Happy New Year - 2024 in Review
* I'm so glad you're here *
It is heartbreaking to see the devastation of the wildfires happening out in California. I always question whether sharing something during times like these is tone-deaf or insensitive, because the work I do and the writing I share isn’t life-changing or life-saving. I never want it to come across that way, but often during times like these, when my social media and the news are inundated with videos that continue to break my heart and make me feel powerless, I think about the small impact I can make in my corner of the world. It isn’t much, but tonight we made a donation to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation to support the firefighters putting themselves in harm’s way to fight the fires, helping evacuate families, and working to save people’s precious memories and cherished belongings.
How are we in 2025?! It feels like yesterday that we closed out 2023, entered 2024 and had all these lofty goals for what the year would bring. Now, we’re 13 days into the new year!
Side note: at what point do we stop saying Happy New Year? Personally, I think we have until like mid-February, what are your thoughts?
I shared my feelings about 2024 over on my Instagram on New Year’s Eve, with an *all smiles* compilation of moments from the year, and my thoughts remain the same:
2024 started with immense burnout, a terrible cold/sinus/ear infection situation that lasted two and a half weeks, and many questions on what was next for us. We came home (Virginia) from Christmas last year asking if it was time to move back home (New York), but not ready to commit to it. We loved our house and were excited for all the work we put into it! We gave ourselves a year to figure out what was next — but God had other plans, recruiting me to a new job and opportunity for us to move closer to home (New York) in early summer. While there are many smiles and happy moments in these photos, there were just as many tears, cries of frustration, prayers for clarity, and confusion on what would come next. God provided for us in ways only He could. We’re excited for 2025 and are hopeful that it will bring lots more family time, golf, new opportunities, audacious outfits, dinners on the grill, interesting books, restful vacations, work success, and happiness and fulfillment in the life we’re choosing to create together.
I had started 2024 with almost a week and a half of planned PTO. I was excited to use this time to think big about what I wanted the year to bring, to really craft out what would eventually become this Substack, and think critically about our family’s big decision looming ahead. Instead, that PTO turned into taking naps on the couch, visiting doctors and urgent care, and balancing different sinus medications and anything that would unclog a stuffed ear. It was truly not the start to the year I wanted, but I trudged through and by the end of January, I had set some intentions, reflected on what I wanted the year to bring, and even took a vision boarding class set up by my therapist’s intern.
Every goal I set out for in 2024 was represented in the collage. Reading, sewing and knitting, pursuing more education, repair work on our house, writing, prioritizing more walking, paying off my student loan debt, and more. Items were screenshots I’d captured throughout the previous year that I really loved or free stock photos found across the Internet. These were my intentions for 2024 and the work toward them began.
I was up at 5 a.m. everyday to walk on the treadmill and read my book. I made a list of different items I wanted to learn how to knit, completing a pair of fuzzy socks along the way. I launched this Substack and invited women whom I admire to join me on the podcast version. I applied to a PhD program (technically at the end of 2023) and ultimately learned that I wasn’t accepted into it. And I continued working hard on our finances and taking in new opportunities to help pay down my student loan debt.
I was on fire, raring to go, and excited about what the year would bring.
*tires screech*
In an unexpected twist of fate, I was contacted in April about the opportunity to discuss an open position at a university close to where my husband and I grew up. It would be a great professional move, to pursue more of the work that I wanted to be doing and that I envisioned for the next step in my career, while providing a vehicle to move back and be closer to home. While my husband and I had made the decision four months earlier that we were going to wait and reassess in December 2024 before making any decision about moving back home, it was hard to ignore the position and what felt like God’s hand on our direction.
So, I pursued conversations with folks at the organization, with a trusted former colleague and friend who worked there, and talked deeply about whether we should throw timing and caution to the wind and move forward with it — so we did. I was offered the job, and a month later two-thirds of our home was moved, and our house was under-contract.
From June to December in 2024, all the goals that I expertly curated in that vision board were cast aside in favor of acclimating to a new home, spending renewed time with family, learning about and traveling for my job, figuring out life in a new town and area, and of course decompressing from a stressful, albeit exciting, few months of movement.
In looking back though, I see how all of the efforts in the first four months of the year, while they didn’t settle through the remainder of 2024 ass expected, allowed many of the goals to come through and be met by December 31st.
We (actually my husband) worked very hard in early spring on a drainage project around our house, we repaired some issues we were having with our roof, we replaced one of our HVAC units, and we took additional steps to decorate and really make the home our own. These efforts, while meant to solidify our desire to stay and live in the house forever, were ultimately what allowed us to get multiple offers on our home and be able to sell it within a month and half. That sale then allowed me to pay off my student loan debt, which was a gift in and of itself.
My commitment to getting up and reading each day, led to my first year of actually meeting my 52-book goal and allowed me space and time to decompress and escape from all of the unexpected happening around me. Audiobooks gave me company on long drives during our move and later for my travels out to New England and the NYC area. The nonfiction books I chose, also helped me consider and think deeply about what the future would hold and how I would respond accordingly.
And finally, the strong desire I have felt for many, many years to write was the backbone of this year. There were many times I had to step away from the keyboard and from this Substack to work through some anxieties, regroup and consider what I wanted this space to be. I’ve had some form of a blog on different topics since graduate school, and I’ve had a desire to write since my first days in Mrs. Parry’s elementary computer class. 2024 has only helped solidify that passion and desire within me. I used to tell my students from my academic advising days that “life happens,” and often that needs to take precedent over other things in our lives, and that sentiment has presented itself on-and-off throughout the past year.
My husband, dog and I were able to spend a few days around the New Year holiday on a short vacation at the beach. Being back home allowed us to enjoy an extended holiday season with our families, and with the after-Christmas travels, we were able to spend some time with my grandparents, before taking a few days of rest and relaxation just the two of us. I spent those car rides really reflecting on what 2024 brought (many of those feelings are included above) and what I wanted for 2025.
My goals still aren’t as streamlined as they were last year, or in a beautiful layout like that 2024 vision board, but for the first time in a long time, I’m feeling even more energized about the big picture. Do I still want to read 52 books this year, of course. Do I still want to prioritize movement and going for walks every day, obviously. But, this year my focus is less on the tasks and more on the experiences and pursuits that are going to help me live more authentically as myself.
Too Many Exclamation Points has always been a place in my mind where we confront the anxieties, call them out, and work to turn them into the best exclamation points we can find. And I’m excited to take that philosophy into 2025 with me.
So, my friend, I invite you to join alongside me this year as I work toward TMEP being even more authentic with true conversations, reflections, and the pursuits that really set my soul on fire. I’d love for you to subscribe or share this with a friend of you want to come along, or send me a message if there’s something specific you’d like me to discuss. I’m excited for this space in your inbox, and I’m excited for what 2025 will bring — no matter how many exclamation points come along with it.
All my best to you,
Skylar
The perspectives shared reflect only those of the writer, and in no way represent the viewpoints of their employers or connected organizations.