I made a similar post when I turned 23. I’ve turned 24 now and so naturally, I’m an entire year wiser. Wow, what wisdom.

Being honest, I do think I actually grew as a person this year. I was dealt some hard lessons, and while it’s usually better to learn lessons the hard way, maybe a person or two can glance over this and learn my hard lessons second hand. So take notes or something – this could be profound.

1) I felt a new kind of pain that I had never felt this year. My grandmother passed away on August 24th, and it was unimaginably horrible. I’d never had someone close to me die, and it happened suddenly and quickly. In the hospital for a few weeks, right to hospice, and a week later she was gone.

There was not a major event in my life that this woman was not a part of. She taught me so many things – most notably, how to put others before yourself consistently, and how to make perfect scrambled eggs. Losing her was hard, and it still is hard. If I think about it for too long, it’s still painful. Just the other night I realized for the first time that she won’t see me get married. She wanted to be there for things like that so badly, and it kills me that she physically won’t be.

I learned something from this. I learned how important it is to treasure things while they’re happening in front of you; how important it is to live here and now. I learned to lean on your family, and to let your family lean on you. I learned that seeing my brother cry is still, without a doubt, the worst thing on earth, and I learned how smart and strong that brother of mine is.

I learned that God is just and merciful in ways I never knew, and I appreciated the 23 years He gave me with her even more after she was gone.

2) I stepped outside of my comfort zone this year – in a big way. In September, what seemed like seconds after the whirlwind of my grandmother passing, I got on a plane to take a week-long trip to Vietnam with my best friends.

I pushed myself in ways I hadn’t before, physically, mentally and emotionally. It was hot, I was sick, and we were doing some seriously athletic activities that I’m just not designed for, but I did them, and I felt prouder of myself than I ever had.

I learned that if I just try, I can literally do anything I put my mind to. I learned that trying new things is essential to happiness and a real human experience here on earth. I learned that leaning on God in terrifying times gives you the ability to later look back and wonder why you were ever even worried at all.

3) I struggled this year, with a lot of things. Just normal human struggles. Budgeting my money, being content where I am, being impatient with the path my life was going. I gained a new best friend this year, and lost touch with a couple others. There were consistencies, there were highs, and there were lows.

Basically, just like any other year, it had its ups and downs. I’m not always happy, I’m not always bold, and I’m not always courageous. Sometimes I take the easy road, the low road, when I should do what’s best for others. There are a lot of aspects of myself that I need to work on, but that’s not what I want to take away from 23.

I want to go into 24 proud of myself, happy with who I am, and looking forward to the changes that this year has taught me I’m more than capable of making. I want to improve myself, because the better I am, the more help I’ll be to others.

That’s what’s really important to me. 24 needs to be the year where I put myself aside, and pick others up. Whatever it takes. Wherever God leads me this year, I’m going to willingly and unquestioningly follow. I will lean on His understanding and not my own.

That’s all I need to make 24 great.