Qujannamiik, Thank You, Merci 🥳

Ok, so first off, let’s not sugarcoat anything.

2025 was a hell of a year.

It was the kind of year where I actually had to sit down and ask myself a question I’d been very good at avoiding:

Who am I, aside from my work?

Like… when you take away all the bells and whistles.
All the projects.
The roles.
The deadlines.

When you take away my family, my dogs, my team, all the things I love and hold close, who am I on the inside?

TBH, it felt a bit like asking: ok fine, a Caramilk bar is caramel in the centre… but what is Chelsea in the centre? 😂

And for the first time in a long time, I realized something uncomfortable but honest:

I had been performing a mishmash of everything I’d been given, borrowed, expected to carry, or just picked up along the way without questioning it.

Some of it wasn’t even mine.
Some of it was inherited.
Some of it was survival.
Some of it was armour.

So I did what I've always done best, dig.
I dug for the truth, even when a wise person once told me that the truth sometimes hurts people.

I just couldn't sit back and live in the same way I had been living all my life.

And when I finally got to the centre, first off, I freaked out, but I realized something surprising:

I can actually put all that stuff down. 🤯

The things that were given to me.
The things I borrowed.
And the things I carried because I thought I had to.

When you put that down, and you stay still long enough, all the authentic parts of you are already there.

They don’t disappear.
They don’t need rebuilding.
They just need space.

Which brings me to stillness.

Bruuuuhhhhh.

I am, without question, one of the least still people on the planet. 😂
I have no patience. ⌛
I move constantly. 🐇
My brain is always running laps. 🏃🏻 (She's a runner, she's a track star 😛)

Learning stillness felt like relearning how to live, like training wheels, but for existence. 😬

Slower mornings.
Fewer reactions.
More listening.
Less proving.

And honestly?
It was awkward at first. 🦒

But somewhere in that discomfort, gratitude started to sneak in.

Not the shiny, Instagram version.
Not the “everything happens for a reason” kind.

Real gratitude.

Gratitude for learning, I don’t have to perform my worth.
Gratitude for realizing rest isn’t failure.
Gratitude for the people who stayed steady while I figured myself out.
Gratitude for creativity that didn’t demand anything back from me.
Gratitude for language, humour, softness, and space.

I’m grateful that 2025 gave me the space, time, and resources I needed to find my centre.

I’m grateful I learned how to put things down.
I’m grateful I’m still curious.
I’m grateful I’m still here.
I’m grateful I’m still making things, just more honestly now.

So Qujannamiik.
Thank You.
Merci.

Thank you for the year I learned how to live my life authentically.
Thank you to the people who held space without fixing.
Thank you for reading, lingering, laughing, and staying.

I’m stepping into the next year lighter.
Not because I have fewer responsibilities, but because I’m carrying less of what was never mine to begin with.

Nalligivagiiiiiitttt 🍀 Keep on being the magnificent baby giraffe you are ⭕

--

Chelsea Singoorie
ᓯᐅᓯ ᓯᖒᕆᖅ
Founder & Artist, The Qujanaq Project by Nunabox