Farewell, 2024. Hello, 2025!

Happy New Year

What a year this has been. I am grateful for all of it. We have had ups and downs, victories, and defeats, and we’ve made some tough but important choices. I go into 2025 with eyes wide open, at peace with 2024 and ready to forge a new path.

Engaging with stoic wisdom has helped me focus on being present. It is a demanding task in a world of distraction, noise, and external threats.

I am grateful to have discovered Substack and launched my newsletter, “Life at the Margins.” This platform has become a powerful outlet for my long-held dream of writing. Through Substack, I have found inspiration, community, and support. Writing on Substack has been a humbling and gratifying experience, allowing me to share my thoughts, inspire others, and connect with a vibrant community.

Some personal highlights from this year include;

• Celebrating my beloved sister’s 60th birthday this past spring at my home. It was an incredible milestone for our family. Getting older is a privilege, and to be on this journey with a friend like my sister in my corner has been a blessing. I am grateful we celebrated her surrounded by family and friends. It was indeed a special occasion.

• My husband is a prince. When I have this thought, I can hear my mother's voice in my head, her thick, nasally, Brooklyn accent saying, you know what it means when they say your husband is a prince… it means you are a pain in the ass. I cherish our relationship and how we approach our lives. Together, we stand united at the margins, empowered, enabled, and possessing the freedom to decide how we respond to the world around us, and this fills my heart with strength.

• I remain grateful to my alma mater, Franklin Pierce University, for all who have contributed to its success and those dedicated to preserving its legacy into the future through hard work and determination.

Looking ahead to 2025, I am committed to embracing transitions, seizing opportunities, and chasing adventures. I will focus on sharing my journey and what I learn along the way. I will challenge myself to say hard things while staying hopeful, to speak the radical truth as I see it, and to inspire others who don’t quite fit comfortably into the world.

Thank you to all who read this. Your feedback has meant a great deal. You are valuable, and your life is important. May 2025 embrace you and all humanity with empathy, compassion, and unity.

Heading into this new year, please do not lose hope. Don’t give in to despair. When feeling low, keep it simple, focus on daily gratitude, and remember there will always be a dawn.

Happy New Year!