What I’ve Learned in 2025 + 2025 highlights

It’s been quite a year.

If I’m honest with you all, I’d much rather be watching Pride and Prejudice and working on knitting a collar to a sweater right now. (The technological issues that began before I could even write this post *shakes head*)

2025 was ultimately 2024 but on repeat. If we had skipped from 2024 to 2026, there’s not much I would have missed out on. It’s been a lowkey year. I’m still wrestling the disappointment of prayers unanswered and carrying worries and anxiety like background noise to everyday life.

I wish 2025 was one of the best years of my life, and I wish I were ending it on a high note. But that’s just not true.

This year has felt like this gif unendingly and asking God for answers feels like a game of Telephone, a game I have very specific beef with.

It wasn’t a bad year. It just wasn’t what I was hoping for.

This year, I got on my plane by myself for the first time and I went to London. I managed to go to two Broadway shows. I knit a sweater. I took a day trip to DC, and found out we have an American Pope (such an iconic moment!). I became obsessed with Jeopardy and even got to see Ken Jennings at the New Yorker Festival. I baked a ton – cinnamon rolls, banana bread, and even doughnuts. I finished a few shows: Endeavor, Cranford, Wives and Daughters (lots of English period dramas). I read 81 books, including Middlemarch!

Best of all, I compiled a journal with all my special moments with the Lord and kept it up for the entire year.

With all that said, here are some life lessons from a not-what-I-expecting year in my life.

Sometimes you will feel stuck

I feel like I’ve been in quicksand since I graduated in 2022 and I have yet to actually begin my adult life. I keep thinking once I actually have a full time job with benefits (because ya know, healthcare is important), I’ll actually live. And it’s a longsuffering prayer that I’ve have yet to see God answer. I have actively job hunted at two different points during the year and it didn’t yield much. Starting to wonder what kind of spiritual opposition there is to me being gainfully employed (joking, but also not really).

You aren’t always going to hear what you want from the Lord

If there’s anything I’ve learned from my years as a Christian, (I am far from a mature believer, I am just a human that believes Jesus lived, died, and rose again and his blood covers me for eternity), it’s that God will not always say what you want to hear. In fact, the way to know it’s from the Lord is if it’s unexpected. Alongside being based in scripture.

Sometimes the answer is no, or not yet, or something else that you’d rather not hear. Some questions won’t have answers in this lifetime. That’s not an easy pill to swallow. A part of faith is wrestling with things you don’t understand. That said, it’s an utter gift to hear God’s voice. If you’re unsure, you can always pray for confirmation and clarity.

You have to commit (and commitment brings its own clarity)

The truth is that there’s always going to be some underlying uncertainty on whether or not a decision you made is the right one. But you won’t know unless you say yes and try, So try a book club. Or try learning a new language with a language partner. Grow and try because at least you’ll have more information if you decide to change your mind.

Follow where the joy flows

For me, that meant locking into Jeopardy. Reading cozy murder mysteries in small towns. Baking sweet treats. Drinking my Harney and Sons Victorian London Fog. Drinking Pure Leaf’s raspberry tea (blackberry is also another great flavor!) Buying and burning the expensive candles.

In hard times, it’s easy to focus on just surviving, but part of survival is having small things to look forward to. So buy yourself the flowers and turn on the twinkle lights. Keep chasing after joy. Also, All Joy by Francesca Battistelli is an incredible song!

You cultivate the environment

This was the year where I realized I am a steward and I have to be intentional in caring for my environment. I kept living like I was moving and the moving never came. Now that I have accepted that, I am intentional about making sure my space is refreshing. (I actually still have to clean out my oven, but it’s worth it. I’m craving some coffee cake right now.) A space that you love doesn’t just happen – it takes intentionality.

In every season, I always think it’ll be easier next season and it isn’t

This is partly why 2025 felt so disappointing. I was hoping for a season of abundance, a promised land, and I feel like I’ve got 20 years in the wilderness left. You can feast on the food in front of you or you can grumble at the table. Knowing me, I’m going to do a little bit of both.