Here I go…… my 2025 goal/ motivation/ mindset plan.

Seems like I blink and it’s a new year again! The past year has been one that I am happy to put behind me, it seems like there were so many changes it ended up feeling very unsettled. I am not unhappy with my life, I am just feeling some overwhelming, unsatisfied feelings, and I know the only way to get past this feeling is to truly just change my mindset- move through it. I am not willing to settle for feeling this way, this is not my new way of life. Just like I tell my patients each day, don’t settle on feeling mediocre- or worse, don’t blame your age, your job, your genetics, or your luck for feeling crappy or unhappy or unhealthy. Your mindset is your only obstacle.

You know that feeling when you’re on vacation, it’s the second morning, you wake up feeling refreshed and relaxed and excited to have several more days of rest and fun? You count backwards how many days you have left and get that giddy feeling of knowing you still have time… time to enjoy yourself, time without deadlines or schedules.

And then, you know that feeling of knowing you have one more day of vacation, and it’s almost like you panic, knowing you need and want to enjoy it, but you know it’s almost over. You try to squeeze in all the fun, but that dark cloud of gloom is looming over you reminding you that reality is about to smack you right in the face. Reality of not only work and schedules, but budgets and time constraints are right around the corner.

What if your life was feeling that second day of vacation feeling on a regular basis? Why isn’t it?

What is holding you back? My thought is that you have to make your life a reality you don’t need a vacation from. Sure, we have setbacks and struggles. We have hurts, habits, and hang-ups. But those should not limit us from loving the life we live. Life is too short to settle and struggle.

I’ve been in patient care for years. As a CNA in a nursing home, I witnessed the greatest grief and anger and pain in my patients and their families, and I was young. I am forever impacted. As a nurse in the hospital I witnessed desperation and fear, panic but also grace and healing. As a hospice nurse, I felt compassion and heartache, but also regret and even relief. As a Nurse Practitioner, my experience has made me feel every emotion- sometimes agony, or even disgust, sometimes sympathy, but usually empathy. The main thing I am thankful I am able to utilize as an NP is empowerment, and this is my greatest achievement. On a daily basis I encounter people who have likely been brushed aside in conventional medicine, who have been disregarded and are disheartened by the health care system. And I still struggle with it daily, for myself and my patients- dealing with insurance barriers and restrictions, or the absolute nonsense of referrals and authorizations. It makes me nauseous, but again, the only thing we can do is change our mindset. We have to move through the issue at hand, and we have to change our mindset to create a solution. I’m saying this just as much for myself as I am for you. We have to treat each day as the second day of vacation, looking for opportunity and happiness and not just pushing our struggles aside, but moving them from our vision, because they are nothing but a hindrance. This can be related to anything in our life, from removing crap food from our house, to stopping mindless scrolling on toxic social media, to removing blame and leaning on fear for our future.

2025 is all about empowering, believing, and trusting the process. I am thankful to be where I am and my goal is to empower or encourage, even when I may lack that for myself.

Because that is what it is; life, death, fear, doubt, belief and healing… It's using our mindset and realizing it is in our hands to make the best of it, even if we may need to squint a little harder to see the silver lining.