What This Year Taught Us (and What We’re Carrying Into the Next) - episode 284
Takeaways and Looks Ahead
Do you take the time, even a few moments, to look back at the year that is coming to a close? We did.
Good friends Amy DeFehr, Mary Ann Mariani and I took some inventory from this year - like our favorite memories (time with family, travel, a big move), biggest challenges (a child’s anxiety, marital speed bumps, a desire to teach) and something we tried for the first time (going to a conference alone, giving a eulogy, going on a girls trip). Reflecting is a great way to learn and to keep growing forward.
Next we thought about the upcoming year - areas that need more focus, things we want to do, and our word for the year. It was an empowering way to kick off the new year envisioning what we want, the work we want to do, and the people we want to continue to grow into being.
Join our conversation for the inspiration needed to reflect, and head into the new year with encouragement and intention.
Amy has been on UY in Walking Off a Cliff; I Know Because I Know; and Reflections on 2024, Hopes for 2025.
Find May Ann in A Passionate Artist of Story; I Was Mad at Myself; I Write but I don’t Love to Write; and Reflections on 2024, Hopes for 2025.
Find your ‘moments of wealth’ - the enjoyment of things that money cannot buy.
Like time with friends: Mary Ann and Amy
You’re Worth the Time
Thoughts from What This Year Taught us (and What We’re Carrying Into the Next)
So what did this year teach me?
Well, I recognize that I was not enjoying enough moments but rushing to the next thing so I could be ‘done’. But here’s the thing: We are never done. I know this is a common habit we have developed as life gets faster and faster. I no longer ‘work’ for a living as in my former careers in education, but I often wonder how I ever did work because the days fly by. I also mistakenly thought that time would slow down once kids were launched and I was older. Nope. Another fallacy.
Let’s break down my takeaways for this year:
Time is speeding up - all the more reason to plant myself in the present and to enjoy. I know this will be a lifelong challenge for me being a Type A, firstborn, overachieving, Enneagram Type 1 kind of person. Plus I have no idea how long I have so there is no excuse.
Savor moments - I’ve been in moments where I slow down enough to say to myself: What can you hear right now? What do you see? What can you feel? If it’s a meal, What can you taste? I rarely do the smelling one. Oh well, fine by me to get a few of the senses fired up.
Do what you love - I know this one seems obvious but it isn’t always, and since most things are a spectrum and neither black nor white, I recognize the ache I’ve had to teach (coach in more modern parlance). It is my firm belief that there are people who have settled, who stay stuck, who will have too many regrets in their last breath. Not on my watch. If you work with me you will learn not to leave any blessings on the table. You know, unabashed. Unabashed you.
Cherish those that stay - the ones that choose to be in your life, and you in their’s, are your people. Broken relationships, changes in marriages, geographical moves, often create changes in the status of a relationship. Shaun (son) recently said he’d realized, Invest in the people who invest in you. And of course it goes the other way too, if we invest in others, do they invest in us? Sometimes the answer is no, or not really. Let it go. Cherish the ones that stay.
Learning keeps you alive - this goes for the hard times too. If you’re not learning from them then you are stuck, stagnant. Is that really what you want? Is it painful to reflect, to question, to feel the heartbreak? Yes. But really, what’s the alternative? If a plant doesn’t keep stretching towards the sun, taking in food and water, it will not blossom, it will die. I know you want more for your loved ones, and you should want that for you too.
I tend to like things in fives for some reason so there are five takeaways from this past year. No doubt there are more, but these are the ones I am highlighting here. I hope you’ve taken some time to consider looking back at your experience of 2025 and setting some intention (goals, hopes, dreams) for 2026. It is well worth your time.
Enjoying this moment - traveling.
Bucket list item to see London
