Goodbye 2023 and hello 2024… what a year 2023 was? 2023 was a tough year for many, including me with many of us facing the storms of life during the year that was but just like any storm, the storm stops raging eventually and the sun comes out again.

Personally, the year was indeed a rough year for me. Life happened in a big way. I learned a lot about myself and a lot about so called friends who ended up being fake friends and not being in my corner at all.

I learned who was in my circle and my circle got smaller as I removed people from my life who weren’t serving my greater good and were draining my energy or creating drama in my life through their own actions and drawing me into their drama.

I also distanced myself from certain people in my life and haven’t removed them completely.

This is what setting healthy boundaries is about. Life isn’t a popularity contest, you’re not going to get along with everyone in life. It’s healthy to have boundaries and either remove people out of your life who aren’t in your circle because not everyone is. There’s many people who will call you friend but will talk about you behind your back, or not show you support when you are going through a storm in life, there’s so called friends who are toxic, fake friends, friends will continuously disrespect you or badmouth you… these people are not your friends.

These are the people to release from your life, even on social media. Set healthy boundaries and have people who accept you for who you are and will show up when you need that support when life hits.

Surround yourself with people who get you and what you are about and don’t try to change you but they bring out the best in you.

It’s even okay to remove family members from your life as well. We need to be able to preserve our inner peace and just because someone is family, they can cause more issues for our inner peace than friends.

I’m okay about losing people in life, both in real life and on social media. I want people who bring out the best in me, people who understand me, people who will be there in both the calm days when the boat is in calm water and during the storms. The storms of life, this too shall pass but it’s worth knowing who is next to you in that boat; someone who will help you bail out the water if the boat starts leaking or someone who will go overboard and swim to shore, leaving you to bail out the water alone in that boat.

Yeah, I’m okay with my circle shrinking. I’m more about me and no longer about keeping certain people around in my circle because they simply have the label of family or friend. 2023 was a year of letting go.

2024 is going to be the year of keeping my circle small and making sure everyone who is in my circle is worth having there.

Until next time…

Kaye