2024 In Review: The Year of Clarity
The best thing that happened to me in 2024 is that I gained a lot of clarity.
The risks we took paid off.
In the beginning of the year, there was a bit of a struggle as we tried to figure out how we were going to normalize our new life here in the Netherlands. Moving here was a risk, and then deciding that we both wanted to leave teaching behind for something better—not knowing what that ‘better’ would be—was an additional risk that pushed me way out of my comfort zone. But with a bit of manoeuvring and plenty of luck, we managed. We are both now settled in new jobs, learning new skills, and have the best work-life balance we’ve had in a very long time.
I came to the end of my healing journey.
At some point early last year, I realized I had come to the ‘end’ of my healing journey. I put ‘end’ in quotations because healing journeys don’t end. They transition into a new phase of living. So when I say ‘end,’ I mean that the healing has now become an integrated part of my life rather than a separate active process.
What I’ve learned from my journey is that trauma isn’t something that can be taken away but something that needs to be intentionally acknowledged, dismantled, and integrated. My approach was and is experimental and mostly guided by intuition. When I began the journey, I wasn’t sure where it would lead me or how long it would take.
But by trusting the process I chose, I was able to reframe the way I engaged with trauma. Instead of seeing it as permanent “brokenness,” I know now that it can be reshaped, worked with, and woven into a life of purpose and resilience.
Naming my practice.
During the seven years or so that I have been on this healing journey, I’ve developed a set of tools that have helped me, and up to now, I’ve simply called it ‘my practice.’ But recently, I came up with a better name for it, which reflects the essence of what it is—Myth Work.
Myth Work is centred on using myths as symbolic resources and dynamic tools for personal growth, healing, and transformation. I believe myths offer a framework for understanding life’s challenges, transitions, and deeper truths, making them powerful resources for healing and self-discovery. While they speak to universal human experiences, their interpretation and application are deeply personal. This balance creates a practice that both honours individual stories while drawing on collective wisdom.
As I develop this practice, I aim to keep it simple and open-ended, allowing room for evolution and personalization. Rather than confining it to a specific method or outcome, its purpose is to remain a tool that grows alongside the practitioner.
I will go deeper into this practice in a future post.
