Things That Got Me Through 2024 and What I've Promised Myself For The Year Ahead

a semi-comprehensive list.

2025 is here and though I don’t know how we are already five years past 2020, life has had a funny way of making up for lost time.

there were many major life milestones for me this year but here is a list of the things that got me through 2024.

1. oatmeal made by my husband

2. a warm breeze from the Mississippi River

3. friends who consistently showed up for me

4. books. there were so many authors who helped me rediscover my love for language.

5. black women who do hair in salon suites and watch the wildest TV shows you’ve (n)ever seen but have sweet souls.

6. my mom’s joy about becoming a grandmother

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7. our baby girl’s kicks. not gonna lie, sometimes it gives alien invasion but I love knowing that she’s growing, healthy and happy.

8. seeing so many of my friends walk into their best chapters both professionally and personally.

9. my first starring role in a feature film premiering in Los Angeles. a lifelong dream.

10. being on the right side of history…again.

11. kendrick lamar. i, too, am leaning into anger as a gateway to creativity and freedom, king.

12. people still wanting to read my words. y’all, when I say I have struggled to push through the “well, who cares what I have to say?” for so many years. but here you guys are, on yet another platform, supporting me still.

13. roles that came my way and foreshadowed my real life.

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14. love.

In 2025, i’m less concerned about goals as i am about keeping promises to myself and maybe this is something that will resonate with some of you as a new way to approach the next 362 days.

• I promise to reclaim my time, energy and talents from others, unapologetically.

• I promise to commit to my passions and share my greatness with the world.

• I promise to read more fiction because character and world building are two areas where I feel my writing can still use work.

• I promise to trust creative ideas and trust the process of the thrill of a finish vs. the immediate gratification of a beginning.

• I promise to remind myself and others of who thee f*$% I am.

• I promise to not be so smart that I think myself out of what’s possible—after all, I’m leaning not on my own understanding.

• I promise to believe that my best ideas, creativity and finished products are ahead of and never behind me.

I’d love to know what promises you’ve already made or plan to make as we move into a new calendar year.