A Year of Alignment, Surrender, and Redefining Success

I honestly feel like I’m in a Hallmark Christmas movie as I write this—typing away at my computer, drinking my hot coffee, listening to jazzy Christmas music while all of the musings of the year ramble around in my brain.

Honestly, what a year it has been. Some very impossible-seeming things became possible (more on that later). I have reinvented, recalibrated, and restructured myself and my business far more times than I care to count, but I finally feel like I am moving forward from a space of structured growth instead of flailing around like one of those inflatable tube men outside of an auto-body shop.

Key Takeaways from This Year

More Being, Less Doing

It isn’t always easy to choose presence. It isn’t always easy to pause in the middle of chaos.
My content plan can attest to how many revisions are required when you don’t create from a space of purposeful alignment.
When you do choose to take action, whether personal or professional, how and where you’re creating from matters.

Surrender, Surrender, Surrender

This has honestly been the most difficult thing in the world for me. I have a whole hell of a lot of faith, in myself, my future, and all of my wildest dreams coming true.
But I am also a control freak, and if it doesn’t exist on a to-do list somewhere, does it really exist at all?
What I have had to learn, over and over again, is the value of surrendering, to the moment, to the experience, to the understanding that I cannot, in fact, control every outcome of every situation (still working on this one).

Surrendering is not the same as giving up; it is quite the opposite.

Surrendering is giving in to the knowing that all roads will lead me where I’m going, but if I continue to insist that the shortcut will get me there faster, I will always be proved wrong.

Believing in Myself (Even When Others Don’t Understand)

I’m sure there are many people in my life who are worried about me and have absolutely no idea what it is I’m doing, personally or professionally.

I have come to realize that the only person I truly need in my corner is me.

That doesn’t mean I am alone. I have so many people in my life who love and support me and champion the life I am creating. What I am saying is that if I didn’t 100% believe in myself, I would never have been able to accomplish what I have, or consider myself worthy of all of the love and support I’ve received.

I also wouldn’t be able to give a 10-minute TED Talk on my journey toward joy and fulfillment and how it looks completely different than most outsiders probably think it should. I also would probably care too much about what other people think.
Fortunately, that is no longer a delusion I choose to subscribe to.

The Reality Check

This year has indeed been an extremely wild ride. There is not an appliance in our house that hasn’t required some form of a repair or a vehicle in our possession that hasn’t required an immense amount of maintenance or monetary investment.

My first book is still not finished (although I now have a growing list of other works to be written), my poetry has not been published, my podcast has not launched, and my business is nowhere near where I thought it would be.

And Still, So Much to Celebrate

But on the flip side, I am sober. My husband and I are communicating better than ever. Our extended family has grown to include two new little ones.

I completed the Starseed Academy Spiritual Life Coaching course and am submitting all of my documents to receive my certification as this is being posted. I have a strong foundation for my business and have created a very intentional growth and alignment plan for 2026.

I joined Happy Healthy Women as a Branch Director and have been so fortunate to connect and collaborate with some pretty amazing women these past couple of months and will continue to do so in the new year.

I have grown in my confidence and continue to show up as authentically as possible in all that I do and create.

What I’m Taking With Me

I have learned how to slow the f*** down, listen to my body, and let my intuition guide me in ways that I hadn’t let myself be present enough in the past to hear or acknowledge.

Aligned action, even though it may take a little bit longer to truly discern, creates far better momentum and end results than action that comes from force.

I have learned that having the time to spend with the people I love, and the ability to fully be present, free from distraction or perceived obligation tied to a paycheck, is time that I will never regret having.

Redefining Success

My measure of success may not be the same as it was only a couple of years ago. Hell, it may not even be the same as what I thought it should be at the beginning of this year.

Our ability to be adaptable, our ability to expand and grow, because of or in spite of the circumstances we experience, creates the true measure of what we are capable of and who we will be in the next chapter of our lives.

Grow through what we go through, and I believe that surviving can quite quickly evolve into thriving.
I’m entering the next chapter less attached to outcomes and more anchored in who I am, and that changes everything.

For more reflections, insights, and practical tools, you can join The Weekly Oasis — a weekly note focused on slowing down and realignment.

With Love & Gratitude,