Life

Last year, I wrote that 2023 was my year of rebuilding, and I think that 2024 was the year of settling, of refining, of improving. I started the year with a new home, in a new city, and a fresh new lease on life. There were still lingering effects of the previous few hard years, and I still felt a bit shaky, but the basic building blocks were so much more aligned. I was feeling so hopeful and positive that I was able to come off my anti-depressants, start prioritizing healthy habits, and get more proactive about making things even better.

The theme of the year (looking back now in all my infinite wisdom from January 2025 😉) was “slow and steady”. Nothing changed overnight, but I ended the year with so much more peace and hope than how I started it. I slowly but steadily rebuilt my confidence in myself. We slowly but steadily improved our communication habits and strengthened our relationship. I slowly (and then very rapidly!) started a creative new business that is really lighting me up and growing in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

Of course, there are still (always) areas of my life that I want to improve (my back pain! growing a community! paying off debt!), but it’s really rewarding and cool to see how this year brought my back to myself and my path. I feel more grounded, more centred, and more capable of facing the challenges life may bring. I still have bad days (it’s January in southern Ontario, ffs) but I am so excited for 2025 and beyond, and it feels so good to feel that way. 💖

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January

Despite being cold and dreary, as Januaries usually are, this month was really full of love & joy. We really started the year with a bang! First there was Nurture Nurture, hosted at my place in Hamilton for the first time (!), which was so much fun. There is always such magic and synchronicity when the three of us are together, and it was such a nice way to kick things off. Then, Mike & I took a fun little winter getaway to Niagara Falls to see a magic show and marvel at the falls and go antiquing and eat at a kitschy alien-themed diner. Along the way, there were also some nice visits to the greenhouse for some warmth, lots of chilly trips to the dog park, and lots of candlelit dinners. Basically I just tried to get through the greyest month of the year while adding a bit of sparkle.

February

The best part of February was a little girls trip that my friends and I took to Creemore. It was so cold, but we got so cozy by popping around beautiful little shops, curling up by the fire, reading, and taking baths. Mike & I celebrated Valentine’s Day with doughnuts, my mom & I started doing “cooking dates” where we’d meal prep together at her place, and I started lifting weights more regularly. I also was lucky enough to attend a MUCH needed “Thereoke” session at a karaoke room hosted by my friend Julia which was fun and delightful. Last but certainly not least, we ended the month with a very lovely visit from Katie, P and sweet Ro who came to see our new place and eat good food and hang out for the weekend.

March

The biggest event this month was doing The Slowpreneur Retreat, my business retreat for intentional entrepreneurs. We had such a great group, and Sonja made the most delicious and cozy food imaginable. In March I also sewed the Juniper Tank with a bow at the back, which was so fun and rewarding. I started running again (a little) and sat outside as much as humanly possible when the weather allowed. There were tulips, and hikes, and soaking up as much sunshine as possible after some cold, dark months. Then I ended the month with another fun trip, this time to meet up with Katie again in Ithaca to celebrate a full decade of friendship!! It was a very quick visit but we had enough time to go to a Korean diner and gorge ourselves, listen to Cowboy Carter, go to see waterfalls, and talk nonstop. Such a nice way to celebrate.

April

I always have fun in April because it’s my birthday month!! And this year was particularly fun. For my birthday weekend we had a delightful visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens with my mom & Grandma, and spent the day doing some of my favourite things, like going to the beach and getting Hutch’s, even though Bruno was being crazy and the food took forever and it was slightly too cold to sit outside. 😂 Still a great birthday. The day after that we got to see the eclipse in all its glory because we were right on the path of totality, which was such an incredible and amazing experience. Then we launched into yet another fun weekend – a combination of a birthday trip for me and attending the wedding of one of Mike’s good friends. We got to stay at a great hotel (we got a winter special deal) for a fabulous dinner and breakfast in bed, then headed to NOTL to go to the spa and have an amazing time at their lovely wedding. We were pampered indeed! The rest of the month was quiet, but we had a very fun murder mystery-themed FamJam and I made a point of seeking out cherry blossoms anywhere & everywhere I could find them.

