A Departing Letter

Dear 2022, 

We’ve reached our final moments together—a time in which I thought we would endure forever. You and I have been through so much, and the thought of us ever parting fills me with desolation. However, dwelling on the moments we shared, I have come to realize that perhaps this is for the best, and therefore it is time that I move on. 

My beloved 2022, you have shown and taught me a myriad of things. In the time that we’ve spent together, I’ve lost many whom I thought would be around forever. In the time that we’ve spent together, I’ve grown into the woman that I’ve always yearned to be—a version of myself that I finally like. 

My beloved 2022, you’ve hurt me. Though we have innumerable favorable memories, we also have hindering ones. I’ve gone days without sleep, mornings where I’ve woken up with my pillow wet with tears, and nights where my thoughts went rampant. But you didn’t know. You didn’t know, so you continued to throw things my way, knocking me off balance, because you thought I could handle it. I couldn’t. I was dug inside a perpetual hole. Every time I tried to climb out I only fell harder.

My beloved 2022, you’ve healed me. When I thought I had finally reached the end of the incessant hole I was falling in, it was faith that saved me. It was faith that grabbed my hand to pull me up, telling me to keep walking forward and never look back. It was faith that made me new. In our time together, the ounce of faith I had, in the beginning, grew in an abundance. You’ve taught me to never let go, and I promise that when we depart, I will continue to hang tight—no matter how shaky things may get. 

My beloved 2022, our time together wasn’t perfect, but it has guided me on how I can make things right with the one after you. We shared hurt and repair, happiness and dread, but in the end, I am grateful for it all. Thank you for showing me that I can finally be the woman I had always dreamed of being and that despite any hardship that may obscure my path with my new beloved, 2023, all I need is faith.