Starting Over
2025 didn’t end as I expected but the good news is, 2026 is going to be an amazing year of growth! Join me as I set sail on my new journey.
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
January – the month for new beginnings
Have you ever stopped to wonder, “how did I get here?”. With two kids very active in sports, our weekends are consumed by soccer games and track invites, and with a husband who travels 50-75% of the time, life has been hectic. It didn’t happen overnight but was a gradual ramp up. If I’m being honest with myself, I was just merely surviving, not thriving. Each weekend would be a game of how much laundry can I get done or what mail came this week that I forgot to sort through. At some point, I gave up trying to keep up with life’s daily stressors. It seemed pointless, and I was beyond overwhelmed. Throughout the unsolicited parenting advice lifecycle, many people tried to feed me a line that babies and toddlers keep you the busiest. Nothing is as busy as a teenager looking at colleges, participating in 3 choirs, and playing two sports. Adding a second high schooler into the mix this year amplified it. I felt like I was sucking air through a straw.
Then, the week before Thanksgiving 2025, I got the dreaded phone call that no one in Corporate America is prepared to get – my role was being eliminated! After being at the company for half my life, 22 years, I was being discarded like the carcass of the Thanksgiving turkey that hadn’t been transformed into broth. I had so much more to give and transferrable skills that I built…but it wasn’t about the person sitting in the seat. It was about an employee identification number and that was maddening.
No one warns you that you’ll go through the various stages of grief. I cycled, sometimes minute by minute, from angry, sad, disappointed, shame, guilt, happy, etc. Nothing prepared me for the trauma of the event or the very big feelings I would have. For the first week, each morning I would wake up and think that it was only a nightmare that I had cooked up through the fitful night of perimenopausal sleep. As much as no one wants to acknowledge it, there is a stigma around the word “laid off”, like it’s a dirty word. So much so, that I refuse to say that I was laid off because I’m sick of the unnecessary judgement. I tell people I’m practicing for retirement.
The end of November and most of December were busy months for me, with concerts, track meets, Christmas prep, and holiday commitments. As 2025 winds to an end, I can finally take a moment to reflect on what this forced change means for my future. I am grateful. I was on the cusp of burnout, scarily teetering on the edge of sanity. While it sucked to be just a number in a spreadsheet, I am thankful for the opportunity to recharge and destress. I feel like I’ve been on a high-speed train trying to catch glimpses of a city as it speeds by but everything looks blurry. These past 30 days have allowed me to slow down, enjoy the Christmas season, and truly protect my peace. I don’t know exactly the path I will take in 2026, but this is what I do know:
Clutter is all-consuming
- My house blew up and is completely out of control from the past few years of attempting to strike a balance between supermom and corporate go-getter mom
Remaining positive is key
Maintaining a positive outlook builds and sustains resiliency – keeping a grateful journal has been super helpful
I'm not square
I was never meant to be crammed into a box my whole life and I’m excited to be able to try multiple new businesses
So, in 2026, I invite you to join me in my journey of starting over, of unleashing my previously locked and hidden potential, my desire to bet on myself, and my quest to simplify and declutter my life. I’m sure I will face challenges, failures, and forks in the road but unless we are willing to take risks, we never grow. If you’ve been thinking about charting your own course in 2026, let’s take our next leap into the unknown together!