It’s around that time where I provide a yearly recap of where I am in my life and what I’m up to. Each year before the new year comes around, I do this. I may not be planning to do this moving forward after this year because there’s just sooo much to reflect on! So, this may be my last “year in review” blog post. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed doing these kind of posts.
You can read about my other Year in Review blog posts from here:
2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020| 2019 | 2018 | 2017
In a nutshell
I use to provide this towards the end but I thought I’d get right into it. This year is what I call a comeback year after back-to-back difficult trials that kept coming up. Maybe it was the time of my Saturn return, or maybe some things had to fall apart so life can stabilize itself. What I do know is that as you grow older and age, you come with experiences. And boy, I am feeling better than I ever did.
I admit, with reading some of my old posts, I had made a narrative out of some of the sad experiences, but I had to really hone in the fact that will never actually be my life narrative. I know I had disadvantages that I had to overcame at such young ages, but life will truly change so much and so often – we are constantly evolving whether we know it or not. You aren’t your past trials, but you can be so proud of yourself when you figure out how to heal and navigate around them. One of the biggest coping skills I lean on is having radical acceptance, which I’ve mentioned in my 2023 Year in Review and it’s still something I stand by.
However, with change and healing, you can come out to be a completely new person or a person you don’t recognize. I can attest to that after I’ve completed therapy this year after going to back-to-back therapy sessions with different kinds of therapists. I’ll talk about that a little more later.
My life has became its most stable in this year of 2024 as I continue to live in Arizona, learned many of my lessons, set boundaries towards others and myself, found a new place I call home with living alone in my apartment, stay working in a company I’ve been working for over the past year, and I am just living it up with the hobbies that make life fun and worth living for. And I’m glad that I was able to reach this point for myself as I end my 20s soon. My 20s was basically whatever others write about online: it’s just a huge mix and mesh of everything. We will all feel that as we have so many feelings of ourselves we’re still learning about because the 20s are still very young.
Is it time to say “goodbye” to my blog?
Each year, it hits me that I have my ebbs-and-flows with my blog. I love writing and I feel amazing when I come up with educational and informative blog posts. I’ve been doing this blog for 7 years now and it has always been my side hustle. I never reached full-time with it and that is okay because I was balancing so much on top of this blog nor did I have the capacity to get there.
I will always love writing, but blogging is not just writing. Blogging is a whole different system. It involves a lot of marketing and a lot of consistency. I think the biggest thing that made me lose motivation was the Google Analytics 4 update that replaced Universal Analytics; it cut my traffic by A LOT. My blog had such a huge significant amount of traffic before the update and it does make me sad to see what it’s became, after working super hard on it. I rely on my side income from a lot of traffic.
It does make you re-evaluate on how to get more traffic again, and for many of us, we have to rely on Pinterest and other avenues. But it’s also just way more than the analytics, it’s the idea of pouring your whole self into your work and not knowing if you can keep up and with no guarantees you’ll be coming out of it okay, as you can see what Google’s updates did to my traffic. Especially at the same time when you finally figure out the idea of simplying your life to make life easier for you, not complicated and asking you to burn out.
I will always travel in some form, whether it is abroad or out of the state or just seeing an epic spot in the backyard of my state of Arizona. I just can’t keep up with the amount of places I am discovering to write about it all, and man, I wish I did, but that is energy, time, research, organization, promotion, and more. I can’t keep up sometimes, and I just want to savor each trip in my heart without the need to share every detail, even though I will still take notes of them.
So, with this period of almost quitting, what will happen to my blog then? Well, I want to still release some of the blog posts I did not get to finish and some I am still interested in writing to publish, so there will still be some blog posts. However, after these, I would probably slow down in my writing. If I do quit, I will definitely keep my website up and running so my hard written blog posts always have a home and can be viewed by anyone. Sometimes, quitting can take a slow process and I see that happening for myself.
I don’t find it true that quitting is easy, quitting is hard! When your identity for so long was attached to this blog, a part of you will feel different. I’m not sure yet with what direction I want to take or if I may just not put as much effort into releasing timely posts.
I’ve just been enjoying posting what I like posting, and I’m doing that on some of my social media platforms like on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. I’m still doing photo dumps and reels for my travels and adventures.
At this time, my priorities have shifted.
Like I said above, with growing older and aging, you will come with experiences. It’s very true. I’ve learned to indulge in some of the hobbies that are fulfilling to me and using my time to give back to society, such as volunteering. Currently, I am pretty invested in rock climbing since starting in January 2024 and it’s a sport with constant things to learn. I’m also volunteering for a women’s rock climbing organization as part of the leadership team. Another hobby I am getting into, which I’ve mentioned in the 2023 Year in Review, is watercoloring (and sketching) – another hobby with constant learning and focus. I am also just focusing on making time for the friendships that clearly show they value me too.
I have other plans on how I want to use my time but those may come with more time. I also want to continue to prioritize putting my health first above it all, which means consistent rest and making sure I’m well nourished. I also have to be careful in which events I can attend and communities I am a part of to minimize the stress that can trigger flare ups.
Maybe I am getting very tired of the digital world, as I’ve been online on the internet since I was a little kid. The digital world is also my work day-to-day, but with that, I’m learning to utilize how I’m online. For example, on social media, I am no longer putting too much focus on my personal life out there, to those who know me personally and to those who don’t. I’ve transformed my personal instagram into an art portfolio, a little place I call my gallery of the watercolor and sketch pieces I make. I also know how to put down the phone or be away from it.
Another major thing that happened this year is I quit my last church (and church community). I no longer want to be a member and I’m happy with my decision. I was a member of this church for 3 years, coming in as a convert with a baptism in 2021. There were a number of things that led to that decision as I was so in, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t remove a lot of anxiety in my life. I feel released from the burdens of that anxiety, and I may have been very involved in that church during times I was trying to discover who I wanted to be in my 20s. It did have some significant impact to the person I am now and did provide some joy and comfort for me at those times, which I am grateful for, but it is not something I can see myself ever getting into for the rest of my life.
I feel like I’ve made pretty good decisions for my life in the last few years. I’ve faced a lot of demons that were holding me back. I’ve grown so much to the point I actually feel renewed, yet embracing the parts that make me, me. Exploring will always be a part of me. I’m happy I’ve got to share a lot of my life and words of wisdom on this blog. No matter where this blog takes me and what I do continue to produce, whether on this blog or on social media, I will always try to be accepting and positive towards my decisions, with no regrets.
This year taught me more gratitude as it continued to reveal that for me each year. I am grateful for all my followers and readers who have kept up or supported my blog. I am touched by the effect I’ve made on those followers and readers of mine with the numerous tips and stories I’ve shared.
The travels I’ve done have also shaped me. I am lucky to see what I’ve seen on this Earth and to look back at the rich history that lies beneath them, knocking out bucket list item after bucket list item. (In 2024, I went to some countries of Asia and all around United Kingdom!) I hope the new year will always bring on so many of these joys we are lucky to see and do and so forth. This universe has shown me its unconditional love towards me and it’s time I focus on things that will make me do the same.
Happy holidays and happy new year, lovelies. <3
