She started 2019 on Colton Underwood’s season of “The Bachelor,” where she became known as the girl who couldn’t make a toast and said “roll tide” a lot. A few months later, she became the next Bachelorette and set off on her own expedition to find love, which was a whole separate empowerment-filled rollercoaster in and of itself.  After “The Bachelorette” concluded and her engagement to Jed Wyatt ended, she then took home the coveted Mirror Ball Trophy as the winner of “Dancing with the Stars.”

No one step in Hannah’s path, because she’s running full speed ahead, and there’s no stopping her.

Hannah reminisced to People about her year and what she does and doesn’t regret. She said, “I feel like a lot of people that have been in similar situations as I have, reality TV stars, you can make a packaged version of yourself if you want to. I just don’t work that way. I can’t do it. I can’t pretend that I’m happy or pretend to get emotional when I’m not.”

The 25-year-old shared an important lesson she learned along the way about herself. She explained, “When I started this whole journey that this year has been, I realized very quickly it’s either all or nothing with me. I chose all, and sometimes I’m like, ‘Gosh dang it, why are you like that?!’”

She continued, “But then I have moments where people come up to me and they’re like, ‘Oh, my God, I feel like I know you, you’re my friend!'”

She told the magazine that anyone who watched her on TV this year really does know the genuine Hannah Brown. “I haven’t tried to hold anything back,” Hannah said.

In terms of her time on “The Bachelorette,” the former Miss Alabama USA admitted, “I wish I would have protected my heart a little more, absolutely.”

However, to Hannah, “Being able to have that human connection is so worth it I’m really proud of that.”

The “Dancing with the Stars” champion doesn’t hold back when it comes to opening up about her struggles, whether that be coping with anxiety and depression or adjusting to living in a new city. For instance, in an interview with Marie Claire magazine in October, she said, “I am totally okay on my own. I don’t want to have to have a man to feel whole. It’s not that I need that to feel like I have a full life. No, I have a full life. Welcome into my life.”

About two weeks after the finale of “The Bachelorette,” Hannah wrote about being in “uncharted territory” in an Instagram post that also talked about “struggling” a lot. She said, “Honest policy: I’m struggling. Life is so different. Since last August, I’ve been a pageant queen, a bachelor contestant, and the Bachelorette. I’ve been in love with multiple people, I got engaged, I broke off an engagement, and I shared it all with millions of people.”

She wrote later in her note, “I am not complaining about this past year of adventures. The woman who has emerged would shock the mirror-image young girl from a year ago. I have so many blessings to be thankful for. However it’s uncharted territory for me, and it’s been hard to really process what the heck is going on. // Maybe I needed write this out to remind myself I’m human and it’s okay to be overwhelmed.”