Happy New Year, everyone! I hope this year brings health, love, happiness, security, stability, and everything else you and your loved ones may need.
On a personal level, 2024 was a pretty good year, and I’m deeply grateful for it. On the other hand, 2023 was an absolute nightmare, and it broke me in many ways before allowing me to rebuild myself. In 2024, though, I had the opportunity to pick myself up, start my healing journey, and work on myself and some of my goals.
So, for my first blog post of 2025 I’d like to reflect on 10 things I feel grateful for from 2024. This feels like the perfect way to fully leave the old year behind and step into the new one with an open heart and a fresh perspective.
10 Things I’m Grateful for in 2024
1) I’m grateful for getting a full-time job in special education. This job is far from what I dreamt of, and just to be honest with you, I can’t wait to go back to work from home. My contract ends in June, and I’m not going to renew it, but this job helped me regain financial stability, and at this point of my life, it is good for my mental health that I’m getting out of home consistently and I’m socializing daily with other people.
2) I’m grateful because a book I edited got published. I’ve been editing for years, but mainly short-term projects, articles, and social media posts. Last year, though, I edited a historical research on the Greek presence in Georgia in the 19th and the 20th century, and it got published last spring. I was thrilled when I got a copy in my hands and saw my name on it, and it’s definitely a feeling that I’ll never forget.
3) I’m grateful for getting into a new romantic relationship. 2024 was the year I was meant to fall in love again, after wasting four years in a toxic and unhealthy relationship that ended in 2023. So, I’m grateful I got into this relationship, even though I was feeling scared and hesitant at first. My partner is a loving, kind, tender, and communicative person, and our healthy relationship makes me feel safe, stable, and capable of focusing my healing journey.
4) I’m grateful for making new friends in my town. In 2024, I made a few new friends, and I feel blessed because it’s always felt like a struggle to connect with people since graduating from university. My new friends are funny, interesting, and we have many things in common. We have the chance to hang out frequently, and it’s always a fun and refreshing break from the daily routine.
5) I’m grateful for getting closer to my old friends. Embarking on a healing journey has helped me become more communicative and vulnerable when it comes to interpersonal relationships. This has helped me get closer to my friends, hang out more frequently, have more honest and deep conversations, share more interests, and set clearer boundaries.
6) I’m grateful for the movies I watched and the books I read. In 2024, I had the unrealistic goals of reading 50 books and watching 40 movies. Keep in mind that I barely watched any movies in the years before, and I wouldn’t read more than 6-8 books a year – not good, I know. You won’t be surprised to know that I didn’t achieve these goals, but I did read more books and watch more movies than I had in the past 10 years.
7) I’m grateful for making gratitude a consistent habit. Now that I think of it, I went really big in 2024 since I also tried to establish a bunch of habits and make consistent routines. Overall, I’m happy with how this went, but no doubt, the habit I was most consistent with was gratitude. I practiced it almost daily and I’d usually write down 10 things I’d feel grateful for. Gratitude never fails to lift my spirits and make me more appreciative of my life and the people in it.
8) I’m grateful for raising my standards. Admittedly, one of the things that led me to the terrible breakdown I had in 2023 was that I didn’t really have any standards when it came to my romantic relationships and the way I wanted others to treat me. This led me to tolerate and excuse toxic behaviors, lack of effort and care, and even emotional abusive situations. Thankfully, I’m not like this anymore. I cut all the toxic people out of my life (and, gosh, there were a few) and these days, my standards are much higher, and I know my self-worth.
9) I’m grateful for healing from things I couldn’t even admit to myself. In 2024, I truly faced my demons. I was honest with myself about everything I didn’t dare to face for years: how unhappy I was, how I let people take advantage of me, and how I self – sabotaged – just to name a few. I realized, though, that I wouldn’t be able to heal without being transparent with myself. Shadow work and journaling were the practices that helped me the most with this process, and I’m proud to say that I’ve come a long way, even though it’s still a work in progress.
10) Lastly, I’m grateful for not losing anything I already had. More than anything, I’m grateful to 2024 for not taking anything away from me. My loved ones are still by my side and healthy, my dog is cuter than ever, I am safe, and my house is warm and comfortable. Finally, I’m doing better than I could possibly imagine this time last year. Life can feel and be good.
So, I hope you enjoyed the first blog post of 2025, and that there are many things to be grateful for from the past year too.
Feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss any updates and the latest news of my blog.
Thank you for being here today.
Leave a Reply