When the Great Oracle Kylie Jenner said,  “I feel like this year is really about, like, the year of just realizing stuff,” we all laughed it off. I’m pretty sure everyone just thought it was another dumb saying from an overly-bronzed member of the Kardashian klan. But honestly, we played ourselves. If I had a dollar for every social media post I saw that gave the culture vulture some props, I’d probably have enough to live her lifestyle. 2016 certainly became the year of realizing things and 2017 became the year of implementing them.

2017 has taught me so much, from introspections about myself and recognizing my own worth and what I deserve, to acknowledgements about those I chose to surround myself with. Not to sound fake deep, but everyone should take a second to step back and really think about themselves and everyone around them.

Now I’m not saying your self-evaluations need to sprout new interests in crystal healing and aura readings and all that New Age shit (no faults to anyone who partakes in that culture, go ahead and cleanse your chakras if that’s your jam), but maybe start taking mental notes of the energy around you, and you’ll begin to realize things you probably brushed off more than once.

So now that we are one year post-realizing things, this year has been all about putting these realizations in motion. For me, I chose to remove people from my life who I realized took more energy from me than they were giving. Life’s all about balance, so why should someone’s negative energy continue to tip my scale?

While my biggest realization has been my inability to put myself first/always be a “yes man”/being a pushover and putting myself in check, don’t forget to put your friends in check too. Some of them may just need a genuine reality check, or they are a snake, and you just have to weed them out.

I’m not into New Year’s resolutions culture because, if we’re being real, you’re going to abandon them in three days. But on a serious note, put yourself first in 2018 if you haven’t already, and you’ll surely realize the difference.

So go ahead and keep Realizing Thingsin 2018; the Great Oracle Kylie Jenner and I will certainly be rooting you on.