I was going to come up with a list of 24 things I’ve learned, but I got stumped after six things. Then I decided to turn this into a few paragraphs post about my last year or so.

For the most part, my life has been the same since I turned 23 last year. I’m still at my full-time job, and I’m still scooping on the weekends. I still live at home with my parents. And I still yell a lot about sports.

But I also finished—and graduated—with my master’s degree. I’ve met new people through work, and I’ve also had people I was close to leave. I started running more consistently again. I went to a Red Sox game and a Hartford Yard Goats game. I finished a fiction story I had been working on for ten months. And I’ve started watching more Netflix.

I guess here’s part of that list I couldn’t finish. There are many things out of your control, and you just have to let them do what they want. You can only control what you can control. You can’t worry about things you can’t change, but you can do little things to make your life easier.

Another thing? It’s so extremely cliche, but things happen for a reason. I believe in the universe and that there’s some big plan out there for us, and we’re just along on the journey. We don’t know what’s next, and it can seem scary, but sometimes it’s a good thing. There’s a world of possibilities out there, and you don’t know what’s coming. If something doesn’t work out, then maybe it’s for the best. Because if that thing ended up working out, then you could miss out on another great opportunity.

I don’t have all the answers, and I’m still trying to figure out what I want in life. I have things that I enjoy—sports, writing, binging tv shows, friends, family, and my pets—and I have to keep doing what makes me happy. I don’t know what’ll happen in this next year, but I’m open to really anything.

Let’s make my 24th year a good one, universe.