My Year in Review 2025

As we approach the end of 2025, it is important to reflect on the planned and unplanned wins that happened throughout the year. As humans, we tend to fixate on the things that we did not accomplish, and it can make the entire year feel like it was wasted.

Here’s the hard truth. Are you ready?

Only focusing on the losses of the year becomes a huge weight that will prevent you from setting new goals. STOP DOING THAT! Of course, reflection is important. You should definitely examine why some goals were not accomplished and how you can plan differently. You should not let those losses define you. Besides, you probably accomplished more than you think!

While I would love to get into the nitty-gritty of how to help you set goals for 2026 & stick to them, I already covered that in my last post: How to Set Goals for 2026 & Stick to Them.

This one is personal. This one is vulnerable.

So… do you want the wins or the losses first?

Losses 👎

I always prefer to start with the bad news. You’ll thank me later when you walk away from this post feeling more motivated than not.

Every goal-oriented year will have losses. Unfortunately, they’re inevitable. Sometimes they involve goals we actively worked toward. Other times, they’re things we never planned for at all. No one ever plans a loss, but that doesn’t mean they’re meaningless. Losses often lead us to our deepest self-reflection and growth.

Here are some of the losses I faced in 2025:

🚫 No Work Promotion
I worked my tail off this year to prove I was promotion-ready. Unfortunately, I found myself having to re-prove my worth again and again as I was passed from manager to manager; eight new managers in one year, to be exact. While I didn’t receive the promotion I worked for (and was promised), the fight isn’t over. This goal is rolling right into 2026.

🚫 Ended Friendships
Ending friendships was one of the hardest lessons of the year. These were long-lasting relationships; until they weren’t. There were tears, reflection, and a lot of hard truths. I had to ask myself how these friendships were affecting my mental health and self-worth.

When I wrote out the pros and cons list, the cons were longer 🚩.

I realized I deserve friendships where I feel supported, safe, and loved. These relationships had turned into games of “who can I trust today?” and “how carefully do I need to walk on eggshells?”. I have no interest in continuing to play either.

These people will always hold a special place in my heart, and I will continue to love them and cheer them on from a distance.

🚫 Broken Crown
Breaking a crown is never on anyone’s wish list, but this happened to me…. two weeks before my wedding… I was stressed. It all worked out as I was able to get my crown fixed, and my dentist saved my wedding day! However, I was unable to eat a real meal for a couple of weeks and ended up developing a fear of fried shell tacos. This seems like a small loss since it was fixable, but the cost of this fix and the time it took away from wedding planning felt like a huge weight to me.

Losses always feel so heavy, especially if you did not receive that promotion you worked for (and were promised). However, a loss is not the end of the road. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Just look at everything you did accomplish 🙌.

WINS 🥇

Let’s get into the good stuff. Now this list is going to be soooooo much longer than my losses, but a win is one of those things that you unintentionally forget about after celebrating. Losses tend to haunt you like bad dreams. Do me a favor and give those losses the middle finger. They do not deserve to take up anymore space in your future. Here are the wins I faced in 2025:

I could keep going, but what’s most important is this: a majority of these wins were never on my 2025 goal list. They were happy surprises. And a win is a win, planned or not.

Let’s Ring in 2026 🌟

This is probably the first year in a long time that I am actually excited to celebrate the new year! I’ll share just one of my goals for 2026 (I like to keep the rest close to the chest):

It is always easy to spiral on what didn’t happen. This year, try to focus on what has been accomplished and what still can be accomplished.

2026 may be challenging. It may be uncomfortable. But I’m ready to run up that hill, and I plan to cross the finish line in first place. Cheers to 2026. 🎆