When the clock struck midnight and marked a new year, I knew 2025 would be my year of yes.
Bestselling author and ABC executive producer Shonda Rhimes’ book “Year of Yes” inspired me to seek out new opportunities for personal growth and follow the possibilities that come my way from saying a simple “yes.”
“It’s about saying ‘yes’ to things that scare you or challenge you – and to things that may seem entirely random – to contribute to your wholeness.”
I’d consider myself a very nostalgic person, and I focus too much on past happy memories. I realized in the last few years I was subconsciously limiting myself; it could’ve been that I was limiting myself from having fun, gaining new experiences or trying something different. For the last year, I told myself 2025 is about being present and saying “yes” to the now.
Throughout my time in college, I have tried to immerse myself in just about everything that interested me. However, entering every organization, club or leadership position didn’t always come easily. Oftentimes, I thought too much about a position, creating a sense of impostor syndrome, rather than tackling a challenge head-on, which led me to miss out on opportunities.
I entered The Post as a scared freshman. I had never written journalistically and didn’t really know what it meant to be a reporter. I remember walking through the newsroom door to attend the Monday News meeting and immediately feeling a pit in my stomach grow. I kept thinking, I shouldn’t be here; I’m not experienced enough yet; what if I fail and make a fool of myself?
News flash, it all ended up working out because now I’m the managing editor of the publication.
I entered campus at 18 years old, thinking I had everything figured out and was sure of myself. Looking back as a 22-year-old, I couldn’t have been further from reality.
For the past four years, everyone has told me to soak in every moment of college because it’s the best time of my life. I don’t want to say these past four years haven’t exceeded my life experiences, but I’m walking away from college with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for this place because these years have been consequential every time I rode the wave and just said “yes.”
I’m leaving college with a knowledge of experiences I know I would not have gotten anywhere else. As I worked my way up the ladder at The Post – reporter, news editor and managing editor – I want to thank the people who helped advance my career as a student journalist. I now know I want to be an editor in my professional career, and I want to thank Donovan Hunt and Alyssa Cruz for supporting my ideas and challenging me to think in new ways. In another lifetime, we’d be editing alongside each other again.
A couple of months ago, if I were in this position, I would be torn up every day leading up to graduation, thinking about how college is over. Now, I take it one step at a time and treasure these times. I cherish my moments walking on College Green, sitting around my living room couch with my four roommates and saying yes to a last-minute text to meet at Jackie O’s for Power Hour.
As my time at OU comes to a close, I’m filled with appreciation knowing I accomplished what I wanted here and made the most out of every experience I entered. Now, I welcome the next stage in my life. The unknown scares me, but I realized the most fun part of the year of yes is saying yes to the things that scare you.
My last piece of advice is to consider dedicating one of your years to saying yes. The chances are, if you start saying yes more, then you are more likely to improve your life than make it worse. The year isn’t over yet, and I can attest that since I’ve committed myself to saying yes, I’ve never felt more joy, just saying.
Madalyn Blair is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnist do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Madalyn by tweeting her at @madalyntblair
