My annual visioning and inquiry at the end of 2024 and cusp of 2025 landed on the word "discovery," a process I invite you to explore for finding your own north star.
Thank you Elena, for your continuing support, your teaching and writing, and your beautiful example of how to live an intentional full life, with gratitude and wonder.
I continue to be struck by our commonalities. For example, how did I not know you were sober?! GO YOU. Similarly, I got sober in January of 2020 (I celebrated 5 years sober on New Year's Day), and left my 29 year marriage (plus 5 years together, so 34 total) 6 months later. I learned that it is not uncommon for a marriage to end after one of the spouses get sober. Also, I am still working on the Year Compass-such a thorough resource. I am a big fan of not only Mark Nepo as we ascertained before, but also of John O'Donohue and the Marginalian-lovely quotes-thanks for sharing these beauties.
"A discovery about the ways in which I still have the potential to grow and change and enjoy my life in this final act, this last third. This unfolding—this blooming—will occur in ways I cannot predict but which I welcome with open arms..."
love this. I love that you are showing yourself some grace around going on that yoga retreat and saying some more goodbyes to your mother, allowing yourself to embrace these new adventures and new discoveries. I am excited for you and all of your new ventures.
My WOTY is Fear. I want to face some of my big fears that have been limiting my growth and affecting my mental and physical health. Fears around love, abandonment, finances, my divorce, illness, and death: all the biggies that every human must face at some point-well, many. Not everyone faces divorce, but many do.
May 2025 bring you all the connection, clarity, creativity, and community you want and deserve. May your boat take you on the most rewarding of discoveries.
Rosemary, thank you so much for this juicy response! Yes, we are aligned in so many ways and have an appreciation for the same spiritual guides. I hope you find the YearCompass as rewarding a resource as I did. Thank you for noticing the grace I am showing myself around my mom, grief, and following my own heart and desires. Wow! To choose Fear as your word of the year is badass, my friend! Truly courageous and exciting, no doubt you will come out the other end of this year with a lot of new realizations, not least that fear in all its forms can sit in the back seat while you steer the car. Thank you for your beautiful closing lines here, too. I think I have to "post-it" those blessings for my new writing corner in Barcelona, where ever that may be.
As for me, I'm so grateful to say goodbye to 2024 a year of so much deep caregiving with my mom now settled safely finally into Assisted Living. I ironed out many kinks on her behalf and while she is still very upset about staying at Heather Glen, it is absolutely the safer space for her at this time. There was also the helpful discovery that my mom has covert narcissistic tendencies (she fit 7 of the 10 descriptors.) This knowledge is assisting me to let go of "getting it right" and "doing enough" < in relationship to/with my mom because in her perception it will never be right or enough. What a lesson to finally learn and let go.
That said, perhaps my word for 2025 is rather the phrase: Let Go. Let go of expectations from others, let go of expectations from gender/cultural/societal norms around caregiving for an elderly parent. Let go of self-doubt.
If there was a word to pair with Let go, for me it would be Rebuild. Rebuild my confidence which was shredded from "death by a thousand cuts" from my mother these past years. Rebuild relationships because while I will still visit mom and continue taking care of several things for her, Im going to prioritize my needs and well being too.
So in 2025 for me it's Let Go & Rebuild!
With so much love and excitement,
Kristin
Thanks again so much for your beautiful heartfelt post.
Thank you Kristin for taking such care and thought in your response, when I know you have so much going on. I appreciate you sharing your heart here, I know what a difficult year 2024 has been for you. How glad I am that your mother's narcissistic tendencies being confirmed gives you some release. Let go is a powerful phrase and I applaud all of the ways in which you intend to exercise it in 2025. And to pair it with Rebuild. That is brilliant. When you can let go of all those expectations and self-doubt, the foundation of what you rebuild will be that much stronger. It makes me so happy that you write you will prioritize your needs and well-being. Go, Kristin! May part of your rebuilding bring you to Barcelona one day soon. You're always welcome.
This is so lovely, Amy! Thanks for sharing of yourself through your writing like this. It seems to me that if we follow the wish of living life true to ourselves, the other wishes would follow. You are a formidable model in living one's best life, becoming who you want to be in the world. Here's to your exciting year of discovery!!
Barcelona is a very good choice! I loved the brief time I spent there. I'm limited in travel because of my MS, and it also makes it impossible for me to move out of the US.No other country, unsurprisingly, wants me on their public health. I so wish I could leave.
