2025 started out a little crazy, and I stepped into the new year feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and so behind on every little thing – home-related, blog-related, project-related, life-related… all of it. We also had a very sick puppy who I knew wouldn’t be with us much longer, and all I wanted was to spend time with her.
After having my word for each year placed on my heart months in advance for several years in a row, I went into 2025 having no clue what I wanted my word to be. All I knew was that I desperately needed to tame some of the overwhelm that I was feeling, and because of that, I ended up choosing the following word for my year:
PRESENT
It wasn’t a very original or exciting word for the year, but it ended up being exactly what I needed. Last year, I allowed myself to just “be” a lot of the time rather than forcing myself to be “on” 24/7. I took quite a few things off my plate and said no to more things allowing more time for myself, I shrunk my daily to-do lists and stopped sharing them on social media so I wouldn’t feel pressured to complete them even if I was frazzled and exhausted, I lowered my expectations for a lot of things, I made my goals less specific and didn’t put a strict time table on most of them, and I traded in being a multi-tasking extraordinaire for focusing on one thing at a time (as often as I could).
This all afforded me more time (although some days/weeks/months were still hectic… you can’t completely escape that when you manage a family with active kids) and instead of using that extra time to be productive as I pretty much always do, instead, I allowed myself downtime – I spent unlimited time with Maui in her last weeks and days (the best thing I did all year because I feel at peace even though I will always miss her terribly), I listened to my body and took naps or rested when I needed to (mostly on days when I had upper cervical chiropractor appointments), I got massages, I read 41 books, I worked on puzzles, I had several guilt-free couch rotting days (mostly during football season), I spent lots of time just being with the kids, and we had one of the best Christmas seasons I’ve had in all my adult years… all because I truly focused on what mattered – being present – and I threw out all the rest.
Miraculously, even though I allowed myself to have more downtime this year, I still managed to get almost everything done that I wanted to do, and I got through the busiest month of the year (December) feeling on top of things and not very frazzled at all. I was able to soak up every single ounce of the holiday season and I ended the year with most of my goals met and feeling at peace… and it didn’t take crazy long daily to-do lists and me working around the clock to get there.
So yes, I would say that I really took my word to heart in 2025, and I’m better for it!
As always, I did set some more specific goals other than just being present, so let’s see how I did!
Relationships
Y Go on as many dates with B as possible – we’ve always tried to aim for about one date per month but this year, I purposely didn’t make my goals as specific so I wouldn’t feel the pressure to make them. Brian and I ended up going on 11 dates, so I’d say that’s pretty good!
Y Get together with my girlfriends as much as
possible – we met up every single month and then some!
Y Get together with family as much as possible –
we spent lots of time with family all year, especially over Christmas break!
Y Spend more time just “being” with the kids – we
spent lots of time this year walking and talking, working on puzzles together,
chatting, playing piano, playing guitar, getting milkshakes after school, and I
had quite a bit of one-on-one time with each kid.
Personal/Health/Wellness/Fitness/Beauty
Y Be present (move on from the past, don’t jump ahead, accept what is in front of me) – I do believe that I rocked this in 2025! Just read the introduction to this post for details if you skipped ahead. ;o)
Y Embracing the phrase “it is what it is” for
situations that are disappointing/not ideal – I did keep this mantra in my head,
and it does help. I used to hate that
expression, but sometimes it is just so fitting.
Y Pack less into my daily schedule/to-do lists –
I cut my to-do lists down by a lot most days, and I also stopped sharing them
on Instagram this year so I felt less pressure to complete them, which took
some of the stress off. Somehow, I feel
like I got more done in general, though.
Y Have more downtime and stop feeling the need
to be productive nonstop – I was so good at having downtime this year! I took lots of naps (mostly due to neck
adjustments making me tired), I spent lots of time “couch rotting,” and I read
41 books, which is a personal record for myself as an adult, I got massages, I worked
on puzzles. I definitely allowed myself
to relax more this year and it was wonderful.
Y Do quiet time daily (gratitude, prayer,
affirmations, meditation, devotional, Bible verse) – I did some form of
quiet time every single day. There were
a couple of days where I accidentally missed meditation, and there were several
days on vacation at Universal that I didn’t do any of it since we were on the
go from sunup to sundown, but I caught up when we got home. Other than that, I stuck with everything else
all year.
