2025: The Year of Growth

It’s probably no accident that I chose the word “grow” for 2025 and find myself not even a week in, having to grow in my comfort with being a week late on taking the time to write this out. So I guess, in some ways, I’ve achieved my goal for the year, so I can just coast for the next 11.5 months?

Just kidding! I know that’s incredibly unlikely since this year is bringing huge change! Katie and I are expecting our first little girl in a matter of weeks so I know very few things will stay the same. And it’s that reality that really solidified my “resolution word” for the year. Because change used to terrify me. Maybe it’s my OCD or my transition to adulthood or just my humanity, but change is hard. It requires a lot of work. And then just as you get used to something, it happens again. And while I still wouldn’t say that change is something I always look forward to, a few years of therapy and a lot of wonderful friends (my incredible wife included) have taught me it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. In fact, a lot of beautiful things come about with change. The beauty in it all is what helped me choose “grow” for this year, because that is a powerful and essential result of change – especially when we approach it with less fear and more joy.

So one week in, here are some ways I look forward to growing in 2025:

• Growing in my love for Katie with every passing day (it’s good to set easy goals that we do naturally so we have encouragement for the harder ones, right?)
• Growing with my baby girl (a lofty goal that’s both terrifying and exciting)
• Growing in boundary setting and asking for what I need (listed here for accountability because goodness knows I avoid this)
• Growing in a posture of abundance (turns out, even when it didn’t feel like it, we have more than enough)
• Growing into rhythms of health and joy (I want to be a good role model for my little one, especially in these areas)
• Growing community (since every year reminds me we cannot do life alone)
• Growing natural eyebrows and eyelashes (another hard one to say out loud but important for accountability – also OCD sucks most of the time)
• Growing in my love of reading and play and dancing in the kitchen (with my wife and baby, because adorable, right?)
• Growing as a spiritual practice (I believe my work informs my life and my life informs my work. Loving and serving God calls for a lotttt of growth)
• And growing in ways I can’t even predict yet (maybe the greatest part of growing is leaning into it the next time the opportunity comes around)

So that’s where I am on this random 9th day of January. Growing in letting some things go and holding on to what’s good. Excited and daunted by all that’s ahead, but grateful for all that comes my way (most of the time). Cheers to your growth this year and whatever resolutions or words might help you along the way. As my therapist often says, be gentle with yourselves and go change the world.

(Picture of my daughter back at 20 weeks, amazed by how much she’s already grown, in awe of how much she’ll grow with us in the seasons ahead)