There are some helpful videos on TikTok promoting the message that if all you achieved in 2024 was survive, then that’s okay.
This messaging is being circulated at a time when many people will be sharing the high points of their year across all social media platforms.
Our social media feeds are likely to be full of holiday photos, parties, family celebrations, and career successes. It’s easy to feel as if our lives are severely lacking in excitement if we don’t have those images to share.
Sharing the highlights
The key point is that what is being shared are the highlights. Very few people share the difficult times they’ve experienced, as illustrated by my post Behind the smile: what social media doesn’t show.
To quickly recap, the Instagram feed of an ex-colleague of mine was full of parties and overseas travel. It was only much later that she mentioned she’d just finished a year of chemotherapy for breast cancer.
None of her cancer journey had been shared on Instagram, proving that you never really know what is going on in someone’s life. Often, they only share the highlights, the love, the happy times.
Surviving is an achievement
If 2024 has been a difficult year, then to survive it is an achievement in itself, and not something to feel negative about. Sometimes survive is all we are able to do.
Life is unpredictable. People are unpredictable. And there will be years we want to forget about and move on from. There will be others we will savour and reflect on.
If 2024 is not one of the better years, you will soon be able to close this chapter and start a new one, perhaps with helpful lessons and insights learned along the way.
But before you, or I, write off the year, it’s worth looking back and seeing if there is anything at all we can take away from it as a positive.
When you’re ending the year in a bad headspace, it is easy to remember the whole of the year that way, when in fact there were lighter moments and happier times. It could be as simple as books read, films watched, or plants bought made that all brought a little joy.
The year’s highlights
Lunch with a close friend in a cute little restaurant in London, so hidden away that you would easily walk past it not knowing it was there, was one of my highlights. The whole family gathering in a ten-bedroom cottage in the countryside to celebrate an 80th birthday was another.
There’s also this site which I have enjoyed building, and a scroll through Instagram reminds me there were trips to Six the Musical, a performance of Spirited Away, along with trips to Norway and Spain. Plenty to fill a highlight reel with. How quickly we forget.
Quiet victories
As the year draws to a close, it feels important to take a step back and acknowledge what we did accomplish, even if those accomplishments feel small.
You might have kept going despite tough circumstances or made the difficult step of asking for the help you need. You might have made a positive impact on the lives of others by the actions you took, or just by being there.
There are likely to be many quiet victories that deserve recognition. Resilience, patience, and perseverance are achievements that may not look glamorous in a post, but they’re the building blocks of growth and future success, as cheesy as that may sound.
Reframing the concept of success
Another valuable perspective is to reframe the concept of “success.” We often measure success by tangible milestones, such as promotions, relationships, or financial gains. However, inner growth – such as learning to set boundaries, overcoming fear, or healing emotionally – is equally significant.
Consider giving yourself permission to let go of any guilt, regret, or self-doubt you may be carrying. It’s okay to admit that things didn’t go as planned; that doesn’t mean you failed. I planned to write a lot more posts on this site over the last few weeks, but life and mental health challenges got in the way.
‘Holding space’
Life isn’t always a linear journey, and some years are about survival and regrouping rather than reaching big milestones.
It isn’t a race either, and there’s no one-size-fits-all timeline for success or happiness. If all you did in 2024 was survive, that’s more than enough. Celebrate your resilience, hold space for your emotions (or is it for Defying Gravity?), and trust that brighter days are ahead.
Here’s to a happy, positive, and healthy 2025!
