Happy new year!!!

In advance😅

Whew!!! What a year this has been.

There are no words worthy enough to express everything 2025 was. It can only be expressed through an explosion of gratitude to God, who held me through every fracture and loved me through every flaw, never once letting go. And yet, I am not the same person who entered this year. I have been unmade and remade, in ways that frightened me quite a bit.

The bitter truth and the beautiful truth are one: a lot can change in a year. Every corner of my life (Work, faith, love, family, body, identity) was touched by transformation. The universe seemed determined to refine me from every direction, breaking me open not to destroy, but to expand my capacity for more.

In a single year, you can lose people you believed were permanent. You can fall apart in ways you thought were irreversible. This year, I became stronger. Softer. Gentler with myself. I fell in love with myself for the first time ever. I stopped seeing myself as undeserving and poured into my own cup until it overflowed.

Beyoncé once asked: “Why do you deny yourself heaven? Why do you consider yourself undeserving? Why are you afraid of love? You think it’s not possible for someone like you? When you are the love of my life.” And I finally understood it.

This year, I stopped being afraid. I learned that I am not the exception to love, I am worthy of it, capable of it, made of it.

This year, I lived. I laughed until my ribs ached. I cried until I was hollow. I grieved the living, again, and survived it. I stopped stanning, loving and shamelessly defending Nicki Minaj after over 15 years. I lost weight, gained some back, and learned that my body is not a battleground, it’s a garden to continually love and nourish. I finally learnt to love myself enough to immerse myself in worthwhile experiences and stop overthinking things beyond my control. I published 35 Substack articles, each one a small act of defiance against silence and shame. I also finally hit and exceeded 100 subscribers🥹, people loved my articles enough to subscribe and read them.

I told everyone I loved that I loved them, and I stopped being ashamed of loving loudly. Most importantly, I dreamt, and then I achieved.

So now, as the new year approaches, I hope for tenderness. I hope 2026 feels like a soft pat on my back, welcoming me into the reality of my dreams. I hope it brings calm, peace, prosperity, and shields me from grief. I hope I reach every goal God knows is best for me, so that I do not self-destruct reaching for the wrong ones.

Mostly, I hope the new year loves me back.In numbers. In moments. In people. In peace. Because I have spent years learning how to love myself and I think it’s time the world returned the favor.

Thank you for a wonderful year!!!❤️

— Jumael Precious, 2025.