And Just Like That, 2024 Is Done

As I wrote this piece, the year 2024 of our common era was about to end. The bells were going to chime, the calendars were changing, and people around the world planned on staying up until midnight to mark the start of 2025. We’re now heading into the middle of the 2020s already.

Overall, I’d have to say 2024 has been quite a year for me — for better and worse.

On one hand, I’ve definitely grown at least quite a bit on Medium and online. Sure, I’m not hitting the thousands, but 200-something followers in just one year isn’t bad at all. My articles also have plenty of reads to go around, with my most popular piece having over a thousand reads and my average online view count in general successfully hitting the three digits.

I’ve also grown somewhat in real life. At least, I hope I have. I don’t mean physically; rather, emotionally and mentally. I definitely discern who I choose to trust more. Not that I never have, but I try better now not to let desperation blind me to a person’s faults. On top of that, I feel like I juggle my offline and Internet lives better now.

On the other hand, though…some quite frankly insane stuff has also happened to me this year. And not of the good kind.

I started off the year still reeling from the effects of a huge social fallout. It was hard and it honestly still is. Nonetheless, I realized that I needed to move on from it if I was to function in everyday life.

I made new friends and found shoulders to cry on. But the first thing I discovered this year was that one of those shoulders belonged to someone far beyond redemption. Left with no choice but to cut them off, I felt like a part of me had been torn out.

Afterwards, I met their old friends in a bid to expose them. It was great, for a bit, to be able to bond with people I had some shared experiences with. That perverse bliss didn’t last long, though, and we mostly all drifted apart pretty quickly.

In the meantime, I had some offline stuff to deal with. Work got heavier as the months rolled on. Some days, I felt absolutely desperate to hit the sack multiple hours before my typical bedtime. I had to adapt and ensure that I could both keep my real life from falling apart while consistently being able to churn out content online.

Offline living was obviously more important. But if I learned anything from my past experiences, it was the importance of connections when it came to surviving on the Internet.

Connections — be they public popularity or mutual conversations with well-known creators — are key to climbing the online social ladder. The better connected one is, the more people are willing to be on one’s side. However, people often don’t want to connect with one unless one has something to provide. This could be quality entertainment, emotional support, or both.

Trying my hardest to maintain a presence online without wrecking my offline life was pretty important for me to do. I never wanted to be hurt again like I was back in 2023 with barely anyone to back me up. Yes, I’d definitely create some transactional connections here and there. But it was a price I was willing to pay.

That’s not to say I lost all sense of morals in my pursuit of engagement. I have managed to weed out toxic people when their behaviours crossed a line. It wasn’t easy, but I still did it. I honestly do hope that I don’t let opportunities for personal gain cloud my ethics.

With that being said, I think I know what one of my New Year’s resolutions is. I don’t ever want to be that girl again. The girl who gets taken advantage of by opportunistic men. The girl who ignores the red flags coming from someone because she can’t bear the truth.

However, I don’t want to lose myself either. Because in the end, doing the right thing is more important than any sort of popularity could be.

How was your 2024? Let me know in the comments!

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