🪾I am Rooted. I am Whole. I am Becoming.

As I welcome this new year, I do so with deep reflection and reverence.

In many ways, 2025 has been one of the most challenging years I have personally experienced—second only to 1995, the year I unexpectedly lost my daughter in a motor vehicle–pedestrian accident. That moment altered the entire trajectory of my life. I remember knowing, with a certainty that still lives in my bones, that nothing would ever be the same again. And it hasn’t been.

Then, on April 3rd, 2021, my world shifted once more with the unexpected passing of my mother—my only parent—due to a hemorrhagic stroke. Another life-altering loss. Another moment that reshaped my understanding of love, grief, and resilience. Two profound losses in one lifetime—how does one continue forward after that kind of trauma?

I didn’t have the answer then. I still don’t have a neat one now.

I only know that I kept moving. I kept living. I kept learning. I kept planting roots, growing, and evolving. It has not been easy—but it has become my truth and my life’s journey.

So when 2025 arrived with its trials and tribulations—its fears, uncertainties, and social stressors—I was far more unprepared than I realized. This was a year that, in many ways, nearly broke me. It was life-consuming, deeply unsettling, and at times painfully personal.

Politics—something I was never deeply invested in—suddenly became personal. Immigration reform impacted my family in ways I never imagined. Economic instability affected my business and livelihood. And while these losses were different from those I’ve known before, they were still losses—ones that reshaped my world in unexpected ways. And somehow, even now, I can say I am grateful for what they revealed, taught, and refined within me.

As I look back on the year that was, I do not look back to relive the weight of those moments. Instead, I look back to say goodbye—to the innocence of who I once believed myself to be, and to the limited understanding I had of the world around me. Who I thought I was becoming, and what I thought I understood, was not what I imagined. And that realization, while uncomfortable, has been profoundly clarifying.

Now, as I step steadfastly into 2026, I recognize this season as one of transition—rooted in everything I have endured, built, and survived. The roots I’ve planted through personal and professional challenges have grown deep. From those roots has come wholeness—strength, resilience, and the determination required to become someone standing in an era of limitless possibility.

That is why this year’s theme—Rooted. Whole. Becoming.—feels so deeply relevant. It represents the shedding of what no longer serves us and the courageous evolution into what we need to grow—individually and collectively.

In our rooting, we planted the foundational seeds of our lives. We dug deep. We pulled from the earth what was necessary to survive. Survival was our greatest burden—and our greatest gift. It carried us to this place of wholeness, and now, into our becoming.

We are whole because of our journey. And while our challenges will continue to shape us, we are also being invited into a season of receiving—of enjoying the fruits of our efforts. As we stretch toward our goals this year, we must also give ourselves the grace to accept and sustain them. Becoming requires energy, strength, and an extraordinary amount of patience.

So be patient with yourself.

Be grounded.

Be gentle.

Our evolution isour becoming. And becoming requires that we say goodbye—to the past, to certain people, and to habits and rituals that no longer serve who we are now. We honor them. We thank them. But we do not carry them forward.

It is time to evolve.

It is time to give yourself permission to grow.

Because for better or worse, my friends—it is time.

I am deeply excited for this next chapter and honored to continue this journey with you. Thank you for allowing me to walk alongside you as your coach, guide, and personal development cheerleader 📣as we step into 2026: Rooted. Whole. Becoming.

With gratitude and intention,

Coach Carol 🌱