WHAT I’M GRATEFUL FOR THIS YEAR (Even the Hard Parts)

I’m not sure I’ve ever been more ready for a year to end.

2025 was hard for so many of us. Massive layoffs swept through tech and other industries. Political turbulence here and worldwide. Economic uncertainty. On top of our personal struggles, we were navigating collective disruption. Some days it felt like too much.

On a personal note, 2025 broke me open in ways I didn’t see coming. My daughter’s autoimmune diagnosis. Losing half of my clients to massive corporate layoffs. Watching my business shrink while I tried to hold my family together. While holding myself together for my daughter. Questioning everything I thought I knew about resilience and purpose.

If you’d asked me in April what I’d be grateful for by December, I don’t know what I would have answered, but it would definitely have been something very different than what I’m saying now.

So here we are. It’s the end of December, and I find myself full of gratitude. Not the kind that pretends hard things weren’t hard. But the deep, earned kind that comes from making it through and realizing what actually mattered.

I’M GRATEFUL I HAD A COACH.

In March, I signed up for a 9-month coaching program. I hadn’t had a coach in over two years. Money was tight after losing clients in February. I was scared about the investment.

But something told me I needed it. Actually, it was more like a strong pull inside, directing me to do it. To trust it and just do it.

A few weeks later, my daughter got her diagnosis.

Those coaching sessions became the space where I reconnected with my values and purpose when everything else felt like chaos. Where I remembered what mattered when all I wanted to do was collapse. Where I stayed grounded through the hardest months of my life. Thank you, Gretchen.

I teach about the power of coaching. This year, I lived it.

And here’s what I learned: values and purpose aren’t something you find once and keep forever. They evolve as you evolve. You reconnect with them regularly, refine them as you grow, and adjust them when life shifts. This work is continuous, not a one-time discovery.

That reconnection? It’s what saved me this year.

“Reconnecting with our values and purpose help us make decisions that align, even when those decisions are hard.”

I’M GRATEFUL I CHOSE MY FAMILY.

In April, when my daughter got sick, I made a choice. I stepped back from work. I canceled sessions. I let my business shrink even further while I focused on what actually mattered: my child’s health and our family’s wellbeing.

At the time, it felt terrifying. Like I was failing at the very thing I teach about: values-aligned living. I had already lost so many clients, I couldn’t afford to cancel more coaching sessions. But again, that pull inside directed me to trust and just do it.

Looking back, it was the most values-aligned decision I’ve made in years. I chose what mattered most to me at that moment. I lived my values, not just talked about them.

My daughter is thriving now. And I know that happened in part because I showed up for her, I showed up for what mattered most.

I also had one of the most successful years in my business, with my clients sharing how transformational this year has been for them, due to our work. Because I showed up for them. I was present and aligned.

This is the work I do. Helping people reconnect with their values so they can make decisions that align, even when those decisions are hard. Even when the world is telling them to do something different.

And the best part is that I didn’t just coach this work this year. I lived it. And the results speak for themselves!

I’M GRATEFUL FOR REFLECTION.

I’ve been doing year-end review work with my coaching clients for a long time. We sit together and reflect on what the year taught them, what they want to release, and what they want to carry forward. I also lead vision board workshops to help people visualize and clarify their goals and dreams. Super fun!

Over time, these practices evolved into a three-part process that creates real, sustainable transformation:

Part 1: Year in Review – Reflect on what happened, process it, and reconnect with values and purpose. Visualize and clarify the future.

Part 2: Goal Setting – Identify goals, dreams, and intentions. Break them down into the smallest unit of value and motive what I call the goal’s atom! Then we work in quarters. Instead of overwhelming year-long goals, we break them into quarters. Focused. Manageable. Aligned with what matters.

Part 3: Quarterly Check-Ins – We assess what you’ve accomplished, what needs to shift, and what and how to adjust as life changes.

This process keeps my clients grounded, intentional, and connected to what matters, not just in January, but all year long. It’s intentional, mindful, and clear.

In case you are curious, we work through the day-to-day stuff during our regular coaching sessions.

TODAY, I’M GIFTING YOU PART 1.

This is the first year I‘m sharing this workbook with folks who are not my clients. There’s so much intention and love put into this workbook.

The Year in Review Workbook is a guided reflection process to help you close 2025 with intention. To acknowledge what was hard, celebrate what worked, and clarify what you want to carry forward.

It takes about an hour. And that hour matters.

Most of us will rush from this year into the next without pausing to learn from what we’ve been through. And then we wonder why we feel scattered and disconnected in February.

I’m offering you an opportunity to not do that again. To stop. To reflect. To be intentional with your life next year.

If you want support going deeper, there is a guided meditation at the top of this blog post to help you settle into this reflection work. 

Here’s what I know from years of doing this work

Reflection alone is powerful. But reflection WITH ongoing support? That’s where transformation happens.

My clients don’t just do the Year in Review and stop. We take that clarity and build on it. We create the path. We design their year into quarters. We check in regularly. We adjust when life shifts. We stay connected to what matters even when everything gets hard.

If you want that kind of support, I have (very few) spaces for new clients starting January.

We’ll start with your Year in Review insights and build a roadmap for 2026 that’s grounded in your values, broken into manageable quarters, and supported by regular check-ins so you never feel lost or scattered again.

Book a consultation with me here.

Or, if you’re not ready for coaching yet, that’s ok, start with the workbook. Do the reflection. Give yourself that hour. It’s a gift. My gift to you!

As this year comes to a close, I want to hear from you.

What are you grateful for from 2025? Even the hard parts. Maybe especially the hard parts.

Leave a comment or send me a message. I read everything.

Here’s to a year that challenged us, changed us, and somehow made us more of who we’re meant to be.

Focusing on what matters most, let’s improve our communication and transform our interactions one conversation at a time.

A YEAR IN REVIEW WORKBOOK

A workbook to help you pause, reflect, refocus, recommit, and realign dreams, aspirations, and intentions with your values and purpose.

With love and gratitude,

Miriam

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