2025 has been one heck of a year with many ups but far more downs. Personally and professionally I had goals that while started, were not completed. Things like reading a certain number of books this year and on the professional side creating more products and services to serve more people, slowly faded more as the year went on. Sure I started the year out strong. Like many of us do, I got and set up my planner for success. I am a planner girl! Not the digital kind, while there’s nothing wrong with it and if it works for you that’s great but I am an old school paper and pencil planner girl. I look forward to selecting and creating my planner every year and creatively setting up every page in a way that keeps me engaged in the planner month after month, week after week and day after day. Part of the planner experience is assessing what worked and what didn’t work the year before in hopes of doing better, setting SMART goals as well as visualizing and setting intentions for the me I will be. Just like with Habakkuk 2:2 “write the vision and make it plain,” every plan is written out and made clear and plain.
How it Started and Went Wrong
The year started out relatively well. I was following my plans and going along at a nice pace, including having accountability partner check-ins. One 2025 goal was to complete a certification I had been working on but was halted due to health concerns that started in 2022. I was excited, gung ho even about returning to this goal now that my health was doing so much better. Sadly, this goal, with a few others, was not completed this year. So, what went wrong? Outside forces, such as changes with accountability partner check-ins and things happening politically and globally which are at an all-time high began to slowly impacted how I showed up for myself. When scheduling check-ins that initially motivated and invigorated me became more of a chore and took more time than actually meeting, my business and niche began to pick up, and things continued to get wilder, and wilder politically and globally left me feeling drained and at times had me in survival or protection mode I knew it was time for a change I plans. Rather than work on my goals I found myself protecting myself from certain images, information and even questioning the alignments of some things and people both professionally and personally. What do you do when you plan for an awesome year but nothing seems to go according to plan? Do you count this as a loss or a failure?
Opportunity for Grace and Grow
For me, this was not a loss at all. It was life telling me to slow down, pivot and reset. And that I did! I found myself focusing on more acts of self-love, even creating a page in my planner for it. I focused on and prioritized my mental wellbeing. Much more time was spent de-cluttering and organizing my space, something I am still working on as I got room by room de-cluttering and reorganizing every single space. I spent more time truly looking at what I want in life and more importantly how I want it. I focused more on me and not tasks or productivity. One example of this is, wanting to expand my speaking and facilitating services, not accepting every opportunity but only those that are clear and aligned with my full purpose. That sometimes meant saying no to great opportunities because they weren’t necessarily the best opportunities for me. Things began to flow rather than feel or being forced.
I gave myself grace to simply be, rather than putting so much pressure on myself to do. Therefore, nothing is forced and space was created to simply allow. While people come and go, I allowed space for the right people to stay, the right ones to come and others to go. This year I ended relationships that no longer aligned with me and that started to feel more like pressure, unreciprocated effort, confusion and/or flat out disrespect. Likewise, as opportunities come and go I allowed space for the right opportunities to stay, for some to come and others to go. For example, I was recommended for a virtual group experience that quickly turned south. Although I’d prayed about the opportunity before saying yes, a lack of trust in my particular expertise in what I was hired for, asking for fees to be reduced after I had already been doing the work for far less than what I charge, etc. is something I quickly and gladly let go of. On the other hand, I have been running an out of poverty group for 4 years. 2025 was the first year we shorten the program from 21 to 15 sessions and made it hybrid. It was a huge success and is definitely something that is aligned with me and I will continue to do. And guess what? Everything fell apart so that everything could come together in the way it was meant to. This year on paper might look like a failure to some, but it was the exact year I needed to slow down and reset.
How to Reset
Embarking on a path of wellness begins with deep reflection, honest assessment, and intentional actions. 2025 provided me with so many opportunities for grace and growth, both personally and professionally. Here, in addition to things mentioned above, I humbly share a few additional suggestions from my experience that may assist you in your intentional reset journey for mental and overall wellness:
1. Reflect
A real wellness reset always starts with reflection. Take time to connect with yourself, your thoughts, emotions, and aspirations. Take a look at your current year and reflect on joys and challenges. Journaling or mindfulness practices will allow you to pause and listen inward. Reflection helps clarify what truly matters and what’s not so important, setting the foundation for meaningful change and transformation in all areas of your well-being.
2. Assess
After reflecting, assess your current state. Are your habits supporting your well-being? What went well and what went wrong and can use some adjusting. Decide what you want to keep and what you want to toss out of your life, be it things, people, opportunities or experiences. Are your relationships nourishing or draining, helping or healing? Honest assessment highlights areas that need attention and areas that are thriving. It’s about understanding where you are now so you can design a path for where you want to be moving forward. Be sure to reassess as often as needed as your life unfolds and may require small or big pivots along the way.
3. Prune
As an avid gardener I know trimming away overgrowth to foster healthy growth is greatly and often needed. Therefore, prune unnecessary commitments, connections, habits and negative self-talk, and toxic or unfruitful relationships. Letting go of what no longer serves you allows space for new opportunities, connections and experiences. When you see pruning is an act of self-love and empowerment, it become easier and easier to let go of things, people and situations that are not aligned with you. The more you let go, the more space you allow for more aligned experiences.
4. Micro Habits
To make the thought of change less overwhelming and scary and more possible and doable, focus on small, consistent actions, called micro habits. Micro habits build momentum over time. Whether it’s a one to five-minute meditation, adding a glass of water to your morning routine, taking movement and stretch breaks, or giving your brain a beautiful boost of feel good neurochemical by expressing gratitude to start and end your day, tiny steps accumulate into significant wellness shifts. Gets some index cards to write micro habits that are effective for you, creating your own personal cards to return to whenever a micro habit is needed to motivate you and give you a boost along your journey, when you find yourself getting off track.
5. Gratitude
Practicing gratitude rewires the brain toward positivity. It allows your brain to be flooded with feel good neurotransmitters. Regularly acknowledging what you’re thankful for cultivates resilience and promotes contentment. Gratitude transforms your perspective, helping you see abundance even amid challenges and appreciate joy even in the mist of chaos. Keep a gratitude journal, create a gratitude jar or simply write out things you are grateful for and place them in a place(s) you will see often.
6. Grace
Grace allows you to move forward with compassion. Give yourself lots of self-grace in the process during your journey. Begin to practice noticing when you are hard on yourself and start providing yourself with grace instead. It may seem difficult at first but the more you practice it, the easier it will become. Be patient with yourself during setbacks and celebrate your efforts, learning from any challenges along the way. Embrace imperfections as part of your growth.
7. Never Loss, Only Learn
Your mindset is EVERYTHING! How you think about yourself and life is how it will be. Adopt a mindset that views setbacks as lessons rather than losses. Every experience, whether successful or challenging, offers room for reflection and growth as you learn to do things the same, better or differently next time. This perspective fosters resilience, allows you to insert grace as needed and fosters positive brain functioning that encourages you to keep moving forward, and with confidence. Pat yourself on the back for recognizing the lesson and learning rather than sulking in challenges as a loss.
8. Celebrate Your Progress and Wins
Most importantly, take time to celebrate every achievement, big or small. Recognizing progress fuels motivation, gives your brain needed healthy boost of neurochemicals and reinforces positive habits. Celebrate your wins as milestones on your journey, creating a timeline of wins for the year that you can look at and reflect on throughout the year.
As for me, many of those plans and goals I set at the beginning of 2025, all of them I touched and started and even got far with but were not completed, they are still there and some will become a part of my 2026 goals and intentions. However, this time it’s all about alignment and doing things in a way that works with me rather than me trying to work it. As one year ends and another one will begin, I encourage you to rake time to reflect so you can reset and step into a journey of renewal.
