Januarys tend to feel anticlimactic to me.
The holiday season up until New Year’s Day always feels like a warm blanket. I treasure being able to disconnect from work responsibilities and grant myself permission to focus my heart and mind on nothing but the people I love and activities that help me recharge. Best of all, I can take a good moment to think about my New Year’s resolutions, dreams for my family, and imagine how much better the new year could be. I do love a chance at a fresh start and setting intentions!
After January 1st, however, the warm blanket is unceremoniously ripped off. For example, when I was working in the corporate world the year always seemed to start with a bang. No transition period, no easing into it. Just a sudden burst of new projects, challenges, and headaches. Work objectives or “Have To Do’s” at home became the priorities. Soon, I would inevitably defer my own goals and the things that were truly important to me to next year, telling myself I had other demands on my time and energy that were simply more important. By the end of the month, I had settled back into the daily grind, allowing myself to be swept along by life’s events and getting comfortable with the new year starting to feel a lot like the last.
This January, though, I could really use a new beginning.
It has taken me a whole year to recover from the events of January 2024, when I had to pull my youngest child out of daycare because her immune system was so compromised from immunosuppressant medications that she caught every virus to which she was exposed, and because the arthritis in her legs became so bad that she couldn’t walk for a month.
It was only in 2024 that I truly faced my burnout from years of being a fulltime working mom and from the additional stress brought on by my daughter’s illness.
Only recently was I finally able to admit to myself that I needed a change – even though it took further work with a coach to help me reconnect to my values, priorities, and honest desires for my life to figure out what that change would be.
And I’ve only in the last couple of months started feeling at peace with my ultimate decision to leave my fulltime job so that I could have more flexibility for my family – including time for the numerous doctors and hospital appointments required throughout the year to manage my daughter’s disease, a rare genetic illness called Blau Syndrome.
To say the ride in 2024 was bumpy is an understatement. Well before the holidays rolled along, I was mentally and emotionally drained.
But right now, in January 2025, I am hopeful! Something feels different. I’ve taken a lot of time over the past year to understand what I need and want in my life to feel fulfilled and happy. I finally took back my power after I gave it away to the people and circumstances around me, my Imposter Syndrome, and the voices in my head that told me not to make changes or take risks. This time, I am going into the new year with a very different kind of plan from anything I’ve ever had before. I have a new mindset, I know what my priorities are, and I have a purpose: to help others remember that they are at choice, no matter how difficult their circumstances are, and to support them and guide them as they reclaim their happiness.
In line with that purpose, my new beginning also includes starting this year as a personal coach, AND starting this blog, which is something I have wanted to do for such a long time.
So hello, 2025! My name is Kimberly, and this is what I am choosing to say “Yes” to this year as part of my fresh start:
- Staying connected to my priorities and letting them be my North Star;
- Approaching everyday life with intention, ensuring that I make choices and take actions that are aligned with my priorities and my values;
- Approaching the obstacles I encounter and people I meet with curiosity, so that I can continue to learn from others and from every new experience I have;
- Having faith in myself, my strengths, and my ability to learn so that I stay open to new challenges and opportunities to grow.
And this is what I choose to say “No” to:
- Being reactive: I have control over my perspective and how I respond to situations;
- Letting myself live life passively;
- Saying No to a new opportunity because of insecurity or self-doubt;
- Permitting “overwhelm” to sneak into my life again: I will remember that I get to choose how to prioritize tasks that come up and where I want to focus my attention and emotional energy at any given moment.
Happy 2025, and welcome to my blog! What are YOU choosing to say “Yes” or “No” to this year? I would love to hear from you, so please comment below or connect with me on social media.
– Kimberly
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About the Blog:
Hello! My name is Kimberly. I am a mom, a former HR Professional, and a personal coach. I use myself and my personal stories in this blog as examples to illustrate how coaching principles and can help us live happier, more purpose-filled lives. As human beings, we are more connected than we realize, through both common experiences AND opportunities to learn from different experiences. My hope is that, in sharing my stories, you may recognize something familiar from your own life and feel less alone. Maybe you will even be prompted to consider something new in service of your best, happiest future.
When you feel really “stuck” – whether you are trying to discover who you are as a leader, or you can only think of one way to do something and that way just isn’t working, or you just want something different for your life but cannot articulate what it would be –, you are not alone in having that experience. Personal coaches are there to help you get unstuck, so that you don’t have to struggle through that experience on your own, and so that you can get on with living your life to the fullest.
If you are curious about what personal coaching and living life intentionally could mean for you, schedule a free consultation with me!
