With today starting off the new year, all of our platforms will become bombarded with accomplishment posts and a lifetime worth of monumental pictures. Individuals hope to showcase this year’s greatest moments and their new strengths. Lucky for you, this isn’t another one of those.
I am here to celebrate the things that I did not achieve in 2025; yup, you heard that right. Let me tell you about all the things I didn’t do that others might have envisioned for my future based on age expectations and society’s timeline. Along with my own high standards.
Following my undergrad degree, I decided to take a gap year. Before even completing graduation, I was asked what was next and the plans I had for my future. The answer: to celebrate everything I already accomplished. Secondary education has become an expectation, instead of the honor it is. The success you should feel following graduation is replaced with stress about where you’re expected to be instead. What if the right place is exactly where you are right now?
Although academically, I am taking a break, this time off has opened up space. I found my passion for traveling and chasing as many experiences as I can in my lifetime. There hasn’t been another period in my life when I had no obligations or requirements of me, and I was old enough to make my own decisions. It really puts freewill into a new perspective.
I have not found a career in my field of study yet. This blows some minds. I eventually will go back to school to further my degree. Not including the knowledge I use daily that I learned in college, I plan to use this degree once I settle down. Nothing is a guarantee, and while I know I have the time, I would like to spend it doing activities that I might not have the chance to experience again. Having a full-time, on-call job would close those opportunities that I have decided to prioritize at this time.
When I am not traveling, I work to save up for future trips and pay off my student debt. In my remaining free time, I spend it with Archie, friends, family, and my own interests. Although I love being out and about, the time I am not traveling opens up time for loved ones and other important pillars of my life.
In this toast-post, instead of celebrating everything we have accomplished, let’s celebrate what we were able to do in the time that other things were expected of us. If all you did this year was survive, I see you, and I am proud of you. Because that is the greatest accomplishment of all.
If you were to introduce yourself to me without mentioning your name, career, hobbies, or age/nationality/gender: how would you describe yourself?
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