Hello and welcome to the new mindset hootis podcast. My name is Case Kenney at case.kens.k on

Instagram and this is my weekly podcast where I create short no BS episodes dedicated to helping

you become the person you're meant to be, leave your comfort zone and live a purposeful and

fulfilling life. Let's go.

Thank you. live a purposeful and fulfilling life. Let's go. All right. Welcome to episode 764. Hello, my friend. Welcome to a fresh new episode of New Mindset Who Dcs. As always, thank you so much for listening. Thank you for supporting me. And today, I want to talk about how to make this coming year the best year of your life. In fact, really, there's no pressure associated with a statement like that. This is frankly about being able to look back at the past year and realizing how it was a pivot for this coming year, a turning point for what comes next, a chance to realize

that frankly, sometimes the best years of your life, they aren't necessarily the happiest ones.

They're the ones that shape you the most most where struggle, which is valid and can be

hurtful and painful, that is the turning point. And to talk about this, I'll use an essay that's in

the New Yorker and it was written in 2005, so a while ago, but I come back to it from time to time.

It's titled The Best Year of My Life. And it's this reflective essay,

very personal essay written by a guy named Paul Thoreau who looked back on his quote,

worst year. And he came to realize that it was one of the most formative and valuable periods

of his life, even though admittedly by his own hand, it was the worst year of his life.

And so basically, I'd encourage you to read it, but basically he talks about how, you know,

one day he receives a phone call from a girl that he was recently separated from Mona, who is now

pregnant. And the news, you know, drops in a very a very tense judgmental toxic household where he lives

where there's a lot of shame and social judgment and you know he quickly realizes that he's going

to face the situation alone and it basically he basically talks about how this becomes you know

a year of uh you know, just

heaviness of hushed phone calls, fake stories to his family, attempts to find help, feeling

lost, feeling lonely, he moves in with Mona, takes on a very low-paying job to support her.

Eventually, they basically flee to Puerto Rico to escape both

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