Reflecting on 2024: Gratitude, Growth, and New Beginnings
As I look back on 2024, my heart and eyes swell with teardrops of gratitude. This year was one of profound growth, healing, and simultaneously rediscovering passion & joy. Here’s a reflection on what made this year so meaningful:
Celebrating 22 Years with Diabetes
Living with T1D for 22+ years has been a journey filled with challenges, lessons, and incredible opportunities. This year, I’m especially grateful for:
Diaversary Milestone: Celebrating 22 years of living with T1D in February, a reminder of resilience and strength.
Joining #dedoc°: Becoming part of this global community of patient advocates has been transformative, connecting me with passionate changemakers from around the world.
TCOYD ONE Conference: Teaching yoga for the second year in a row at TCOYD’s annual ONE Retreat was incredibly special — reconnecting me with my passion for integrating yoga and diabetes. I also had a blast meeting and reconnecting with cherished diabesties, old and new!
ADA Scientific Sessions: Developing a Meditation Series for the ADA Scientific Sessions was a meaningful milestone in my mission to advocate for an integrative approach to reshaping diabetes care and management. Thank you, Laura Wolohojian, for your collaboration in bringing this vision to life.
ISPAD Conference in Lisbon: My first time attending, thanks to #dedoc°. It was inspiring to meet advocates, healthcare professionals, and innovators from around the world. Learning that ISPAD was the first conference to give rise to patient advocacy during scientific conferences was an impactful moment in my advocacy journey.
Visiting APDP with #dedoc°: Visiting APDP was like seeing a Portuguese version of my “Integrative Healthcare Center for the T1D Community” dream come true (learn more about my vision in my previous blog post). Getting to do this with #dedoc° advocates was the best kind of diabetes field trip and a heart stamp I hope lasts a lifetime!
DiabetesMine Innovation Summit: Innovation has always been at the heart of my diabetes journey. Receiving a scholarship to attend this event as a Patient Advocate was an honor — Thank you, Amy Tenderich for this opportunity.
Dancing for Diabetes Showcase: Witnessing the Dancing for Diabetes production for the first time was moving and inspiring, especially as I’ve grown a fonder connection with dance this year.
Starting My Blog: I’ve journaled and shared my life’s stories for many years, but doing so publicly feels like the start of an exciting new chapter (or book that many have encouraged me to write 😉)
Adventures and Exploration
This year took me to incredible places that nourished my soul and expanded my perspective:
Lisbon, Portugal
Dublin, Ireland
Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Edinburgh, Scotland
Chicago, Orlando, and Tampa
More than the destinations, it was the people I met along the way who left a lasting impact. These connections—whether brief or enduring—helped me reconnect with joy and passion.
Cherished Moments with Friends and Family
Spending quality time with friends welcoming new babies, making me the happiest auntie.
Celebrating holidays with family and “chosen family.”
Sending Christmas cards to extended family—something I hadn’t done in years.
Precious time spent with my mom and sister.
New Activities and Communities
This year brought new opportunities to grow, heal, and connect:
CycleBar Community: I loved incorporating a new fitness challenge into my life, integrating into the community, and collaborating on a Diabetes Awareness Cycle Event encouraging participation in the ADA Virtual Tour de Cure.
Medtronic Blue Balloon Challenge: Bringing this challenge into CorePower classes with the help of my friends to promote T1D awareness for World Diabetes Day was a highlight.
Aerial Yoga with Trilogy: This practice held me in my grief from my father’s loss and helped to reignite my passion for yoga.
Ballet with Southern California Ballet: Nourishing a creative calling, I joined ballet lessons for the first time, beginning my journey into self-expression through dance.
Irish with Mollie: By enrolling in Mollie’s “Irish Master Course for Beginners,” I began to make strides in learning the Irish language as a way to honor my heritage and breathe life into the language of my ancestors.
Lessons Learned
This year was also a time for deep emotional work and self-reflection:
I realized I had been judging myself harshly for feeling stuck and disconnected in my grief, following the loss of my dad.
I learned that grief scared me when it disconnected me from my passions and joy, and that the new version of me that was emerging deserved my patience, self-compassion, and kindness.
Grief taught me to honor endings, patiently wait for beginnings, and to be kind to myself throughout the process.
In 2020, I wrote a note to myself asking, “If money wasn’t a thing, what would your life look like?” This year, I lived that vision. While financial strain came with the territory, the trade-off—reclaiming my health—was worth it. Health truly is wealth.
2024: A Year of Healing and Reconnection
Enduring and emerging connections, the places I traveled, and the experiences I had helped me process an immense amount of grief and pain from my father’s passing while simultaneously bringing me back to life and reconnecting me with my passions and joy.
Hello, 2025
As I step into the new year, I’m filled with hope and curiosity. 2025, how ✨magical✨ can it get?
Here’s to a year of limitless possibilities — starting with celebrating another trip around the sun! 🌞
