a lucky year

A new year usually means a fresh start. New ambitions, lots of goals, and time spent planning it all. It also usually means reflecting on the year that has passed. 

This year has been different for me though. 

While I typically love to do all of those things, I haven’t felt the same sense of urgency that I usually feel. The panic to turn my life around, or to prove to myself that I spent the year productively. Maybe it’s because life is pretty good right now, or maybe it’s because last year just blended into the year before. 

All throughout 2025, I spent a lot of time reflecting. A lot of time trying to rebuild areas of my life that seemed broken, and a lot of time just waiting for the next day to come. 

While I was waiting, I spent more time getting to know myself, my values, and my worth all over again. 2025 became a healing year for me. 

I learned that it’s okay to love people through difficult times, but it’s also okay to let go and trust God to step in. I was reminded that the way people treat me has nothing to do with me at all, but it’s a reflection of who they are. I also remembered to treat them kindly anyways. 

So, this year I don’t feel the pressure to recreate myself because I’m accepting myself exactly how God created me and I’m trusting that what He has for me will always find me. 

Of course I still believe there will always be room to grow, but there is also always room to celebrate. To celebrate the ordinary, everyday things because I am lucky to live the life that I have. I am lucky to have kind friends and a loving family that has walked with me through a difficult season. I am lucky to have a job that allows me to create new things and try new ideas. I am lucky to have the ability to move my body and fuel it with the nutrients that it needs to stay healthy. I am lucky to have a God that will chase me down every time I feel lost.

That’s why I’m choosing the word lucky to focus on this year. 

I’ve never really believed in luck because I know God is fully in control. But I think God wants us all to be lucky.

Lucky feels like a magical word to me. It’s the small reminders of miracles in moments that would normally get overlooked. It’s finding the four-leaf clover, seeing the shooting star, and picking up that lucky penny.

It’s making a wish every time the clock strikes 11:11. 

Or like my six-year old niece, making a wish at 10:10 and 12:12 too. 

It’s believing that your wishes will all come true.

That extraordinary things can happen. 

That every day is a special occasion. 

I am lucky today and everyday. And this year I’ll try not to overlook it.

When I look back at 2025, I realize how lucky I have always been.

I was lucky to spend so much quality time with my friends and family. From crying to laughing, to long conversations, sand volleyball nights and bar crawls. I loved getting to celebrate so many friends and their big life moments. A wedding in the Dominican, a bachelorette in Rhode Island, a birthday in NYC, and a sneaky baby announcement on the fourth of July. We spent time dancing, and dangling from silks. At outdoor movies, yoga classes at the zoo, and in the back of so many Ubers. There was a very special night at the Jonas Brothers concert with my sister and nephew. Then a few days later, there was a sweet surprise during an event at a winery. I had the best company at J. Rieger, and then again at Worlds of Fun, a Chiefs game, and an alpaca farm.

I was lucky to learn so many new things, read lots of different books, travel to new places, and meet some incredible people along the way. From launching a new website at work, to becoming trauma bonded besties with a few coworkers. I learned a lot about investing from the book “Girls That Invest ”, and I visited the goats that mow the grass by the river way too often. I became a Big through BBBS. I brought my kayak everywhere and listened to a lot of Forest Frank. I tried new recipes (even if most nights still ended with ice cream for dinner). I took surf lessons in Costa Rica. I learned to sew and I was extremely lucky playing mini golf.

I don’t know exactly what 2026 will bring. But I do know that I feel luckier than ever before.

lucky:// having, bringing, or resulting from good luck

lucky because life is magical,

to be truly alive in every moment,

with shooting stars, four-leaf clovers, and answered prayers

lucky to live knowing what God has for me will always find me

lucky to see the good that is always around me,

and to bring good luck wherever i go,

lucky to believe good things for others too

lucky to always be guided, protected, and highly favored

lucky in love

lucky in happiness

lucky in opportunities

lucky in life

2026 will be about celebrating the life I’ve been given, exactly as it is. In every moment, and in every season and feeling incredibly lucky to be here for it all.