Goodbye, 2024!

2024 will always be a special year for me. The amount of personal growth I've experienced in just 365 days is nothing short of phenomenal. I remember the Harsh who entered 2024. I was a solitary being who liked handling every adversity alone. Was it pride or fear? Probably a bit of both. Every month this year showed me a better way to live life. It gradually shaped a realisation that life is better with caring people around you and that it's okay to ask for help.

Change never comes easy, though. The entire process was tormenting because I had to modify my core beliefs. Changing yourself means deviating from your existing thought process. Our thought process is what defines our very existence as a person. Who can I trust if I can't trust my own thought process (since I kept finding flaws in them as time passed)? What helped is understanding that no thought process is 'perfect' and I need to stop chasing this idea of perfection. It's just a way for me to be lazy since a perfect thought process means I no longer need to work on myself. That should and will never be the case. We are all a 'work in progress' and need to adjust as per the present circumstances.

This year, I've experienced more failures than wins, but I don't regret it. If not for them, I would never have found the courage to go through this tormenting process of change. Every act of willful change is accompanied by a hope. A hope that this change will make your life what you always wanted it to be. I have this hope, too. In 2024, I did everything I could to change myself. And while I have no plans to stop doing it as and when required, I am entering 2025 with much hope for a better life. I am eager to see how this new Harsh will tackle life and how different the results will be, if at all different. This year is quite important for me as it'll decide the course of my future life, and I am grateful to 2024 for preparing me well enough to face it.

You must have your reasons to appreciate or hate 2024. Whatever they are, I hope you, too, can take something from it and start 2025 with a better understanding of life. Happy New Year, everyone!