May

We started off the month with one of my favourite parts of the year: Nurture Spring. It was a weekend of beauty, blossoms, and delicious food, and I was so grateful to be part of it. We went swimming in the (cold!) Lake Simcoe and got to play with flowers during one of our workshops, which was a delight. May was also the month when we started being outside so much more! We hung up ferns and string lights, planted flowers, got a new outdoor table & chairs, and had our first of many dinners out on the back patio. We went to visit the HMCS Haida for the first time, and had a date night at our fave, Princess Point. Both were so much fun. We celebrated my grandmother’s 95th birthday and spent lots of time at The Hideaway, and generally just enjoyed the good weather by checking out new patios, soaking up all the sunshine, and admiring all the gardens and flowers in our neighbourhood for the first time.

June

This was a cool month because it was a bit of a turning point for me. I realized that my long-held desire to take photos professionally (which I’ve had at least since graduating university) was not going away. Business was slow and was my work was not feeling very good to me, so I thought: why not try? That month, I offered to take pictures for free at an event I was helping out at, and offered to do a free engagement shoot with one of my sisters, and a brand shoot with the other. Looking back, it’s amazing how quickly I launched into action after deciding! Also in June, Mike and I headed to our fave little tiny cabin campground to spend a weekend…though sadly, it was pouring rain incessantly almost the entire time. Still, June is one of my favourite months and we spent the rest of it going out for ice cream, taking Bru to go swimming (including at a dog-friendly pool!), walking in the creek, eating cherries on our patio, celebrating my sister’s engagement, and reading lots of delightfully summery books.

July

If I like June, I like July even better! And this July was particularly fun because in addition to all the other fun summery stuff we did (going to the beach, watching the fireworks, swimming at the local pool, going to the drive-in movies) we also went to NYC! Mike had been before but only on a whistlestop tour, so this time we made sure to see more of the city, including walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, frolicking along the High Line, and most importantly spending several hours in the mecca, B&H Photo. We had so much fun and ate so much good pizza. Once back, I also had an absolutely fabulous “birthday day” planned by Sonja where we explored the cutest darn parts of Guelph and culminated the day at the RBG to see Donovan Woods at one the most beautiful concert venues I’ve ever been to, on an absolutely picture-perfect night. Core memory.

August

August was full of so many fun things! One of my favourite memories is going to Art Crawl with Mike for the first time. It’s a fun & vibrant street festival here in Hamilton that happens on Friday nights, and it’s a party. We got to wander and explore and just had the best time doing it. We also went rock climbing for the first time at our local gym! I took Mike as a surprise for his birthday and we’ve gone a few times since because it’s so much fun and a great team-building activity. We did a bunch of tweaks around the house, including rearranging Mike’s office into a much better layout, building shelves for our armoire, and organizing a bunch of nooks & crannies. And last but most certainly not least, we capped off the month by helping out at and attending Sonja & Josh’s wedding on her parents’ family property! It was an intense weekend (we were filming all day in addition to all the other food prep/flower prep/decor prep work!) but so much fun and culminated with our favourite event of the year, Sip & Sip. This year we were all so tired that we barely said two words the entire float, but the whole weekend is such a good memory. To cap off the month, I did Lin & Peter’s engagement shoot, which I think singlehandedly launched my photography career.

September

So many things happened in September, it’s hard to keep track. We attended Dylan & Matt’s incredibly fun wedding and had an absolute blast. I did a fun, colourful photoshoot for Bron’s cake business. Katie came to visit the same weekend that Mike’s aunt & uncle arrived from Romania, and the same weekend as Super Crawl, the more intense, weekend-long version of Art Crawl that is even bigger & better. That was such a fun weekend and we also tried Cowabunga for the first time (yum). We spent a lot of time in September hanging out with Dana & Fane and taking them to see interesting places, the most interesting of which being our trip to Calgary, Drumheller & Banff! This was a pretty last-minute trip and it had its logistical challenges, but in the end was absolutely incredible. I had never been to the Rockies before and was absolutely, positively, completely and totally in awe the entire time. It was magic.

October

The sightseeing continued this month, as did the photography! We took the relatives on a boat cruise on the tall ship Kajama, to our old stomping grounds in High Park, to see the leaves changing at the Kortright Centre, and of course to the CN Tower for dinner & views of the city. We also took them to my family’s annual Pumpkin Carving competition, where Mike and I took home third and first place, respectively! 😉 Throughout the month I was also doing photoshoots! I did my first-ever paid photoshoot with Kim (😭) and a beautiful engagement session with Julia & Shain (😭 😭 😭). I gotta tell you: the learning curve was steep, and I quickly realized how much I did not/do not know, but I also have to say that actually getting to take pictures and share them and make people happy was such a joy. Then perhaps most delightfully, we had our third-annual Romance Book Group Reading Retreat in October at an absolutely stunning Airbnb complete with patio hot tub. We went kayaking, ate good food (and junk food), and did a perfect amount of co-reading on the sunniest, warmest, most perfect fall weekend. It remains one of my favourite traditions of the year!

