Ep.10 New Horizons

There’s a sense of newness that follows the transition of each year that passes. And I am chasing it with every inch of passion in my bones.

It’s a new year. And while there were a lot of good moments that came to life in 2023, I find myself clinging to the hope of 2024 with desperately wide open arms. This last year was a difficult chapter for me. One that followed on from what had already been a few difficult chapters in my story. And I carried this weight on my shoulders through every moment. It was an important year — one that taught me a lot and cultivated more growth within me than possibly any other year of my life. But it was on the back of heavy internal struggles that I made it through this year. It was full of challenges. And with the highs, there were a lot of lows. So I am more than ready to say farewell to the year that was. To welcome in the hope of newness.

And I am hoping more than anything, that this year isn’t defined by my health. Or at least by the decline in my health. I have lost too many years in the grasp of the fragility of my condition, and I desperately need a year simply for me. A year of fun, of growth, of heading in a direction towards a future I’m excited to dream of. A year of changes, of new experiences, and most of all a year of light after so many years spent stumbling through the shadows. A year where I am fighting to live and not just to survive. And with this sense of newness comes a longing for revival. For a rebirth. For a complete disruption of the way things have been. For a change in direction, focus, and a new story. The truth is that my life has felt like a broken record for the past five years. A constant loop of the same ups and the same downs. A life defined by my mere attempt at survival. Of battling for my health, facing the constant setbacks, and the endless rebuilding of my foundations. Of falling apart and putting the pieces back together. And I am ready to be more than that.

While I’m not sure I will ever reach the end of the conversations that burn within me from the weight of the past few years, I am excited to look toward new horizons. To shake up the narrative and explore new directions. Keeping the conversation open, while also welcoming in the different direction of the tale I long to write. This will always remain a part of my story, but I’m ready for it to no longer be the entirety of my narrative. Because there is so much more of me that exists. So much more of the journey I have yet to explore. My story has become a safety net. A foundation I have nested in to rest my soul. But one that I am ready to escape beyond because I am so much more than what has happened to me. So here’s to new horizons. To expanding the stories we share here, opening up the conversation, and embarking on new adventures. I am ready to head towards new destinations, to expand the scope of topics we share and to explore some of the unknown. Because there is so much more I want to write about. It’s time to grow from the foundations where we began this journey. The heights ahead of us are limitless — the potential endless. And I am so much more than just my story. We all are. And while there are inevitable parts of the journey that make us who we are, there is so much more to us hidden beneath the layers — layers that expand in every direction. The story is just the start, the rest of the pages are waiting to be written.

So my theme for this year is reinvention. Exploring all of the parts of me I have yet to explore, all the versions of me I want to be. The parts I don’t yet know, but am excited to meet. I’m ready for fun. I’m ready to not feel so heavy. I’m ready to chase opportunities and open doors, to see the possibilities that could be waiting out there. I’m ready to dance and sing and explore all the joys that life has to offer. I’m ready to share more of myself. And I’ve been working on some things that will finally come to life — exciting projects that are close to my heart. I know that the wheels of change are in full swing in this next chapter. And I couldn’t be more ready.

There will always be a part of me that writes about my life and the journey it has taken me on so far. A part of me that heals through each word that touches the page. But there is also a part of me that has so much more waiting to pour out. A part of me longing to write about everything else that exists in this world. From the unknown to the fiction, from surprising twists in the road to wild discoveries and the vision of a future not quite yet mapped. And this part of me is fighting to take the wheel, to steer the story down a new road. And she has a lot to say.

There are a lot of big things coming this year. For me, for my life, and for this space. And I can’t wait to see where it all leads.

So here’s to changing the narrative. To filling the pages of the unwritten parts of our story. And to disrupting the plot as we go.

To the horizons that await us,

m.a