15 lessons i learned in 2024
lay your strength down, we made it to the finish line
Well, dearest reader, we made it—the end of another year. Don’t worry, I’ll say what we’ve all been thinking…fuck 2024.
Let’s not get into the specifics but I’m confident we can all agree this year was BRUTAL! I know every generation complains that they’re living through unprecedented times, but too much madness happened this year for me to not jump on the bandwagon: I’m tired of living through major historical events! I’m burnt out! I’m worried about where we’re heading! I’m struggling to find hope!
In this economy, hope is not a cheap commodity. Yet, I find myself clinging to it, as desperately as you do.
If you’ve been here for a while you’ll know I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions. However, I do subscribe to the notion that self-reflection is good for the soul, so, mulling over some of the most important lessons I’ve learned this year has proven to be quite pedagogical. Let me summarize my findings: pain teaches you a lot, but happiness is a much kinder instructor.
I’ll see you on the flip, I have a good feeling about 2025.
1. Just start, don’t wait to perfect it: You’ll never feel ready. To become a master at anything you have to be willing to pay the price of looking like a foolish beginner.
2. You cannot save people, you can only love them: Accepting this is as heartbreaking as it is liberating.
3. Patience is relative to what you care about: Tyler the Creator said this during an interview with SpringHill (urging you to watch the full interview) and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind since—good things take time, be patient, it’s worth it.
4. Be consistent: The most successful people aren’t necessarily the most talented, but they are the most devoted. In other words: get obsessed.
5. Every morning is a chance to reinvent yourself: Don’t resist change out of fear of the unknown, and don’t continue living as an outdated version of yourself to appease others. Forgive yourself for past mistakes and what you did to survive, you don’t need to carry that guilt into every new day.
6. Fear will tell you that you can’t do something—don’t listen to it, it’s a liar: If something scares the shit out of you that usually means you should do it. Unless it’s illegal, then you probably shouldn’t.
7. Surround yourself with people who inspire, motivate, and push you: Eventually, the people you surround yourself with begin to influence, and define you—choose your circle wisely.
8. Talk to strangers: Spark up small talk with your barista, share knowing glances with your fellow commuters when someone starts blaring music on the subway at 8AM, thank someone for holding the door. Humans need connection, and connection fosters community, but it all begins with you forcing yourself out of your comfort zone.
9. Nothing changes if nothing changes: If you want to feel something new, you have to do something new. You can’t order a fulfilling life on Amazon Prime, you have to go out there and create it.
10. Forgive, not for anyone else’s sake but your own: You don’t deserve to spend your life defined by another’s actions, so offer forgiveness, even if you don’t think they deserve it (they never have to know, we can keep it a secret). Holding onto grudges only hurts you more in the long run.
11. Don’t run away from pain, embrace it: There is not a single person on Earth who will escape suffering, it’s part of the human experience. If you ignore pain—or try to outrun it—it will only fester inside you, and that strategy typically results in godlike explosions. Alchemize: turn pain into passion.
12. Immerse yourself in the world: Get outside, take a walk without your phone, just exist. Living is being, not doing.
13. Follow the flow: Life isn’t meant to feel difficult and burdensome. Take a second to listen to your inner self—what you want, what you desire, what you’re really chasing after—and then follow it. It will lead you where you need to go.
14. Save thinking for others: Sitting around all day thinking about yourself isn’t healthy. Save your brain power for interacting with the rest of the world. You don’t need to psychoanalyze every action you take, have trust in yourself and the choices you make. Shift your mindset and I promise your brain will begin to feel like an ally instead of a foe.
15. Love, despite it all: This is the most important lesson, yet I seem to have to relearn it every year. Even if you’ve been scorned, or betrayed, or abandoned: love—totally and truthfully—and never feel embarrassed about it. Even when you have no stomach for it, even when it hurts, you must continue to love—life, people, and especially yourself.