November

The highlight of November is always Nurture: Fall, and this year was no exception. We had beautiful weather and some really fun workshops, including natural dyeing and hand-building ceramics. I had a wonderful time, as I always do. Also in November was lots of great family time, including a French-inspired feast at my dad’s, and a birthday celebration at my mom’s, complete with the most delicious carrot cake you ever did see c/o my sister’s bakery business. We also had fun making winter planters, which I’d never done before and really enjoyed. Those were the highlights, but I also had a few great coffee dates with pals, a fun time at FUNTO with Julia, and capped off the month with my most fun brand photo session so far.

December

Last but not least, December was a delight. So much good family time, including playing hooky with my mom and sister to see Wicked, going to see Come From Away with Bron and getting drinks with Linnie afterwards, decorating the tree at my mom’s, going to see Winter Wonders at the RBG, and having a sisters dinner to ring in the holiday season. I also took Sonja on a delightful birthday treat day to St. Catherine’s, Niagara Falls & Niagara on the Lake and we had such a great day together (minus the chocolate factory tour, lol). And of course we had some lovely holidays all together, complete with our third-annual Christmas Trivia game that I love to design & host. We also got to go to a fun wedding shower for Julia & Shain, and then rang in the new year at home with Bad Santa and a lovely snacky spread. It was a really nice holiday season overall, even though I was feeling less festive than usual. I still enjoyed spending time with loved ones & honouring our traditions.

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Firsts of 2024

• First time seeing the Rocky Mountains
• First time being paid to take photos
• First time eating at Hutch’s
• First time seeing a total solar eclipse, absolutely incredible
• First time riding those city scooters
• First time learning to arrange flowers and work with leather
• First time getting hanging baskets and planting flowers
• First time exploring the HCMS Haida
• First time learning flash photography
• First time shadowing a wedding photographer
• First time going to a dog swimming pool
• First time visiting Letchworth State Park
• First time at B&H Photo
• First time on the Brooklyn Bridge Carousel
• First time seeing a concert at the RBG
• First time at Art Crawl & Super Crawl
• First time learning how to belay at rock climbing
• First engagement shoot + first brand photoshoot
• First time hosting Mike’s family in Canada
• First time seeing (very faintly, but still!) the Northern Lights
• First time making a winter planter basket
• First time having dinner at the CN Tower

2024 By the Numbers

• Meditated 256 days of the year for ~39 hours and 17 minutes (since March 1, 2024)
• Walked an average of 7511 steps per day (or 2,741,515 in the year)
• Read 65 books over the year
• Did some kind of movement 233 days of the year
• Wrote roughly 34421 words in my book Slowpreneur (currently on pause)

My Word of the Year: Strength

Honestly, compared to most recent years, I’d say this word stuck with me quite a bit in 2024! My goal was to increase my mental & physical strength after a period of feeling a bit wobbly, and I think I did so. I did a lot of strength-building workouts, literally, thanks to my newfound fave Nourish Move Love, and I found that being strong physically helped me feel better about things mentally too. I felt a LOT more settled in our home and neighbourhood, which went a long way to stabilizing my mood, building better habits, and taking better care of myself. I also think that Mike and I strengthened our relationship and communication habits quite a bit, learning better ways to deal with conflict and in general just be more supportive of one another.

There were certain things I had hoped to do to strengthen my community here in Hamilton that I didn’t get a chance to, like starting a Cookbook Club, but what’s fun is that I’m starting it this month instead! Which just goes to show me that I’m feeling strong enough to take on the challenge of putting myself out there, creating a fancy dinner party, doing “extra” stuff that will make life feel a little more special. It’s really nice to see it in myself.

