As we begin to mourn the impending death of 2017, it seems that everyone around me cannot wait to say goodbye to the year and all it has brought them—except this happens every year.

Every year in its closing days my twitter timeline is plagued with “this year could not have been worse” tweets, and Facebook, well don’t even get me started on what Facebook has to say about 2017.

In all honesty, I use to be one of these people. The person that was eagerly ready to say goodbye to whatever hardships I endured in the past year. However, that’s not the case this year. Really, I should be thanking 2017 for all of the problems it presented me with, for it allowed me to transform into an unrecognizable person.

How I got here? Ultimately it was quite simple—I put myself first and chose to indulge in what I wanted to do, not what I believed others wanted me to do. Following this mantra, led me to end up at an amazing school with even better people. While here I have forced myself to be excited for Monday mornings and 8am classes, because I have started to realize that I only have a few short years living the lavish life of a college student.

However, my self-work didn’t stop there, for I had to uncomfortably cut out toxic friendships and one-sided relationships in order to surround myself with only wonderful, positive people. Through this, I have been able to find the joy in the little things of life, like dancing on my bed to Christmas music with my roommate, getting Papa Johns with my best friend, and phone calls with my family.

Ultimately, the point I am trying to make is that without all the small difficulties I experienced in 2017, I would not have been able to blossom in to who I am today. That being said, I have no doubt that the same will happen for the world.

The issues that 2017 has brought our nation (natural disasters, sexual assault, gun violence, political unrest) are something that we, as a community, will all grow from. In fact, it’s already starting. For instance, the world is beginning to say goodbye to the patriarchy of powerful men who believed they could get away unpunished with sexual harassment. Progress is already being made.

So, absolutely no tears are being shed over the death of the old me, and no tears should be shed over the hardships of 2017. We will grow through what we go through, and this is only the beginning.