Lessons From 2024
Three hours after entering the 2025 year, I was throwing up in my friend’s bathroom. Sitting down with my face against the cold, refreshing tiles of the wall, I looked at my reflection in the mirror: messy hair, red cheeks, and running makeup. What a glorious start to the year. I let myself slip down completely on the floor, closing my eyes and waiting for the world to stop spinning. As I waited, I asked myself: "What has 2024 taught me?” Not handling drinking, clearly, but quite a lot of other things. I decided to share some of these lessons with you guys. They’re all pretty obvious, but knowing and experiencing aren’t the same. So, here we go.
1. Opening up about your problem may be the solution
In 2024, I started experiencing something new, something I thought I was immune to: anxiety. I would stay awake until dawn, driving myself crazy and getting more unsettled by the hour. My heart would pound so loudly in my chest that I thought I had a heart problem. After a visit to my GP and some exams, it turned out my heart was in excellent shape. I simply had anxiety. Me, anxious? I couldn’t believe it. I had always been at ease, so much that my parents were desperate when facing my nonchalant attitude toward schoolwork.
Well, yes, I had anxiety. It got so bad I would have days without sleep, and the less I slept, the more anxious I became. I didn’t want to talk about it with my friends or family because I was scared they wouldn’t understand. I kept it for myself for weeks until I was so desperate, I finally opened up to a friend. Turns out, she understood and gave me great advice. She told me to talk about it with more people. So, I reached out to a few friends and my siblings. And that helped me so much. Some people had been through a similar experience, and understanding how they dealt with it changed everything. I finally understood what gave me anxiety, got some great suggestions and pragmatic tips, and ended up doing something I would have never done if not for my friends: I went to a therapist. I had always been scared of therapists. Well, it wasn’t that bad. It was even useful. Now I sleep much better and know what to do when I can’t sleep.
So, if you’re ever stuck in a situation and don’t know how to solve it: talk about it. It is as simple as it sounds.
2. Long-distance friendships are underrated
If you’re an international student, you too probably miss your friends from home. My best friend and I have been living in different countries for several years now: she chose the sunny southern French coast, and I chose the windy and rainy city of Rotterdam. Let’s not debate who made the best choice; I’m pretty sure I’ll lose. Not only the geographical distance separating us but the different paths our lives took makes it really difficult to spend time together. At best, we see each other once a year for a few days when we go hiking, where hours on empty trails allow us to catch up on every detail of our lives.
I thought our friendship would suffer from this distance, that we wouldn’t be ‘as close’. As it often happens, I was wrong. We call regularly, making time for each other and learning the names of each other’s new friends, love interests, and colleagues. We celebrate our respective achievements, whether it is a new job or a new haircut. Despite the distance and the differences, our friendship grew stronger. The other day, I spent 20 minutes telling her how much I love my bed, and we laughed for 20 more minutes afterward, realising how meaningless that conversation was.
After hanging up, I felt so grateful. Grateful for having such a good friend and grateful for growing this friendship instead of just maintaining it.
3. Failing only hurts when you care
Okay, this one is almost too obvious to be explained. But I love to yap, so I’ll do it anyway.
I’m lucky enough to be extremely relaxed about school and university. I never put pressure on myself, so I’m never disappointed. In 2024, however, I started freelancing for different magazines. For the first time in my life, things were not so easy. I had to put effort into my work and I was far from being the best. One day, I wrote a piece I was pretty happy about, on which I had spent time and energy. I sent it to my editor and received feedback a few days later. If I had to summarise her words, it would be as follows: “What you wrote kinda sucks”. It took me days to get over it, my ego was hurt and I was annoyed at myself for letting this hurt me.
After swallowing my ego back, I got back to work. And I realised it was one of the first times I cared so much about my work. I’m used to doing the bare minimum and being satisfied. For once, I wanted more than this. I finally understood that it meant I liked what I was doing. So next time your ego is hurt, maybe it means something.
Of course, 2024 wasn’t only this. I also learned that YOLO stands for “you only live once”, and isn’t just a funny word. I was amazed when I realised that brunch was a contraction of “breakfast” and “lunch”, and when I understood that tights and thighs were two different words. I learned that for some people, hot water isn’t tea, that bechamel is necessary for lasagna, and that the more I care for a plant, the faster it’s going to die.
I’m sure that 2025 will be full of new lessons, and who knows, maybe I’ll even learn how to cook.