As I write this, it’s a snowstorm and I’m getting over a really nasty cold and the start of 2025 has been fairly brutal, so I’ve had a few wobbles again these last couple months with my mood. But it’s nice to reflect and see that even with those wobbly bits, my foundation is actually stronger than ever. I’m proud of myself for how I’ve been working to take care of myself better and set up habits and routines that help me feel more grounded. All in all, I’d say that Strength was a perfect intention for me, and really paid off.

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When I started this post, I did NOT intend to be finishing it mid-February, but like I said above, the beginning of this year has been pretty full-on and a bit stressful. So even though this is definitely not my usual or ideal timing for writing my end-of-year reflections (lol), I’m just glad to have done them at all. Sometimes that’s just how it goes, I suppose! Better late than never.

For me, the best part of writing a year in review is getting to zoom out and see the big picture for a while. Individual days can feel like an absolute slog, or totally boring, or (on occasion) put you in the depths of despair – it is February, after all. But looking back on the year as a whole, it sparkles. I remember all the fun patio dinners we had, all the coffees on the new-to-us front porch, exploring the beautiful nature around our new home, cuddles with Bruno, cuddles with Mike, quality time with friends & family, flowers and sunshine and good books galore. A year is a long time and has so much room for magic. Cannot wait to see what 2025 has in store for us. ❤️

xoxo
Steph

PS. If you’re curious, you can see more of my year-end reviews here:

2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011

It is January 29th and I’m finally feeling up for writing my year in review post for 2021. If that doesn’t say something about how tired and slow and behind I feel these days, I don’t know what does! 🤣

It’s hard to reflect on 2021 because it feels like such a blur, and because it was full of so many difficult emotions. Between the news, and the social isolation, and the lockdowns, and the political divisiveness, it’s been so hard to be a person in the world lately. I’ve felt so overwhelmed and alienated, by turns utterly hopeless and (very) cautiously optimistic. Put simply: this year has been exhausting. I am craving simplicity, for things to feel easier, to feel hopeful again.

And yet despite the emotional turbulence I’ve felt for most of the past two years, I have to admit that this year did bring a lot of positive changes to my personal circumstances. So while 2021 didn’t often feel good for me in my everyday life, I know I have so much to be grateful for. Isn’t that always the way? We need some perspective & space in order to see the forest. When we’re deep in the trees, we can’t see a way to go on.

So here we go, my 2021 in review. Be forewarned: this will probably read like a highlight reel, but trust me when I say that this year felt like anything but in the moment. Both things can be true: it was good, and it was hard.

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January

I started the year by hosting my first-ever virtual business retreat, which went a lot better than I expected! My friend Sonja designed a beautiful menu that all the attendees recreated at home, and we made the most of the circumstances by being together virtually while apart physically. In January, I also celebrated one year of being with my partner Mike. We were in lockdown and it was one of the coldest days of the year, so we went for a very brisk walk, got some bread & pastries from the place we’d had our first date, and played board games at home. And that was basically…it. Business was slow that month and I was worried about money, I went for a lot of very cold walks with friends, I did some coaching calls, I took some bubble baths, I watched TV.

February

Out of the blue in February, I got invited to apply for an on-camera role with Shopify, and…I got the job! This was huge for me, a chance to grow my skills and also find a bit of financial stability in such an uncertain time. It has sometimes been challenging (ie. filming by myself, all alone in a super-hot studio without air-conditioning in the middle of a heat wave!) but has been such an amazing opportunity. Also in February, I started The Notorious Romance Book Group, (RBG for short 😉), a feminist romance novel book club with the coolest women that my friends & I knew. This online group has added so much joy this year and helped me make some new friends during such a tough time. Other than that: see above. A lot of cold walks, desperately searching for a new apartment, and trying to cheer myself up by getting the best doughnuts around.

March

In March, things started to feel a bit brighter. We finally moved out of the lockdown we’d been in since November, the days got longer, and some flowers finally started to poke their heads out from under the snow. But the most exciting thing that happened in March, without a doubt, was being selected out of tons of applicants for the apartment of my dreams. It’s in my favourite neighbourhood, on the top floor of an old house, with tons of windows, the perfect patio, and buckets of natural light. It has been a safe haven this year, holding (literal) space for me to cry, grieve, celebrate, worry, stress, smile and rest. Also in March I found my dream pink velvet couch for FREE on Kijiji which was a gigantic win.

