A Year That Didn’t Go According to Plan... and Why That’s Okay

What This Difficult Year Really Gave Me

Another year has passed...and once again, I didn’t accomplish everything I had planned.

Some goals remained unfinished. Some hopes didn’t materialize. And yes, I experienced social disappointments again. Friendships that faded. Connections that didn’t grow the way I expected. Situations that hurt more than I’d like to admit.

For a long time, I used to see this as failure. Today, I see it as information.

Because sometimes life doesn’t repeat lessons to punish us, it repeats them until we finally learn.

My 2025

Learning to Let Go of Control

This year taught me one of the hardest skills for a single mother: letting go of what I cannot control.

I stopped fighting reality. Stopped trying to fix everything, save everyone, or hold situations together at all costs. My tolerance level toward people, uncertainty, and myself is higher than it has ever been. And not because I became numb, but because I became wiser.

Acceptance is not resignation. In psychology, acceptance reduces emotional resistance...and resistance is what creates most of our suffering.

When we stop asking “Why is this happening to me?” and start asking “What is this teaching me?”, something shifts inside. I finally learn that.

Finding Myself on the Tennis Court

This year, I found something that always was in my life SPORT but now totally belongs to me: tennis. Not only as a performance. Not as another obligation. But as a space where my body could release what my mind carried. Movement regulates the nervous system.

It lowers cortisol. It brings us back into the present moment. Therapy in best way ever.

If your mind is constantly racing, don’t start with meditation, start with movement. The body often needs regulation before the mind can follow.

For single mothers especially, having a personal outlet is not selfish, it’s essential.

A Year of Change, Loss, and Witnessing Pain

This was not a beautiful year.

My children and I went through many changes. And we witnessed tragedies: real ones, the kind that stay with you long after the news cycle moves on.

These experiences force you to grow up emotionally, even when you’re already exhausted.

Trauma doesn’t always come from what happens to us. Sometimes it comes from what we witness especially when we feel powerless.

I learned that grief doesn’t always need fixing. Sometimes it just needs space.

Mindfulness That Actually Works in Real Life

This year, I stopped treating mindfulness and positive psychology as concepts and started using them as daily tools. Not perfectly. Not every day. But consistently enough to notice change. I learned to:

Pause before reacting

Name my emotions instead of suppressing them

Celebrate small, ordinary moments

Stop waiting for life to feel “safe” before feeling grateful

....

Gratitude doesn’t deny pain. It widens your emotional capacity so pain doesn’t take up all the space.

Slowly, I noticed that the areas of my life that caused the most disappointment in recent years began to lose their emotional charge. Not because they disappeared but because

I changed my relationship with them.

What This Year Really Gave Me

This year didn’t give me everything I wanted.

But it gave me:

Emotional resilience

Better boundaries

Self-trust

A deeper connection with myself and my children

And a quieter, more stable inner world

And maybe that’s what growth actually looks like.

Not dramatic transformations. Not perfect endings. But learning to stand in the middle of uncertainty without losing yourself.

For You, If This Year Was Hard Too

If this year didn’t turn out the way you hoped you’re not behind.

You’re learning. You’re adjusting. You’re becoming more honest with yourself.

And that matters more than any checklist.

This year wasn’t easy. But it was real.

And today, that feels like enough.

Before You Plan 2026, Pause and Reflect on 2025

In a recent Instagram reel, I shared something that feels especially important at the end of the year.

Positive psychology doesn’t say “think positive.”It says: notice what works and repeat it consciously.

Mindfulness doesn’t say “be calm.”It says: pause before you decide what comes next.

Before you start writing goals for 2026, give yourself permission to stop for a moment. Reflection is not wasted time, it’s what gives direction to everything that follows.

Here are five questions worth asking yourself before the year ends:

1. What supported my emotional health this year?

2. What drained my energy and no longer deserves a place in my life?

3. Which small habit made the biggest difference?

4. Who do I need closer — and who further away?

5. What do I want to continue, instead of starting from zero again?

   
   

You don’t need a plan for a perfect future version of yourself.

Sometimes it’s enough to clearly know what you no longer want.

And that clarity alone can change everything.

If one of these questions resonates with you today let it guide your next step.

Awareness always comes before action.

Happy New Year,

With Love,

Mag