tough shit. But I did it. I made it to the other side and 2019 ended up being the best year of my life so far.

But on a Wednesday in a café
I watched it begin again

That is the final lyric of the Begin Again (Taylor’s Version) chorus on the Red (Taylor’s Version) album. To know me is to know I speak in Taylor Swift lyrics, so this year beginning (again) on a Wednesday could not be more significant and symbolic for me. In fact, I even had lunch with my husband and his family at CJs on New Year’s Day so I really and truly watched it begin again on a Wednesday in a café.

In December I kept joking, but also not joking, to my husband that there was no one in this world who was more ready for 2025 than I was. Which of course is a hyperbole, but it also did not feel exaggerated because 2024 definitely, maybe broke me and from December 9^th the only thing I was living for was the hope of the new year.

I look forward to sharing my 2024 story this year, both the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, as well as the wisdom I gained from the lessons I learned. Because while I made some good decisions last year, I mostly made a lot of bad ones that will define 2024 as an age of foolishness. It is my desire that in doing so my season of light will delight, and my season of despair will be a beacon for anyone who is currently struggling the way I was and reassure them that this too shall pass. Life is tough, but we are tougher. Eventually, humans win.

Until then, just know I could not be more excited to Begin Again this year, so fucking hell this had better not be me:

Happy New Year to you and yours dear reader 🎉🎊 Here’s wishing you a 2025 more prosperous and adventurous than your wildest dreams can imagine filled with good health, good times and good sex🍸 May 2025 be your best year yet, but not ever ✨