April

On April 1st, I moved into the new place and spent a lot of time just lying with my face in sunbeams. I was so happy to get there right as the weather was warming up a bit (in that first week, we had shakshuka on the new patio! celebrated my birthday with my family outdoors in the sunshine! rented a bonfire pit at Ontario Place with views of the CN tower!), but it turned out to be perfect timing because within days of me moving in, Toronto was plunged BACK into lockdown. We had to cancel my birthday getaway and pivot to doing Covid-safe things instead, like exploring the abandoned Camp 30 and making cocktails at home, and I spent most of the rest of the month alone at home, settling into my new space. In April I also got asked to be the speaker at Creative Mornings Toronto which was such a special experience. So many of my friends and colleagues showed up to support me, and I was so proud of the talk I gave.

May

Even though April was full of good things, May was better for one simple reason: I got my first dose of the vaccine. It’s hard to express how relieved and hopeful I was as I stood in line at a community pop-up playing loud, joyful reggaeton music with daffodils blooming and kind volunteers helping out. It was an unbelievably good day. In May the flowers are in full bloom here in Toronto, and my camera roll is just chock-full of cherry blossoms, green grass, lilacs and magnolias from my walks. I took myself on a beach picnic for the first time all year (one of my fave activities), put up string lights on the patio, installed my beautiful rainbow shelves and saw more sunsets.

June

I loved June. I could finally go to the beach in a bathing suit, eat all my meals outside, get ice cream, and go to the drive-in movies. I went strawberry picking, went to the Toronto Islands (on the rainiest, windiest day, oops), hosted my friends & family for brunch and dinner on the patio, got some new outdoor plants (which slowly died throughout the summer) and got my second vaccine dose. I was nesting, spending lots of time outdoors, and finally feeling hopeful again. Oh, and I didn’t know it yet, but my future fur baby Bruno was born on June 27th.

July

In July, we hosted our second online business retreat, which was even more of a success since I was in a newer, brighter space and the food was so summery and fresh. I think I felt a bit restless, so I restarted my Steph Saturday Morning adventures to explore some new coffee shops and restaurants and get outside of my neighbourhood bubble. I also started swimming at the local pool, which was such a joy and delight every single time. Later in the month my boyfriend got some bad news and had to fly home to Romania, so my memories of July feel a bit heavy and tinged with sadness. I also remember being extremely tired because I was having a lot of trouble sleeping.

August

We started the month strong by heading back to a family-run campground we’d loved the year before up near Magnetawan, Ontario. We rented a tiny cabin and spent the week swimming under waterfalls, hiking in Algonquin Park, making friends with chipmunks, buying junk at garage sales, canoeing, eating, reading and talking. Those were very good days, some of my favourite memories from the whole year. Also among my best memories were the days that my friend Katie came to visit from New York. We hadn’t seen each other for almost TWO YEARS which was unfathomable, but it felt like yesterday. We spent a long weekend finding magic wherever we went: in vineyards, at swimming holes, on the Island, at my sister’s birthday party. Last but not least, in August we did “Wines of the World” in my family which was the funniest, most delicious event: we all had to bring a wine from a famous region and pair it with a specialty snack from the same country. It was a delight.

September

On September 1st, I brought home a puppy. This was both impulsive (it came together in a matter of days) and also an incredibly long time coming (I had started seriously applying for dogs in January 2020). Still, I was almost completely unprepared for how difficult this transition would be emotionally. The first month, despite the adorable photos I captured, was one of the hardest months of my life, if not the hardest. Taking care of a small animal who is totally disoriented, peeing in the house, requires constant vigilance, bites your feet and ankles constantly, barks in the most high-pitched tone, and can’t leave the front lawn while neighbours incessantly hype him up and ruin your training….well, it’s hard. Not to mention that Mike was still in peak wedding season which meant he couldn’t be around to help out very much in the first few weeks. There was a lot of literal blood, sweat, and tears, and I barely left the house all month. I did manage to celebrate one year of my business community, The Profoundery, but to this day I have no idea how I got through the day with an 11-week old puppy in tow.

October

Things started to improve in October, although I was still the most exhausted I’ve ever been. Bruno got all his shots, so I was able to start taking him on walks, to some parks, to visit my Grandma, to puppy school, to play with my mom’s dog. My life was still very insular, and our routine was still a challenge, and I still fell into bed most nights without being able to do much if anything for myself, but things were better. Bruno is a smart cookie, so he was learning his tricks and commands and doing so well being exposed to new places.