Y Revamp my prayer journal to simplify since I
was writing the same things over and over – I purchased a clipfolio with
notepads on each side. On one side, I keep
a running list of the things that I’m thankful for, and on the other side, I keep
a running list of prayer intentions. Now
I just read over all of them every day and add things as needed, and I cross
out the prayers that are answered and write the date that they’re answered so I
know I don’t have to pray for those intentions anymore.
Y Start reading the Bible from start to finish
again and do The Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike – I started this study and I’m
still making my way through it. I’m
loving it!
N Memorize some Bible verses (ideally one per
month, but no specifics) – I failed miserably at this. I went so far as to list which ones I wanted
to memorize, but I struggled to memorize them for various reasons, the main
reason being that my short-term memory has been awful since my vertigo started
in 2023, mostly because of my brain fog from my vertigo medicine. So, I pretty much let this goal go early in
2025.
Y Start a new daily devotional with the kids – We
started New Morning Mercies for Teens by Paul David Tripp and we all enjoyed
it. The takeaways from this one were
just as good for me as they were for the kids, and I love how this one is perfectly
suited for their ages.
Y Continue seeing my therapist regularly for my
anxiety – I’ve been seeing her at least monthly for nearly seven years and I
just love her. She has been such a great
person to have in my corner, she has helped me work through a lot of things, and
I’m grateful to have her in my life.
Y Get “unstuck” after feeling stuck for a
couple of years – Little did I know that I not only needed to get unstuck
figuratively, but I needed to get unstuck literally. As you all know, most of my issues
(physically and mentally) stemmed from all of my unresolved issues with
vertigo, dizziness, unsteadiness, tension, headaches, etc. and it turns out
that my atlas was literally dislodged and stuck in an unnatural position
causing all those issues. I finally
found my upper cervical chiropractor, and he has gently moved the atlas back
into its correct position, and all my physical ailments have started resolving,
along with my mental and emotional ones.
It’s a long process, so I’m not 100% just yet, but I’m still seeing him once
a month, and he was probably the biggest blessing to me in 2025.
Y Pursue new avenues for dizziness/tension
(upper cervical chiro, vestibular migraines) – See above. Thank you to the reader who reached out to me
to tell me about upper cervical chiropractic care. You forever changed my life for the better.
N Get my braces off (hopefully) – Nope. Boooo.
My time is finally coming, though!
Less than two weeks to go, BABY!
Y Get a massage… or two… or three – If I remember
correctly, I got four massages… one before ever seeing my upper cervical
chiropractor, and then three at my upper cervical chiropractor’s office. Those medical massages are even better than a
standard massage because the doctor knew exactly what to tell the masseuse that
I needed!
Y Drink lots of water, eat lots of protein and
whole foods, and limit sugar – I did very well with this throughout the
whole year. Of course, during the
holiday season Brian and I went all out on the desserts and alcoholic beverages,
but aside from that, I did really well. I
had one of my green protein smoothies almost every single day in 2025. I even brought my blender with me to the beach
and had them every day there!
Y Work out 3-5 times per week most weeks
(cardio, strength, stretching) – I did work out 3-5 times most weeks in
2025, although there were a couple of weeks that I couldn’t at all, but that
was due to illness/injury. And I did
very little strength as my upper cervical chiropractor told me to cease upper
body workouts until further notice.
N Possibly join a gym again – I decided not
to do this because my upper cervical chiropractor has me taking it easy right
now while he works on my atlas.
Y Serve at our school and church – I continued
serving on our home and school advisory board, I chaired and/or co-chaired
several events, and I helped out with several events that other people chaired. The kids and I also started volunteering at
our church’s outreach center this summer, and I’d like to get back to that on
my own, too.
Y Read 15 books (fiction, non-fiction, self-development)
– I read 41 and blew this goal out of the water! If you had told me at the beginning of the
year that I’d read 41 books I would have told you you were out of your mind!
Family/School/Fun
Y Jacob get braces – He sure did! And he’s already ahead of schedule which is so awesome for him!
