A new cycle is coming: Learn and be grateful.

With just a few days left in the year, I'm taking a moment to reflect on the journey and the treasures I've collected.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that one of my biggest and most wonderful passions is learning. Maybe that sounds simple or weird, but when I look inside, check out my life, and talk to myself, I've discovered that one of the coolest things about being alive is waking up and knowing you have a new day ahead to live and learn brand new stuff.

You can experience different things every single day, and if you stop to review your experiences, you'll realize that everything that happens teaches you something. When you make the most of those lessons, they make you happier every day.

This year has definitely been emotionally tough, but I know that you can gain amazing insights and grow as a person, even through difficulties. In those dark moments, the times when I felt like everything was falling apart, I learned to be more thankful, I managed to learn how to breathe better, and I was able to stop and observe things more consciously.

There were moments that forced me to listen more carefully, to perceive every situation with more attention, and to get a lesson from every experience. Analyzing what pushes me to my limits, and watching people's attitudes, has shown me so many ways to recenter myself and figure out what helps me achieve a deeper sense of peace.

It's a challenge to stay connected to life. It's a challenge to stop surviving and start living. It gets complicated when the world drags you into a whirlwind of fast changes that demand you stay in survival mode. But you can do it. You can take a breath when you feel like you've lost your way, or that you're stuck in a meaningless, endless routine.

Stop for a minute, hit the brakes on your daily race for just 30 seconds, and look at the trees, really notice the sky. Be conscious that you are living, that you are breathing, that your heart is beating, and be grateful. That can connect you to the magic of the present moment and give you a moment of calm.

Come on, the world isn't going to end just because you take a moment for yourself. You know what else I understood? That we're not getting out of this life alive, and the world is going to keep spinning once you're gone. And out of the 8.2 billion people on this planet, the only person who's always going to be with me is me.

Learning and internalizing that has taught me that even on the craziest days, I can allow myself to stop for 30 seconds to consciously breathe, to savor my coffee with my eyes closed, to look at the flower that popped up on my path today, to feel the water when I wash my hands, and to listen to that bird singing.

And let me tell you—to you and everyone who took your valuable time to read this—you can do it too. You can make the choice to be happier every day, with what you have or with what's missing. It's a tough road sometimes, but I promise you it's not impossible.

I offer my gratitude to God for giving me a new sunrise every day, for keeping my faith and my physical, mental, and spiritual health strong. I thank God for allowing me to enjoy the world with all my senses and to learn a little more every day, so I can be a better version of myself.

I still have the certainty that God is with me every day, and I continue to grow and keep learning to live each day a little more fully and happily.