November

In November, my life started to feel slightly more like mine again. I went back to filming for Shopify after a hiatus, and it was so fun to be in a real studio with a videographer instead of filming alone. Mike and I did a little staycation on the East end of the city and actually went out for dinner, just us, without Bruno for the first time. Bruno graduated from puppy school and went to his first few dogs parks. We had a real scare when he accidentally ingested some marijuana, we assume at one of the aforementioned dog parks since neither of us imbibe, and his symptoms were terrifying for a new puppy owner who didn’t know what was happening. He was totally fine but: woof. But the best thing that happened in November was deciding last-minute to fly to New York City for Katie & P’s wedding in Manhattan. They got married in a sweet little city garden in the rain surrounded by their families and took a sunset boat cruise to the Statue of Liberty, and I was so grateful to be there for such an important occasion.

December

I felt the seasonal affective disorder coming on STRONG in December, so I leaned hard into the holiday season. I decorated my whole apartment, made an advent calendar with Mike, sewed a Christmas quilt and got us matching pyjamas. Myself and a few friends were lucky enough to go up to a cottage for the weekend which was so peaceful and quiet. My sisters and I had a festive brunch and got pedicures together in lieu of gifts. And best of all, we actually got to celebrate Christmas together this year, even with some precautions because of a few Covid scares. Still, a huge improvement over the lonely year before. Even though I felt very stressed & anxious over the holidays because of Omicron and a new lockdown order and a Covid exposure and cancelling plans to drive to upstate New York for NYE, we tried our best to make the most of a challenging situation.

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Firsts of 2021

• First time becoming a (dog) parent
• First time speaking in front of such a large audience (Creative Mornings)
• First time filming a video in a real production studio
• First time visiting Algonquin Park
• First time hosting a virtual retreat
• First time having an apartment with outdoor space
• First time renting a bonfire pit at Ontario Place
• First time assisting at an engagement shoot
• First time installing bookshelves
• First time being on-camera “talent” for a commercial shoot
• First time getting a matching loungewear set
• First time picking someone up from the airport by myself
• First time swimming at the Elora Gorge
• First time at puppy school
• First time trying Firehouse Subs

2021 by the Numbers

• 75 books read
• 13 videos filmed
• 5 hours & 23 minutes of meditation

Favourite Books Read

• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova
• Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibberd
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weird
• Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
• From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle
• Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman
• It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
• Wintering by Katherine May

My word of the year: Soften

Ironically but unsurprisingly, I actually feel like I got harder this year, more rigid and uncompromising, especially after getting Bruno. I was hard on myself (and continue to be) for the ways I felt I was failing, and hard on Mike during a time when I had very little patience or energy. I can’t count the times (even before becoming a dog parent) where I found myself saying “this is so hard”, because this year was so hard.

And yet I do think I softened a little. I softened in my anxious attachment and settled into feeling loved and safe in my relationship. I tried hard to soften my expectations for every experience needing to be The Best Experience Possible Under the Circumstances. I got soft serve ice cream more than a few times. I got a very soft velvet couch and an even softer puppy. The puppy forced me to spend time every day just sitting on the floor playing and cuddling.

So all in all, it was a good word, a good teacher. As usual, I think I’ll probably see the payoff of this word this year, in 2022, a lot more than I did in 2021. I certainly hope so anyways. The world continues to get louder and sharper around the edges, and I want to be soft, compassionate, calm.

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That’s it from me for now. Little reminder to future Steph: don’t put off writing these reviews. In the process, you always get more perspective, more joy, more gratitude for the life you’re fortunate enough to lead. That doesn’t diminish the feelings of despair or hopelessness, those are always hard and painful and challenging. But writing, reminiscing, processing, remembering, documenting: these things give you hope. These things bring you joy.

And if you’re reading this and thinking your year sucked compared to mine, please know that I feel that daily in comparison to other people. I encourage you to ‘romanticize your life’, as the kids say on TikTok, by writing a review of your own, by documenting the good and the bad for your future self to look back on. For me, it makes all the difference.

Sending you so much love and lightness and a loosening of expectations and a lessening of stress, and a languorous stretch in the sunshine, the kind Bruno takes daily. Here’s hoping 2022 holds many beautiful things for us all.

xoxo,
Steph

PS. If you’re curious, you can see more of my year-end reviews here:

2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011