By I’m back from my travels! I’ll be posting soon enough about the trip (a delightful week in London with my travel gal pals) but first it is time to reflect. We are at the end of 2025 which means it is time to complete a little analysis of the year.
I’ll treat this as a feedback sandwich (good, bad, good). If you’ve ever managed people, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, this was a tool to somewhat soften the blow of negative feedback. You were supposed to lead with something positive (“you did a great job in teaching reports to Susie.”), followed by the criticism (“Unfortunately, you left your Slack message on screen while you were on the call with her. In that message, you called her a moron. That is unprofessional (and unkind).” You then conclude with another positive (“Your quick response time is appreciated by your clients.”). I totally understand the purpose, but I suspect that the criticism was lost on people who needed to hear it most when it was sandwiched. There are some pretty funny images conveying the criticism sandwich (You can google but I am showing one here).
Let’s dive in…
First the positive there were some really good moments: I continued to grow my business, adding new clients while maintaining work/life balance AND providing stellar service. I also took a bucket-list trip to Alaska.
The criticism for the year was the decline in health of my sweet sweet Mavis, ultimately leading to me to make the difficult decision to have her put to sleep. I am sorry she had to suffer and wished she could have stayed longer with me. As Scarlet O’Hara frequently stated, “I can’t think about that now. I’ll think about it tomorrow.”. I miss Mavis every day. She helped me through some exceptionally difficult times through the years. I have SO many people who have helped to fill the void in my heart, which bring me to my concluding positive.
I am grateful for my friends and family who continue to be incredibly supportive of me. A special shout out to my sister who loved Mavis as much as me. And my friends who reached out – two dear friends sent flowers; another friend had a portrait done of Mavis . I am especially grateful to my travel partners who got me out of the house (and to London).
2025 was bad but it wasn’t my worst year. I’m glad it is over and am eagerly awaiting the start of 2026. Who knows what God has in store for me?
Moments from the year.