BUT, I have many other opportunities for growth and fulfillment.
I am planning to unveil my word for the year, "trepidation," in my Substack post preceding the inauguration, on Jan 18.
Fran, thank you for your thoughtful comment. I am glad you have had a chance to enjoy Barcelona and can appreciate opportunities for growth and adventure closer to home. I will be on the lookout for your upcoming post. I feel that trepidation too.
44 years. 3 children. 5 grands. Let’s just say. It’s not paradise but we’ve created a great family. I’m 73 . Very healthy . Youthful. Been thru enough to fill a TED talk. My husband is equally healthy 80 and I’m sure he’d be heartbroken if I left. We are close but intimacy left the boudoir years ago. I have a loving roommate. We should or I should have left years ago. Am I unhappy? Not really. In a comfortable limbo. Very. If all our earthly possessions went kaputt( and we’ve enjoyed much) I’d be fine in a small space with my Labrador . He’s the kid made good and I born in Bev Hills CA not impressed. I’ve definitely lived it!🤣🤣.
Thank you Jennifer for commenting. It’s hard to access our courage. It took me decades to leave an unhappy marriage. We keep striving and hopefully we find our way to the light.
Great process and word choice for 2025, Amy! Cheers to all your new adventures and all the discoveries you will find along the way! It's a brave and wonderful thing to travel like you do - and experience the word as a traveler. Thanks for sharing.
I also do a Word of the Year practice and it sounds similar to yours. I took about 3 hours and wrote to tons of prompts reflecting on 2024 and set intentions for 2025 based on how I want to feel and what I want to experience. In the end, my word is Elevate. I hope to elevate my thinking, level-up my meditation and my physical movement by adding dance (from kirtan to nights out dancing), enhance my quality time with those I love, and elevate my offerings on Substack. When at a crossroads or when faced with a choice, I will choose the bigger leap of faith, the higher road, or the more enlightened response. I will try to make decisions that elevate my mind, not allowing it to fall down into the muck of our world. It's a lofty goal - but I'm giddy about this new year. I'm excited for all there is to come!
Katie, I love everything about this! Elevate is such an inspiring word and the ways in which you intend to live it sound so enriching for mind, body and soul. I appreciate how you articulate how you’ll approach standing at a crossroads. I feel giddy for you, too!
Dear Amy, I am so excited for this new adventure, and many discoveries in your life! This makes me look forward to the years ahead. You are radiating in that picture - as we all should be!
I am living my life the only way I know it: staying loyal to my truth and authentic self. I write, and teach yoga and have meaningful relationships in my life. Much to be grateful for. Truly. But life, even when you are true to yourself, is not always easy. I'm a single mum with one really balanced teenager, and one very hormonal, who pushes all my buttons. I live in a country I've been ready to leave for at least a decade. I'm aching to be back in Europe. But the greatest challenge for 2025? Opening my heart to romantic love. I'm excited, and absolutely terrified.
Imola, thank you so much for the comment. Thank you for the kind encouragement! I do understand how we must always balance what we may wish and desire for ourselves and other aspects of life that naturally have a huge hold on us—single motherhood among them. That can’t be easy. Yet my heart soared when I read about you opening your heart to romantic love. I am so happy for you. And I hope a year from now I will be saying the same.💗
Amy, I love your story about choosing "abundance" as your word for the year. It's so relatable, and it really resonates with me. I'm also in a place where I'm trying to embrace abundance in all areas of my life. I'm especially drawn to your point about the two faces of abundance. It's so true that abundance can come with both joy and grief. I'm grateful for the reminders you've shared about the importance of self-forgiveness and stretching towards healing. Thank you for sharing your journey with us.
Thank you Alexander for taking the time to comment and I am so glad the two faces of abundance struck home for you, too. May you have an abundant year!
I was so intrigued to learn more of your journey by reading this post. Thank you for sharing. I am saving this one to work through slowly—so many links to other authors you have found helpful!!
I find myself in this subliminal space between ending and new beginning.
With what came before: the discomfort of being lost and the stagnation of searching, I feel I have accepted a new ground. But it still feels like a twilight zone. 😘
Miranda, thank you for this comment. I think there is much to be discovered in the twilight zone, that place of endings and beginnings. I am there, too. Staying grounded amid all the change, that's the key for me.
