Sophia Bush says last year 'broke me, built me' in reflective post

Sophia Bush is reflecting on what 2023 taught her as she embraces a new year.

The "One Tree Hill" alum, 41, shared a lengthy and thoughtful Instagram post on Jan. 2 alongside a photo of her standing amid a stunning landscape.

"What a year. My whole life I've heard the saying 'put your own oxygen mask on first' and this year I learned what it meant," she began. "This past year humbled me, broke me, built me, betrayed me, freed me, and showed me what it means to really be alive."

"This year taught me to listen to myself and no one else," Bush continued. "To let go of expectation that wounds and grasp possibility that frees. To not care about optics and instead invest in honesty. The truest and deepest and purest kind. This year sent me inward. More than I've ever been."

The "John Tucker Must Die" actress ended her post with a message of thankfulness for what last year brought her.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you to this year that changed everything," she wrote. "That allowed me to burn what never served me, and find what does in the ashes. Charcoal is a purifier. Clarity comes like lightning in the dark. This is my deepest learning season yet. Thank you, a thousand times."

Bush filed for divorce from husband Grant Hughes on Aug. 4, 2023, noting the date of separation as June 27, 2023 -- just over one year after they tied the knot on June 11, 2022. Bush cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split.

Also in 2023, the actress celebrated her decades-long friendship with her "One Tree Hill" co-stars Hilarie Burton and Bethany Joy Lenz on the show's 20th anniversary, visited the White House for a celebration of Women's History Month and narrated the audiobook for "Wild and Precious" by Mary Oliver.