Y Olivia get braces – She did, too! She got hers a few months after Jacob got
his, but she has a long road ahead as her bite needs extra help.
Y Go to as many concerts as possible – We went
to six! We saw Judah & the Lion,
Shakey Graves, Abe Parker, Dave Matthews Band, and Teddy Swims twice! And the kids got to go the second time!
Y Have fun – This was a broad goal, and all
in all, I’d have to say that while 2025 had its trials, we definitely had a ton
of fun in there… one of the main highlights for fun was a trip to Universal Studios
with our besties! I cannot recommend
enough taking a trip with your best friends and their kids! We will all remember that trip for years to
come!
Y Spend more time exploring our city and doing
new things here – while I wouldn’t say we exceled in this area, we did do several
new things this year that we had never done or don’t do that often. Brian and I went to a popup Christmas bar here
in town at the beginning of 2025 for a date night, we attended Arts in the Park
as a family which was a first for us, we tried lots of new restaurants, we saw
a play at our local theatre, and we spent some time hanging out downtown and
taking in all the Christmas sights which we hadn’t done in a few years.
Y Teach the kids some more new life skills – I
didn’t keep notes on this at all this year, so I’m having to go off memory, and
while I know the kids learned to do many new things this year, I’m having
trouble remembering all the things. Some
of the things that I do remember is that I helped Jacob organize his email inbox
for school and set up folders for each subject, etc., he learned how to be the
sole communicator with his teachers and extracurricular activities coaches because
the school stops using the parents as liaisons once the kids get to high
school. He learned phone etiquette, the art
of group chats, cell phone safety, and so much more on that subject since he had
his cell phone for the first full year. I
helped him set up a packing list on his phone and he now packs for vacations
all by himself without me having to check behind him. And he spent a long weekend away without us
for the first time ever. I taught Olivia
how to shave her legs (*tear*), I taught her how to use the hair dryer, and she
learned on her own how to apply various types of makeup because she loves
makeup tutorials. I feel like both kids are
growing up at a rapid pace now and I can’t keep up with all the things they’re
learning now. It’s so bittersweet, but I’m
so proud of them.
Y Get outside more – I definitely crushed
this as I walked probably more than ever this year, but I’d say as a family, we
probably got outside less than usual this year.
Guess we need to work on that!
Y Go to the beach and maybe take another trip
as well – We did go to the beach and we also ended up taking a trip to
Universal Studios with our friends as stated before… two EXCELLENT vacations
and big highlights from our year!
Home/Organization/Planning
Y Clean out the whole house – As I do every year, I did manage to clean out the whole house yet again!
Y Clean out the storage closet – I cleaned
out the storage closet, finallyyyy.
There are still a couple more things I need to do in there, but it’s
pretty much done!
Y Work on some house projects (lighting,
laundry room, office shelving, rugs, etc.) – We most definitely excelled in
this category! We got a new bedroom rug
in place, I ordered a new living room rug (although we haven’t put it down
yet), Brian installed new acrylic shelves in my office that I styled and LOVE,
I refreshed pictures in all our frames in the living room and in a couple of
other areas around the house, we installed a new light fixture in the entryway
from the garage to the kitchen, and we made a designated spot in the closet in
Brian’s office for all the stuff that we’re selling online.
Y Rearrange some things in my office to make
room for more books – My new acrylic shelves helped with this, and I also
got rid of a few things and moved a few things around on my bookshelves to open
up a whole entire new shelf just for books.
Y List all items to sell – I officially
listed every single item that we had piled up, and I also listed new things as
the kids opted to get rid of them. We
sold several large items such as my old DSLR camera, Olivia’s Barbie
Dreamhouse, Olivia’s Barbie camper, some of Jacob’s old sets, and many other
items. We still have stuff listed online
that hasn’t sold, but rather than have them piled up in a corner somewhere, we
now have a designated spot for them in Brian’s closet in his office.
Y Organize items listed for sale and have a
dedicated space for them – Check and check.
It’s so nice to have a designated spot for them!!
N Update album artwork in iTunes – I barely worked
on this at all. Guess you’ll be seeing
this one again for my 2026 goals!