Yes! What a lovely post this morning, exactly what I needed today. I've been in Paris since December 26th, a gift to myself this year. After an amazing photography workshop and exploring my neighborhood for this next month, I came down with a terrible head cold these past few days. I finally awakened this morning feeling better, bathed in the Paris light, and decided to read what I'd missed this last week...and first post I discover in my feed is yours.
Just a beautiful start to my day, my week, and the coming year. I love your word for 2025 so much as it encompasses my world right now as well.
Congratulations on finding your way! I'm so happy to hear the Camino walk with your daughter went well too. I am constantly amazed at how much your life experiences mirror my own. (our age, loss of mom, dementia care, Camino, marriage, divorce after 33 years)
And lastly, Barcelona! Such a beautiful place to "discover" yourself and be near your daughter's and the sea, too. I wish you the best in finding love/dating again as well. xx
Deborah, I am honored that you are here to read and to comment, Happy New Year to you! How lovely that you are in beautiful Paris, which I'll be visiting in February in conjunction with visiting my younger daughter. Will you still be there then? Let me know; perhaps we could meet for a cup of tea. We do indeed have so much in common. And here we are, living our dream of living in Europe, discovering ourselves anew. Isn't it marvelous, after so much heartache and loss?
Happy New Year to you as well, and yes it is truly marvelous. I love staying in an old apartment in a lovely neighborhood in Marias, getting to know the shop keepers and discovering my favorite cafes. And yes, I so wish we could meet for a cup of tea in Paris, but I head back to Iowa on January 26th. I had originally hoped to stay a full 3 months, but life intervened a bit before I left, so I will need to wait another year to return. Next time. 🩷
… an invisible cloak to mind your life…”
My beloved
Anam Cara heritage keeper
Sending you gentle waves to calm your nervous system as excitement
And uncertainty travel with you
To hold these tensions
With wide heart
Grounded feet
Circles of women
Love
🌹
proud of you. eager to hear how this year unfolds for you.
Thank you Elena, for your continuing support, your teaching and writing, and your beautiful example of how to live an intentional full life, with gratitude and wonder.
Amy, I got so much out of this juicy post.
I continue to be struck by our commonalities. For example, how did I not know you were sober?! GO YOU. Similarly, I got sober in January of 2020 (I celebrated 5 years sober on New Year's Day), and left my 29 year marriage (plus 5 years together, so 34 total) 6 months later. I learned that it is not uncommon for a marriage to end after one of the spouses get sober. Also, I am still working on the Year Compass-such a thorough resource. I am a big fan of not only Mark Nepo as we ascertained before, but also of John O'Donohue and the Marginalian-lovely quotes-thanks for sharing these beauties.
"A discovery about the ways in which I still have the potential to grow and change and enjoy my life in this final act, this last third. This unfolding—this blooming—will occur in ways I cannot predict but which I welcome with open arms..."
love this. I love that you are showing yourself some grace around going on that yoga retreat and saying some more goodbyes to your mother, allowing yourself to embrace these new adventures and new discoveries. I am excited for you and all of your new ventures.
My WOTY is Fear. I want to face some of my big fears that have been limiting my growth and affecting my mental and physical health. Fears around love, abandonment, finances, my divorce, illness, and death: all the biggies that every human must face at some point-well, many. Not everyone faces divorce, but many do.
May 2025 bring you all the connection, clarity, creativity, and community you want and deserve. May your boat take you on the most rewarding of discoveries.
Rosemary, thank you so much for this juicy response! Yes, we are aligned in so many ways and have an appreciation for the same spiritual guides. I hope you find the YearCompass as rewarding a resource as I did. Thank you for noticing the grace I am showing myself around my mom, grief, and following my own heart and desires. Wow! To choose Fear as your word of the year is badass, my friend! Truly courageous and exciting, no doubt you will come out the other end of this year with a lot of new realizations, not least that fear in all its forms can sit in the back seat while you steer the car. Thank you for your beautiful closing lines here, too. I think I have to "post-it" those blessings for my new writing corner in Barcelona, where ever that may be.
Dear Sweet, Discovery Amy
May you have many Eureka moments in Badelona!
As for me, I'm so grateful to say goodbye to 2024 a year of so much deep caregiving with my mom now settled safely finally into Assisted Living. I ironed out many kinks on her behalf and while she is still very upset about staying at Heather Glen, it is absolutely the safer space for her at this time. There was also the helpful discovery that my mom has covert narcissistic tendencies (she fit 7 of the 10 descriptors.) This knowledge is assisting me to let go of "getting it right" and "doing enough" < in relationship to/with my mom because in her perception it will never be right or enough. What a lesson to finally learn and let go.
