When life goes full throttle
Honestly 2024 was the best year of my life
Literally so much has happened in the past 12 months!!! It almost feels laughable to attempt to summarize all the growth and hard earned lessons but here goes:
The time in between Christmas and New Years is the perfect time to take stock of the year—the good, the bad, and the downright miraculous. My family has this tradition of writing down the Best Of each year, in which we all sit down and make a numbered list of the most memorable things we individually experienced in the past 365 days. Of course we list highlights, but we also make sure to include the tough times we conquered. It’s a great way to adjust your perspective, and it’s always fun to look back on years down the line.
Looking back, all I can say is this year felt fast. That and I worked really hard on my art and I am so proud of that. I had the honor of exhibiting my works 11 times this year in galleries and hotels, 13 times including brand collabs and pop up events! <3
2024 was definitely a year of creative firsts for me—I finally held my first solo exhibit! I made it to the finals of a national arts competition! More recently, my art was also auctioned for the first time, and it was with a dream car brand too! I’m still wrapping my head around these facts. Sometimes when you’re in the thick of things you don’t even notice how far you’ve already come. Next year, one of my goals is to allow myself to celebrate my milestones more fully, to process experiences while the feelings are still fresh.
Honestly 2024 was the best year of my life. It wasn’t perfect, but it was my favorite year not just because of what I got to do, but because of who I became in the process. I really like who I’m becoming right now, and that’s what I’m most proud of. <3 My personal life outside the studio was filled with meaningful moments with family and friends, I got to create content that I liked, I got to travel a lot, I’ve been learning Spanish on Zoom for five months now (and made new friends here!) and I’m a huge fan of 9 hours of sleep a night. When I really slow down to think about it….how on earth did I even pull this off???
It was all full throttle, baby. I’ve long accepted that I’m more of an intensity > balance kind of creator, which means that my rhythms as an artist swings to the extremes. Sometimes it’s a season of lots of output vs. some seasons of not really creating much, but instead integrating and exploring the world (aka vacay mode haha). I live fast when I feel momentum. Other times, I live really slow (and offline) when I feel like resting. Do I ever get burned out? Yes sometimes haha but honestly I think it’s part of the equation that comes with choosing to have a full lifestyle. Anyway, to each her own! In the end, it all comes down to trusting your intuition.
As 2024 comes to a close, I hope that you give yourself more credit for surviving and thriving this year! Validate yourself for all the growth that you’ve done in private. Remember why you started creating in the first place, and the value you bring just by your presence alone. And if there are things you intended to complete this year but didn’t, the beauty of it is that you can start over any day—not just on New Year’s Day. I am so grateful to be alive, even if the weeks sometimes feels like one big blur. Because when life goes full throttle, the best thing you can do is just enjoy the ride.
Thank you for being part of my year, and here’s to 2025 being even better!
xxxx B
