'So many beautiful and yet polarised feelings': Ariana Grande reflects on her 'challenging' year

Ariana Grande has had a "challenging" year.

The 30-year-old pop star divorced Dalton Gomez in October after two years of marriage but has also been filming the role of Glinda the Good Witch in the upcoming movie adaptation of the smash-hit Broadway musical Wicked. She recently reflected on her "transformative" 12 months that have turned out to be one of "the most special years" of her whole life.

On Friday (Dec 29), she wrote on Instagram: "One of the most transformative, most challenging, and yet happiest and most special years of my life. There were so many beautiful and yet polarised feelings.

"I've never felt more at the mercy of and in acceptance of what life was screaming to teach me. I've never felt more fulfilled by or present in my work, being able to cherish every moment. I gave everything I could have possibly given of my heart and of myself to the projects I was fortunate enough to be a part of and learned so much from every brilliant, beautiful, soul that I had the privilege of creating art with and crossing paths with this year.

"I have never felt more pride or joy or love while simultaneously feeling so deeply misunderstood by people who don't know me, who piece whispers together and make what they want out of me and their assumptions of my life. I have learned how much more important one of those things is than the other."

Ariana went on to add that she has felt "tightly held and fiercely protected" by those close to her as well as her millions of fans and is making sure she "trusts" herself as she moves forward and vowed to "protect" herself from things that are not worth her time.

She added: "I feel safe, even amid so many things I'd usually be afraid of. I am listening to and trusting myself, even when fear or trauma tells me not to.

"I am reacting to things that deserve my energy only and removing and protecting myself from things that do not."

The former Nickelodeon star - who is thought to now be living with boyfriend Ethan Slater, 31, in New York City - is "eternally grateful" for everything she was able to experience this year.

She added: "I am so eternally grateful for all of the feelings I was lucky enough to feel so deeply this year. Mine and Galinda's alike. The unfathomably hard ones and the inexplicably happy ones. I feel more human than ever. I feel more deeply than ever. I feel softer and stronger, all at once.

"I am wrapping you all in a cocoon of love and wishing you a very happy, healthy new year. If you ever feel misunderstood or alone, just remember that it will pass and you are not. Take a deep breath and know that you are so incredibly loved.

"I cannot wait for next year."

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