Hope you had a beautiful Christmas! Every story has a lesson, what does your 2023 story look like and what lessons did they bring? (At the end of the blog, there’ll be a link to the part one episode). As you ponder on this question, let’s see what some people’s lessons of this year were:

My lesson of the year is to always be proud of yourself for growth. There’s a lot of growing this year. Also to focus more on the quality of live that you’re living, rather than other little things that don’t really matter.

-       Julia

Keep on trying, never giving up. I’ve become good at not giving up and just pushing through. If there’s something that’s not going well, I just go with a plan B; always have a plan B. I’m always doing my best. If plan B doesn’t work, I try a plan C, I keep trying till I achieve my goals.

-       Michaela

To not rely on anyone for your emotions and your well-being and your happiness, but to put that all on yourself.

-       Lana

Never mix alcohols.

-       Milan

To have confidence and pride in your work.

-       Connor

To be circumspect of people.

-       A. Emilia 

2023 was a year of intentional and unintentional introspection for me. I could feel myself changing, growing, knowing more, and knowing less, whether I thought about it or not. I more so observed how time works, how it cuts and carves the brain and the being. How it opens the door and closes the curtains, how it grants us space and ease and confusion; how it confirms and disproves, hits and hugs, shouts and whispers. All this to confess my very naive lesson of the year: it’s everyone’s first time. It seems everyone wakes up with a similar unknowingness, their first try on this day of this year. I feel both refreshed and discomforted by this realization. Nonetheless, it brings a comical sense of amity to humankind- so no one is completely sure what’s going on? Maybe you’ve done it 1 million times, but not today, tomorrow, or next week’s version. I also believe this has helped me untangle the mundane.

-       Brooke

To manage a budget because living is getting more expensive.

-       Spencer

Knowing people’s intentions because I learned that not everyone wants to be my friend and take advantage of my niceness.

-       Katelyn

To stay in shape.

-       Ethan. 

Life isn’t static; it’s dynamic; anything can happen anytime.

- A. Kate

To spend more time with family.

- A. Annette

I learned patience. Patience is really important especially living with someone who is disabled. It really taught me to be patient and understand where people are coming from and why people act a certain way, and why people do certain things. Not to judge in the spur of the moment. That’s never something I feel personally that you should do because you don’t know what someone is going through at home, you don’t know if they have some disability. I’m not one to judge so I always give people the benefit of the doubt. It’s a win-lose situation sometimes, they can hurt you but it always makes me feel good to give people benefit of the doubt because at the end of the day, I don’t want to be quick to judge somebody. But I’ve never done that in regard to myself. Whenever I don’t get something immediately, that can be in regards to homework or if I’m trying to pick up a new hobby, I don’t give myself patience because I feel like I just need to be good at it quickly, and I’m not good with that. But this year, I learned that I’m giving other people all this time and all this grace. Treat people how you want to be treated, right? Why would I not want to treat myself that way when at the end of the day, you’re the person that you should be giving the most energy to. So why am I not giving myself that same amount of patience and allowing myself to grow, the way I allow other people to grow?

-  Sofia

Be comfortable with expecting the unexpected.

- Chinazo

-

Trust God.

- Onyinye

Just be nice.

- Nicholas

Never lose hope!

- Shaheeda

Gratitude and humility, Gratitude because we all underestimate how important having that community of friends, family, mentors, and mentees, are to our growth and development.

- Chukwuma

Dont let anyone tell you who you are.

-  Karina

I hope you found something here and in the other episodes relatable. The main reason for the December series, aside from getting everyone excited, hopeful, and overall, positive for Christmas and New Year season, was the relatability that came from the responses. As I said 2 episodes ago, there’s a unity that underscores this season, you’re not alone in what you feel or experience, and there’s a comfort in that, which I find to be yet another reason to celebrate.

There’s only one more episode in this year’s December series :( I had so much fun listening to all the responses to my very specific prompts and transcribing them for you all to read. To everyone who participated in these episodes, thank you so much! To everyone who read an episode or all episodes, I hope you enjoyed reading them + thank you so much!

If you missed part one of the lesson of the year series, click here to read.

Until the next one

-C