Y Use the One Second Everyday app to record our
entire year – I sure did! Now I just
need to put the finishing touches on it and add the music and it’ll be done!
Y Tackle a few things from my Master To-Do List
(it’s currently 143 lines long) – This was a success, too. I cut my list down by 10 tasks. I won’t list them all here, but one of the
main things we did this year was fix the drawers under our bed in our primary
bedroom. They used to slide open
constantly and it was so annoying, but Brian installed magnets that hold them
firmly in place now and we have no more issues!
Yay!
Blog/Social Media
Y Share fewer daily to-do lists on Instagram so there is less pressure to complete them – Yep, I stopped doing this altogether and it’s been a gamechanger.
Y Stop sharing all workouts in Instagram
stories because y’all are prob bored with that lol – Yep, stopped sharing
most of these, too. Haha.
Y Allow the blog to go without a new post if I
simply don’t have the time to finish said post – This actually happened
frequently last year, especially at the beginning of the year when Maui was so
sick. I gave myself grace for all the
days I couldn’t get my posts up on time.
Y Continue doing monthly gratitude recap posts –
I did do these monthly, and I still owe the blog one from December.
Y Create some evergreen content (recipes,
organization, crafts, holidays) – I did create several evergreen posts, although
not quite as many as I wanted to!
Y Do more fun “get to know me” posts (Top 10
lists, throwback posts, etc.) – I did a few of these, but not quite as many
as I’d intended, mostly because there were so many days that I didn’t get
content up at all and, therefore, I ran out of open days.
Y Work on year-end blog post (Ode to 2025) all
year-long so I don’t get too far behind – I did manage to keep up with this
all year, although I got a little behind towards the end of the year. Made my life a whole lot easier, though!
Summary
43 items
accomplished
4 items not
accomplished
Yearly Stats
Books Read: 41
The Rewind by Allison Winn Scotch
Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Tangled Up In You by Christina Lauren
Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense by Paul David Tripp
If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay
Is She Really Going Out with Him? by Sophie Cousens
This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens
The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen
Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay
15 Summers Later by RaeAnne Thayne
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams
Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
Scars of August by Ashley Pierce
Never Lie by Frieda McFadden
The Teacher by Frieda McFadden
The Boyfriend by Frieda McFadden
The Crash by Frieda McFadden
The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden
The Small and the Mighty… by Sharon McMahon
The Tenant by Frieda McFadden
You Deserve to Know by Aggie Blum Thompson
The Coworker by Frieda McFadden
One by One by Frieda McFadden
The
Locked Door by Frieda McFadden
Do Not Disturb by Frieda McFadden
The
Housemaid’s Secret by Frieda McFadden
The Coffee Bean: A Simple Lesson to Create Positive Change by Jon Gordon
The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden
Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks
It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard
The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff
The Intruder by Frieda McFadden
What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella
Ward D by Frieda McFadden
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Everyday Gospel: A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture… by Paul David
Tripp
Meditation Days: 362 days
Workouts Completed: 260
Barre: 0
Core Training: 0
Dance: 0
High Intensity Interval Training: 0
Hiking: 0
Mixed Cardio: 12
Outdoor Run: 6 (12.99 miles)
Outdoor Walk: 174 (334.18 miles)
Pilates: 0
Pool Swim: 0
Stair Stepper: 21
Strength Training: 27
Yoga: 20
Time Spent Working Out: 134:06:29
(hours:minutes:seconds)
Calories Burned During Workouts: 28,516
Donated Blood: 0
times (can’t do this right now because of my dizziness issues)
Total Steps
Walked: 2,689,117
Goals by Month
2026 goals + my word of the year will be posted soon so be sure to check back! And if you want to see previous yearly accomplishments, you can see the summaries below.
2016 New Year’s Goals – What I Accomplished
2017 New Year’s Goals – What I Accomplished
2018 New Year’s Goals – What I Accomplished
2019 New Year’s Goals – What I Accomplished
2020 New Year’s Goals – What I Accomplished
2021 New Year's Goals – What I Accomplished
2022 New Year's Goals – What I Accomplished
2023 New Year's Goals – What I Accomplished
2024 New Year's Goals – What I Accomplished
Happy Wednesday, y’all!
