25 Lessons from 2025

I let ChatGPT read my journal and this is what it said...

I didn’t need a bigger vision this year.
I needed better listening. (And maybe a tan?)

As I went back through my journals from the past year, with the help of ChatGPT (literally the most impactful awareness-building exercise I could’ve ever conceived of - I dare you to try it!), what surprised me most wasn’t the content — it was the rhythm. The same doubts returning at the same points in my cycle, even though it took me half the year to see it. The same clarity arriving after surrender. The same temptation to interpret exhaustion as failure, confusion as a character flaw, vulnerability as incompetence.

This year taught me that much of what I once called “struggle” was information — from my body, my spirit, and my season of life.

Turning 40, parenting older children, creating work that asks me to be seen, and living inside a female body that is changing in real time has required a different kind of wisdom than hustle or willpower. It’s required discernment. Patience. A willingness to stop overriding myself.

In this episode, I share the 25 lessons that emerged — not neatly or heroically — but honestly. Lessons about timing, fear, hormones, faith, marriage, motherhood, creativity, and what it means to stay present when the path forward isn’t obvious yet.

This isn’t a blueprint. It’s a record of attention and maybe an invitation to trust that your own patterns are trying to teach you something, too. If nothing else, hopefully you’ll find the insanity of the inner-workings of my brain entertaining.

🎧 Listen to the episode here: YouTube / Apple / Spotify

See ya later, 2025! Bring it, 2026!

xElle