That said, perhaps my word for 2025 is rather the phrase: Let Go. Let go of expectations from others, let go of expectations from gender/cultural/societal norms around caregiving for an elderly parent. Let go of self-doubt.
If there was a word to pair with Let go, for me it would be Rebuild. Rebuild my confidence which was shredded from "death by a thousand cuts" from my mother these past years. Rebuild relationships because while I will still visit mom and continue taking care of several things for her, Im going to prioritize my needs and well being too.
So in 2025 for me it's Let Go & Rebuild!
With so much love and excitement,
Kristin
Thanks again so much for your beautiful heartfelt post.
Thank you Kristin for taking such care and thought in your response, when I know you have so much going on. I appreciate you sharing your heart here, I know what a difficult year 2024 has been for you. How glad I am that your mother's narcissistic tendencies being confirmed gives you some release. Let go is a powerful phrase and I applaud all of the ways in which you intend to exercise it in 2025. And to pair it with Rebuild. That is brilliant. When you can let go of all those expectations and self-doubt, the foundation of what you rebuild will be that much stronger. It makes me so happy that you write you will prioritize your needs and well-being. Go, Kristin! May part of your rebuilding bring you to Barcelona one day soon. You're always welcome.
Eureka!!! What’s the best that could happen? You invent more discoveries.
Off you go, my friend! Barcelona here she comes.
I ❤️this!
Thanks Allison. Isn't that just the best question to ask ourselves? Here's to invention, discovery and all the goodness we wish for in 2025.
This is so lovely, Amy! Thanks for sharing of yourself through your writing like this. It seems to me that if we follow the wish of living life true to ourselves, the other wishes would follow. You are a formidable model in living one's best life, becoming who you want to be in the world. Here's to your exciting year of discovery!!
Thank you Tracey for this kind comment, so appreciate that. Yes I agree good things follow when we live true to ourselves.
Barcelona is a very good choice! I loved the brief time I spent there. I'm limited in travel because of my MS, and it also makes it impossible for me to move out of the US.No other country, unsurprisingly, wants me on their public health. I so wish I could leave.
BUT, I have many other opportunities for growth and fulfillment.
I am planning to unveil my word for the year, "trepidation," in my Substack post preceding the inauguration, on Jan 18.
Fran, thank you for your thoughtful comment. I am glad you have had a chance to enjoy Barcelona and can appreciate opportunities for growth and adventure closer to home. I will be on the lookout for your upcoming post. I feel that trepidation too.
I envy you in multiple ways. I’ve not the courage to leave ..
44 years. 3 children. 5 grands. Let’s just say. It’s not paradise but we’ve created a great family. I’m 73 . Very healthy . Youthful. Been thru enough to fill a TED talk. My husband is equally healthy 80 and I’m sure he’d be heartbroken if I left. We are close but intimacy left the boudoir years ago. I have a loving roommate. We should or I should have left years ago. Am I unhappy? Not really. In a comfortable limbo. Very. If all our earthly possessions went kaputt( and we’ve enjoyed much) I’d be fine in a small space with my Labrador . He’s the kid made good and I born in Bev Hills CA not impressed. I’ve definitely lived it!🤣🤣.
Thank you Jennifer for commenting. It’s hard to access our courage. It took me decades to leave an unhappy marriage. We keep striving and hopefully we find our way to the light.
Great process and word choice for 2025, Amy! Cheers to all your new adventures and all the discoveries you will find along the way! It's a brave and wonderful thing to travel like you do - and experience the word as a traveler. Thanks for sharing.
I also do a Word of the Year practice and it sounds similar to yours. I took about 3 hours and wrote to tons of prompts reflecting on 2024 and set intentions for 2025 based on how I want to feel and what I want to experience. In the end, my word is Elevate. I hope to elevate my thinking, level-up my meditation and my physical movement by adding dance (from kirtan to nights out dancing), enhance my quality time with those I love, and elevate my offerings on Substack. When at a crossroads or when faced with a choice, I will choose the bigger leap of faith, the higher road, or the more enlightened response. I will try to make decisions that elevate my mind, not allowing it to fall down into the muck of our world. It's a lofty goal - but I'm giddy about this new year. I'm excited for all there is to come!
"the bigger leap of faith, the higher road, or the more enlightened response" <3 this is truly inspiring.
