New Year, New Me... New Blog?

Well, it’s 2025 and after a LONG hiatus away from you, I’ve decided it’s time to hit the keys again. 

Life has a way of sobering you up pretty quickly sometimes - and this holiday season, it did just that. On Thanksgiving, my uncle suffered a massive stroke and was rushed to the hospital. By mid-December, my family was making end-of-life preparations and spent the time between then and this first week of the new year saying our goodbyes, mourning and grieving together, and attending to funeral service arrangements. 

My uncle’s passing was sudden and unexpected - leaving us just months before his 65th birthday. While we feel the weight of his absence on a daily basis, his death has also served as a jarring reminder of the fragility of life and the illusion time creates. 

His death juxtaposed against the ushering in of another year has provided some necessary perspective. At a time when my social media feeds are imploding with resolutions and reflections, I can’t help but do the same, but with the knowledge and wisdom of a grieving heart. 

So… here it is. My 2025 list of resolutions:

1. Live in gratitude: Stop complaining and lead with a grateful heart. Appreciate that I have a life some people pray for every damn day. The mess, the chaos, the stress, the attitudes, the deadlines, the expectations, the duties, the aches and pains… they’re all blessings. Each one of them is someone else’s wish-upon-a-star. How freaking lucky am I?

   
   

2. Don’t take time for granted: It seems to be whizzing by my head at warp speed these days. As my oldest finishes her middle school career and plans for the high school transition, time feels as fleeting as ever. I have five more summers before they’ll both be off to college. Five more years of shuttling them to practices, homework help, arranging their social calendars, family movie nights, and summers spent with our toes dipped in the turquoise waters of my parents’ pool. How often do I push away the simple moments with them because I’m too busy, too tired, too stressed? Time is a currency, and the idea that we have endless reserves tucked away in a bank available to cash out at some other point on the timeline of our lives is a fallacy. In reality, time is finite. And what’s reality today might not be true tomorrow. In 2025, I’m aiming to be more present. To relish the time I have now with the people I love most. 

   
   

3. Invest in myself: That goes for my mind, body, and soul. It’s so easy as a parent to delay our own self-care and growth. And for the last six years, I’ve done just that. But truthfully, as my kids get older, I’m finding they need me just as much as they did when they were toddlers. And if I’m going to continue to show up for them, I need to preserve and care for myself so I can be the healthiest version of me and stick around for as long as God will possibly allow. Realistically for me this looks like developing and sticking to a gym routine to get back in shape, finding new recipes to cook more at home, finding a decent therapist (no, writing all my feels doesn’t count) and dealing with my own baggage and trauma, becoming more financially literate, and chasing my own dreams - from writing my own book, to moving abroad, to running my own marketing business, to (my newest obsession) opening a Boozy Bookstore. 

   
   

4. Live fearlessly: From trying new foods to traveling solo, jumping out of planes to falling in love - I’m here for it. All of it. Life is messy and scary, but I’ll be damned if I get to the end of it and all I have to look back on is the anxiety I held onto. I’m here for the sweaty palms, heart racing, nail-biting moments that make me want to laugh, cry, or throw up - and in rare instances, all of the above. 

   
   

5. Laugh more: I used to laugh and smile. A lot. Annoyingly so. But the weight of parenting and life and living alone and adulting and loving and losing has worn me down these last six years. I know my inner spark has dulled a bit - not vanished, but it certainly requires more effort to ignite a flame these days. Moving forward, I’m looking for more moments to make me laugh. And giving myself the grace to let go of what’s stressing or depressing me so I can find the humor and levity in it all. And leaning into people who bring out this side of me. Life’s simply too short to feel like you’re going through each day with a hand in a vice-grip around your heart. 

   
   

6. Stop letting impostor syndrome interfere with your talents: Oof. I’m calling myself out in a big way here. For two years, I haven’t picked up the pen, save for an occasional poem or two. I’ve stopped creating as much content, abandoned my blog altogether, and put my book on a metaphorical backshelf to collect dust. And why? Well, I came up with a bevy of acceptable excuses: no time, work’s too busy, I can’t write at home - too distracting. But truthfully? I convinced myself I had nothing to offer creatively. There are others who write better, who have more meaningful stories to tell. But this year, I’m resolving to bring my story back to center stage. And I’m not quite sure what that will look like yet. In the past, I’ve focused on parenting and dating and travel. I’m not sure which direction The Mama Monologues will take in 2025, but I hope you’ll join me for the journey. I promise it’ll be entertaining, genuine, and heartfelt, no matter the subject matter. 

In 2025, I hope you have the courage to lead the life you deserve and aspire to. I hope you change and grow so much that when 2026 knocks, you open the door and don’t recognize this new version of yourself. I hope you fill the remaining 360 days of this next chapter with nothing but love and laughter and the things that bring light to your life. And I hope I’m here to witness all of it. 

Xoxo

Nicole