From 2025 to 2026

It’s been a really hard year for so many.

This is not a shallow effort to wrap your pain in poetry,

Nor to pretend it all had a bigger and more grand purpose.

Some things did not need to happen in order to make you wiser.

Some things honestly did not shape you, strengthen you, or make you better.

Some things just . . . hurt.

Was this the year that you lost someone you could not afford to lose?

Was this the year that your heart got tired of being the strong one, and you finally admitted to yourself that you are simply exhausted – in ways that no one else sees?

Was this the year when you realized that some friendships had expired, and the people who promised to stay forever are just strangers with a few shared memories?

Was this the year that your body had a mind of its own, and decided to betray your hopes and dreams?

Was this the year that jobs and money seemed to grow wings and fly away?

Was this the year that breathing became a hard way of life?

Perhaps this was the year that you questioned everything – your worth, your direction, and your faith. Feeling uncertain about everything all at once.

Perhaps this was the year that holding on has felt heavier than just letting go.

Perhaps this was the year that you learned disappointment comes from the people you trust the most.

Maybe this was the year that your faith – in people, in stability and security, even in yourself – cracked in ways and places that you do not have the words for.

 

I want to say this to YOU . . . today.

I am proud of you.

For surviving something that tried its hardest to break you.

For piecing yourself, and your life, together with parts that do not seem to fit.

For still laughing, still loving.

I am not here to tell you that all these trials and struggles have made you stronger.

I am not here to tell you that all of this is a lesson, or a gift, or something that you somehow needed.

Because – not everything is a blessing in disguise.

Sometimes, it is just LOSS.

Sometimes, it is just GRIEF.

Sometimes, it is just life being a bitch – harder than it should be.

 

BUT.

I am so very deeply glad that you are here.

Still fighting.

Still trying.

Still breathing.

Your presence means something – more than you may realize.

To this world.

To the people who love you and call you “theirs”.

To me.

 

If all you did this year was survive?

That is enough!

Because YOU are enough!

 

We are all trying to stay human through the most impossible things.

We are all moving forward from this moment – softly and gently.

I would ask that YOU stay.

And that YOU keep fighting, keep standing, keep breathing.

At a pace that YOUR Heart can bear.

 

I am here with YOU.

We will rise – together.

Thank YOU for choosing life – despite it all this year.

I love YOU.

 

Not my picture, just shared.
Seemed appropriate ;)