kajsa ㅇㅅㅇ

Hey! Happy 2024 you guys

*clears throat to set the scene*

12 hours ago (11:22ish PM CST), half my family was gathered in our living room. I say half because my little brothers were in the basement on the xBox, my little sister was god knows where (until it was time for the countdown, which we missed anyway because she couldn’t figure out how to work the TV ), and my older brother was out with a friend. So… less than half. Me and my parents and our two cats, one of whom was snuggled in my lap, sleeping, were gathered in the living room. Lol.

Anyway…

I was thinking about all the cool (and not-so-cool) things I got to do this past year! A few of them are: 

Our family had a crazy cool summer vacation this year, and while that was during some of my major struggles with depression and anxiety, it was an incredible experience! We saw, experienced, and learned so many new things. 

My family left the Mormon church, and I tried coffee (which has become rather a staple in my weekly life, seeing as how I’m basically an insomniac at this point), which I guess is a positive? It kind of uprooted everything (not the coffee, leaving the church lol) and was quite possibly a major stressor on my mental health. Personally, though, I prefer having Sundays to just spend time with family, work on myself, watch an episode of the Chosen, or whatever we choose to do! I hope reading this didn’t make anyone uncomfortable

I got to have a lead in my first ever musical and I unfortunately fell in love with my co-star (haha who auditioned with his girlfriend but I got the part instead—it was super awkward but ykw it’s fine), so you can imagine how that went. Fun experience, though! It’s the first time I’ve ever been spun around by a guy before lol. 

I rediscovered Sleeping At Last, Lauren Spencer-Smith, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, Sia, Billie Eilish, and discovered The Crane Wives, Ethan Gander, (Aw shoot I forgot his name wtc) uhhhhhh… he’s the Australian guy who wrote I GUESS IM IN LOVE and Chicken Tendies, and Fleurie, all of which are now among my favorite music artists. 

I had a major struggle with depression and anxiety, and it eventually lead to self-harm and almost worse, but my parents and friends (especially those here on the shard) helped pull me out of that, and now I have experience that helps me empathize with/help others who struggle with similar things. I see that as a positive. I’ve also gained different perspectives that a lot of people my age don’t have yet—which is a bit lonely sometimes but mostly enlightening. I’m grateful for that. 

There are so many other things that happened— I finished my show choir season undefeated and moved on to a new show choir group (comp season is coming up yall ), I saw major improvement in my art, singing, writing, and socializing skills, as well as myself as a person. I grew closer with current friends and drifted away from others, which is okay, because that’s part of life. I met new people who are just so incredible and so much fun to be around. Thank you all for being such amazing people!

I don’t technically have any resolutions this year, as I never get them done, but I do have some basic goals. They include:

-Getting a job

-Working out

-Continuing to improve my current skills

-Finding love??

-Writing a rough draft of my godforsaken novel

-Upholding a 4.0 GPA for the rest of the school year

and there are more, but those are kinda the main ones. Do y’all have any resolutions/goals? And if so good luck lol because goals can be fricking hard to stick with!

anyway, I hope all y’all are having an amazing new year, and if you ever need emotional/mental support, shoot me a message! I’m always ready to listen. Thanks for being such a wonderful community, and happy new year!!!