As the year is rapidly coming to an end, I am working hard to complete the two artworks currently in progress. I am also trying to sum up the year to see what it was all about.

2016 was the year of Death – at least for big celebrities and the people of Aleppo (and to the American Dream). Let’s hope that 2017 will be (or make us) more gentle. Although it was a dark year, it taught me so many new things. Important things. I learned that I am not who I think I am – in fact I am the opposite of my own self image – what a great surprise, because the new me is an incredible person. I learned that there’s a word to label my sexuality; “demisexual” – and it stopped the confusion I’ve always felt towards my sexual orientation. However, 2016 was also the year I got a big girl crush on Christine and the Queens. I’d want to make love to her brain at least.

Christine and the Queens

This year also forced a re-connection between my body and mind when I got really sick. It was a hard time but I got a lot out of it. Before I could separate the two as the result of an old survival strategy – but now I am connected and it will make me more cautious and careful how I treat my body and mind, but also how I allow other people to treat it. Once I had reconnected, I started to regret everything in my past. That’s what the disconnection was all about – to be able to do whatever without feeling regret or discomfort. It’s tough to regret so many things, situations, relationships and behaviors, but all I can do is to learn from it and promise myself to never do it again. Otherwise, I’d just become bitter and sad, two of my least favorite state of mind.

It made it easier for me to close the door to my past.

At last.

I am not chained to my past anymore. It is not holding me back. It is not haunting me. It is now a place of experience, wisdom and knowledge.

2016 was a great year for streaming TV series. I loved many of this year’s new TV series, like Stranger Things, the revival of Gilmore Girls – A Year In The Life, The People Vs OJ Simpson, The Crown, The Divorce and this year’s seasons of Girls and Orange Is The New Black. I never really got into Westworld, but perhaps I’ll give it another try next year. I’m looking forward to 2017’s new series – Little Big Lies, the Twin Peaks revival and A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Stranger Things

I was not impressed with this year’s season of mystery podcast Serial. The narrative was all off and the story just ran around in circles. The new series Designated Survivor was utterly dissatisfying. It was old school TV, a mix of West Wing and 24 (with Kiefer Sutherland to boot). It felt very dated.

My favorite 2016 song was this one (I can’t stop dancing to it):

My favorite word I learned this year was without a doubt: I’mpossible.

And Michelle Obama said all kinds of wise things this year. I wish we all could go high in 2017. What a wonderful year we could create together that way.