A Year of Renewal: Reflecting on Change, Courage, and New Beginnings
Every year, I choose a single word that becomes a thread woven through my life—my sankalpa, my heartfelt intention. This year, my word is Renewal, and as I close the door on another chapter, I can clearly see how life has been guiding me toward this exact moment of rediscovery.
2024 was unlike any year I’ve ever lived. It brought deep healing, unexpected shifts, and a powerful invitation to grow in directions I didn’t anticipate. After decades of helping others reconnect to themselves, this was the year life asked me to reconnect to me.
And I said yes.
Letting Go: Stepping Away After 18 Years
One of the biggest shifts—one that still feels surreal—was ending my 18 years of traveling to more than 50 assisted living homes. For nearly two decades, I poured my heart into teaching adaptive yoga, holding space for elders, and building community through mindful movement.
It was sacred work.
Beautiful work.
Exhausting work.
And it was time.
Pulling back to only a small handful of homes wasn’t just a schedule change. It was a soul-level shift. It was an act of honoring my body, my healing, and the next evolution of my service. For the first time in years, I allowed myself to loosen the grip on what I had always done and create space for what could be possible next.
A New Path: Becoming a Qualified Behavioral Health Assistant
This year also brought a huge professional pivot—one that aligned not only with my gifts but with my capacity.
I stepped into my new role as a Qualified Behavioral Health Assistant, helping people recover from trauma through skills, connection, and compassionate support.
This work is meaningful in a different way.
It requires less physical demand, but a deeper emotional presence.
It allows me to live my values without compromising my wellness.
And most of all, it lets me continue serving others in a way that honors my own healing journey.
Sometimes renewal doesn’t look like starting over.
Sometimes it looks like redirecting your wisdom where it can thrive.
Welcoming Rosie: Joy Arrives on Four Paws
Another bright spot this year?
I got a new puppy — sweet Rosie.
She arrived exactly when I needed a spark of uncomplicated joy, and she brought just that.
There is something magical about how animals help us stay present, soften our hearts, and remember to play. Rosie has been a daily reminder that renewal can show up in wagging tails, muddy paw prints, and early-morning snuggles.
She is a gift of pure delight.
The Big One: I Wrote My Book
And then there’s the part that still makes me say, “Did I really do that?”
I wrote my book.
After years of teaching, thousands of classes, countless conversations, and decades of lived experience… something inside me said now.
The words poured out—not from obligation, but from an inner knowing that it was time.
This book is the culmination of everything I’ve lived, learned, healed, and held.
It is a tapestry of wisdom and wellness, a snapshot of my heart in this season of life.
It is my offering.
My renewal.
My beginning again.
Writing it stretched me, surprised me, and awakened parts of my creativity that had been sleeping under the weight of survival mode. More than anything, it reminded me of my purpose—and my voice.
As I Step Into 2025
Renewal is not a return to who I used to be.
It’s an unfolding.
A softening.
A reclaiming.
This year brought endings, beginnings, and a lot of gentle in-between moments.
It taught me that clarity often arrives only after the letting go.
That healing isn’t linear.
That courage can be quiet.
And that renewal is a choice we make every single day.
As I step into 2025, I do so with gratitude, openness, trust and renewal.
My sankalpa of Renewal has been eye-opening and just rich. What is next? Stay tuned as I reveal my word for 2026! It is going to be a good one!
