It’s early days yet in terms of a full year, but I’ve declared today “The Great Reset of 2025”. Yep, I really do things like that. Why the reset? What does it mean? Oh please, let me answer those questions. 😊
Last year, was absolutely fabulous. From a mild winter to a week in Antigua to the Southern Cross to a solar eclipse passing over my house to quitting my job. And that was in the first four months of the year. It set up the rest of the year, honestly, and that included finishing the upstairs project on our house. Yep, the year was… amazing.
So, 2025? Well, it’s had a lot to live up to and a brutal winter didn’t necessarily kick it off on the right foot. Given that and the stress I inadvertently found my little microbusiness under (I used to do some small amount of federal work) and January was a complete and utter write-off. If there was a month to take off the books, it would be January. February fared better, of course. A combination of things saved my little microbusiness and meant I got to continue to do the thing I love – work at home and for myself. Further, we ended up putting two trips on the books – one to Florida and one to New Orleans. With a third trip, again to Florida, on my books for September, I’ve got my vacation docket just about filled. (New Orleans at Christmas will round out the year.)
And now, on the next to last day in February, I’m declaring the reset. Some of it is mental: I realized at the end of last year as I was completing a three-month sabbatical that it was unlikely any year would top 2024 in my world. Now, I have to readjust my thinking and realize that 2024 was not an anomaly, but a signal of life to come. Every year can be wonderful, if I let it. The other is physical: I do have a lot to look forward to and be thankful for. For example, we will replace our back deck this year which will be fabulous for completing the remainder of our renovations. That deck is a bit of an eyesore and you should see the amazing design I have for it when it’s done. It’s really going to be the oasis we need in the yard. I can picture dinners, drinks and all sorts of fun on that deck. Inside, we don’t have many projects left and that means that the house looks and feels done. Yes, there are things to do but the weight of the house is generally off.
But mostly? Mostly the reset is about celebrating what is. Not looking forward, not looking backward but celebrating instead what is. And that? Well, it’s pretty fabulous. In the year since I quit my job, I’ve been on a bit of a journey where I started to remember who I was before I was always busy. As a somewhat fully restored person, I have greater awareness about my life in general. My family is healthy and growing; my husband is still the guy of my dreams; our lives are busy but simple; and our home is filled with love and laughter.
My favorite part of the week? Friday night when work is over and my husband comes down the stairs. He makes drinks while I finish prepping dinner. We sit at “our bar” – the peninsula in our kitchen – and talk about what we’re grateful for and what we want to get done that weekend. It’s the one time that feels like a mini-vacation. The next two days stretch out before us without professional obligations and the promise of unscheduled time is real. I also love Thursdays – like today – when it’s the last day of my workweek. When I descend the stairs after my last call ends at 4 p.m. today? Well, my weekend stretches out before me. I love Friday daytime when I get our house back together and make it clean, calm and comfortable for the weekend and I love waking up on Saturday morning with a weekend still before me.
I’m not gonna lie: the week can drag. There are always professional stressors, last-minute hiccups and home and work obligations to be juggled. But the simplicity of how I live now means that I can work quietly in my easy chair and write mounds of work documents so much more efficiently than I ever could sitting at a desk. The occasional interruption by a furry one is a welcome reminder that I am always surrounded by the things that matter most to me. And the dawn of spring, which is now just 21 days away, reminds me that there are only brighter days ahead. I weathered this winter and the storms of self-doubt and anxiety. No, 2025 is not an “Antigua year” so it won’t have those great highs that I could never have imagined experiencing, yet there is still cause for celebration.
So, what 2025 does have? It’s a quieter joy. A joy where – one year later – I have recaptured just a little bit more of me before I became so corporate. It’s a joy that includes the comfort of having a nearly completed house and a soon-to-be completed back deck where we can enjoy more of our yard. It’s a joy that will welcome at least one new family member. A joy filled with laughter, days on the lake, runs in the sunshine, gathering and preserving the garden’s bounty and ultimately, celebrating the holidays. It’s days spent with sisters and friends; evenings spent around the fire with my husband. There’s not pressure on 2025… it doesn’t have to be “my year.” It may well serve to be the gap year – or years – between quitting my job and full retirement. Or the gap between two trips to Antigua… Or the gap from one absolutely phenomenal year to the next.
But, it’s a good year. And it will be a good year. I’ve just declared it.
The Yuppie Homesteader 