Thanks Rosemary -- thats the intention, we'll see how it goes 😆
Katie, I love everything about this! Elevate is such an inspiring word and the ways in which you intend to live it sound so enriching for mind, body and soul. I appreciate how you articulate how you’ll approach standing at a crossroads. I feel giddy for you, too!
Dear Amy, I am so excited for this new adventure, and many discoveries in your life! This makes me look forward to the years ahead. You are radiating in that picture - as we all should be!
I am living my life the only way I know it: staying loyal to my truth and authentic self. I write, and teach yoga and have meaningful relationships in my life. Much to be grateful for. Truly. But life, even when you are true to yourself, is not always easy. I'm a single mum with one really balanced teenager, and one very hormonal, who pushes all my buttons. I live in a country I've been ready to leave for at least a decade. I'm aching to be back in Europe. But the greatest challenge for 2025? Opening my heart to romantic love. I'm excited, and absolutely terrified.
Imola, thank you so much for the comment. Thank you for the kind encouragement! I do understand how we must always balance what we may wish and desire for ourselves and other aspects of life that naturally have a huge hold on us—single motherhood among them. That can’t be easy. Yet my heart soared when I read about you opening your heart to romantic love. I am so happy for you. And I hope a year from now I will be saying the same.💗
We are rooting for each other, and love, Amy! Let your heart soar!!
Thank you for these words. They are a balm.
That makes me so happy, Rita. Wishing you joy and discovery this year, too.
Amy, I love your story about choosing "abundance" as your word for the year. It's so relatable, and it really resonates with me. I'm also in a place where I'm trying to embrace abundance in all areas of my life. I'm especially drawn to your point about the two faces of abundance. It's so true that abundance can come with both joy and grief. I'm grateful for the reminders you've shared about the importance of self-forgiveness and stretching towards healing. Thank you for sharing your journey with us.
Thank you Alexander for taking the time to comment and I am so glad the two faces of abundance struck home for you, too. May you have an abundant year!
I was so intrigued to learn more of your journey by reading this post. Thank you for sharing. I am saving this one to work through slowly—so many links to other authors you have found helpful!!
So glad you found value & it intrigued you, Etta. May what I share lead to your own discoveries😀
What a lovely and timely post today! Thank you!
I find myself in this subliminal space between ending and new beginning.
With what came before: the discomfort of being lost and the stagnation of searching, I feel I have accepted a new ground. But it still feels like a twilight zone. 😘
Miranda, thank you for this comment. I think there is much to be discovered in the twilight zone, that place of endings and beginnings. I am there, too. Staying grounded amid all the change, that's the key for me.
Yes! What a lovely post this morning, exactly what I needed today. I've been in Paris since December 26th, a gift to myself this year. After an amazing photography workshop and exploring my neighborhood for this next month, I came down with a terrible head cold these past few days. I finally awakened this morning feeling better, bathed in the Paris light, and decided to read what I'd missed this last week...and first post I discover in my feed is yours.
Just a beautiful start to my day, my week, and the coming year. I love your word for 2025 so much as it encompasses my world right now as well.
Congratulations on finding your way! I'm so happy to hear the Camino walk with your daughter went well too. I am constantly amazed at how much your life experiences mirror my own. (our age, loss of mom, dementia care, Camino, marriage, divorce after 33 years)
And lastly, Barcelona! Such a beautiful place to "discover" yourself and be near your daughter's and the sea, too. I wish you the best in finding love/dating again as well. xx
Deborah, I am honored that you are here to read and to comment, Happy New Year to you! How lovely that you are in beautiful Paris, which I'll be visiting in February in conjunction with visiting my younger daughter. Will you still be there then? Let me know; perhaps we could meet for a cup of tea. We do indeed have so much in common. And here we are, living our dream of living in Europe, discovering ourselves anew. Isn't it marvelous, after so much heartache and loss?
Happy New Year to you as well, and yes it is truly marvelous. I love staying in an old apartment in a lovely neighborhood in Marias, getting to know the shop keepers and discovering my favorite cafes. And yes, I so wish we could meet for a cup of tea in Paris, but I head back to Iowa on January 26th. I had originally hoped to stay a full 3 months, but life intervened a bit before I left, so I will need to wait another year to return. Next time. 🩷
I love the 3 C’s and consider them foundational.
We are like-minded, then! Happy New Year, Sarelle. May it be a beautiful one for you. Thank you for reading my essay and for being here.