2023, it’s been a pleasure.
We had a long ride of ups and downs—maybe more downs than ups, but it had to be like that. I get it. I had to learn all the lessons you wanted to teach me.
We, this year and I, had to end it in a bang. Otherwise, I would have learned nothing.
I had to lose so many things in order to appreciate what was coming. I had to hit rock bottom to learn to rise again—stronger, smarter, better.
You’ve let me make one mistake after another because you wanted to teach me a lesson. You wanted me to never do that again.
Now that your and my chapter is coming to an end, I’m not angry anymore. I was in the beginning. I couldn’t accept what was happening to me. I couldn’t accept so many bad things coming one after the other.
I couldn’t believe it was all happening at the same time, like a chain reaction that had no intention of stopping.
Now, I realize that everything I was going through was for a reason. All the mistakes I’ve made were paving the road to a happier future. I just couldn’t see it right away. But I know it now.
I was so scared of endings. I was dreading goodbyes. They meant something was over, and over means sadness. It means loneliness. But what I didn’t see was that with every ending starts something new.
Endings don’t have to be depressing and hurtful. Endings mean that something different is going to happen.
Something different means change, and change is good because after every closed chapter comes another one.
And it’s up to me to decide whether that chapter is going to take a turn for worse than I’ve already felt or for the better. It’s up to all of us. We make our own destinies.
2023, you taught me to believe in myself when I was at my most insecure. You taught me to get up and fight when all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and never get up.
You made me listen to that little voice inside who kept saying: “Try, be better, be stronger, try harder!”
You challenged me and forced me to hit my limits, to really see what I was capable of doing. You got me out of my comfort zone and made me confront my fears instead of running away. Thank you for that.
During this year, I’ve learned what it really means to be brave and take advantage of all the possibilities I have in front of me. I just had to grab every moment I thought would bring me change. A change for the better.
I’ve learned that you cannot be stuck in the past. You have to look ahead because if you don’t seize the moment that is coming, that moment will never come back. It’s better to go for it than to miss out on it and regret it for the rest of your life.
2023, you taught me to live in the present, let go of the past and look forward to the future.
You’ve taught me that every mistake I made was for a reason. Every wrong move I made led me to something new. I just didn’t see it then.
2023, the mistakes I’ve made brought me to my breaking point, but the strength I’ve gained made me get passed it.
Dear 2023, you’ve thrown me surprises I didn’t expect. You’ve tossed me into a horrible storm with wind throwing me back and forth. You’ve ridden me on emotional roller coasters and brought me to destruction.
But dear 2023, you’ve also given me hope, optimism, and faith that I can survive all the bad luck and the lousy hand of cards I was given.
Because you see, here I am, at the end of yet another year, waiting to start another story of the many yet to come.
Throughout out the turbulent times, millions of things happening all of a sudden, you didn’t beat me down the whole way. You still decided to show me there is always a way out, that there is always a solution.
You gave me the strength I never knew I had. You taught me lessons I will never forget.
2023, I’m sad you’re coming to an end because that means I’m leaving the past in the past. But 2023, I’m happy that you’re finally over because that means I get to do things all over again. I get a fresh start.
I can do whatever my heart wants. I can pursue my dreams. I can let go of things I don’t want to remember.
2023, thank you for all the mistakes I’ve made. Thank you for helping me become a different person than I was a year ago.
