The Yellow Door Life

Everything can change in one year.

Sometimes, nothing will. 

2025 started with me watching the downtown fireworks display alone in my car, parked up the street, away from all the festivities. I wanted to see the fireworks, but I couldn’t handle much else. 

I felt like I needed to start the year alone. 

Ironically, or not at all really, I’m also ending it that way. 

I’ve already said it, but overall, 2025 was honestly a good year. 

I experienced a lot of growth and some really positive things happened. 

I go to the gym now if that says anything, which wasn’t even on my radar at this time last year. 

I feel like I spent 2025 filling up a proverbial bucket full of knowledge and resilience, but I still am not entirely sure how I’m going to use everything I put into the bucket, or why nothing is happening with my bucket of growth. 

One of my favorite stories of Jesus’ ministry is his first public miracle; turning the water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana. Before the miracle could take place, the servants had to fill large, stone jars full of water. They were probably confused, and also irritated, but they obeyed. Through their obedience, and I’d like to think, faith, Jesus turned the water into wine.

I’ve been filling up my buckets for a while now. I’m confused, and yes 100% irritated, but I also know I have to guard my buckets, because I believe they will serve a greater purpose. 

I guess that’s the thing about a single year. We expect it to be THE answer, to solve THE problem, but it’s just a piece – a drop in the bucket. 

Some years we are able to fill our buckets more than others, and some years, we use the buckets to live out our purpose more fully.

2025 was a bucket-filling year. 

My sincerest prayer is that 2026 will witness the miracle from all that perseverance. 

As always, every great story comes with some lessons, so here are mine for the last 365 days. 

Lessons from 2025:

Fool Me Once, Shame on You; Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me

One lesson I learned distinctly this year is that people will be put in your life strictly as lessons. Notice the clear emphasis on the word strictly. Since I set out on this journey to rediscover myself, post-diagnosis and divorce, I’ve learned very quickly whether or not someone is meant to be in my life. I spent years, decades even, entertaining people who ended up ditching me the second I stood up for myself. Now, I’m finding that people who are not for me, disappear much quicker than that, which is a blessing. I don’t want to waste more time than is necessary on people, experiences, or places that will drain me more than grow me. 

Which brings me to the lesson. When someone shows you who they are the first time, believe them. If you really want to give them a second chance, by all means, do that. If they show you they are the same person the second time, seriously, they are not kidding. There is no “fool me thrice” up there, but I believe it would read something like, “Fool me thrice, someone please lock me up so I can’t hurt myself anymore.” In all seriousness, the right things for you, whether that’s people or something else, won’t be that complicated. If someone treats you like crap, especially more than once, that’s probably all the story is: crap. Let it go. 

Choose to Live Simply 

Y’all can call me crazy, but I find absolute joy in reading ingredient labels. I annoy people at the store, because I’m always pausing in aisles to read ingredients. I have to. When trying to heal an autoimmune disease, the smallest crap can trigger a flare, so you best believe I’m going to read the ingredient labels on this organic, expensive food item in my hands. Plus, I find conviction in finding labels for food (and everything else) with simple, known, and short ingredient lists. Taking care of ourselves was never supposed to be this complicated (again things that are for us are s-i-m-p-l-e). 

I spent this year spending money on travel over things. I have begun the process of purging most everything I own. I search out food, beauty, and household products with clean ingredients. I pray. I go to the gym. I hike. I read. I journal. I write. I’m doing everything I can to make my life as simple as possible, so I can put my energy and time into fulfilling my purpose. And every time I let something go, I feel pressure being taken off my heart.

Say Hi 

I wrote a post earlier this year about planting seeds. Every day we are going to plant seeds for our career, relationships, well-being, etc. Those seeds are either going to take root, be fruitful, and bloom, or they’re going to die, get eaten, blow away, and get lost (you get the idea). The thing you have to learn is that the seeds that get snatched or never take root, aren’t the ones for you anyway. The seed I was referring to in that blog never took root, and it ended up being a blessing. 

What I needed to learn this year is that even good seeds may take longer to grow than you would like or expect. Those seeds usually have the most beautiful result. Those are the seeds worth living a whole life for. So even if the seed seems small, or scary, plant it. Whether it’s saying hi, being kind to someone, moving, submitting a job application, or changing your mind. You only have this one life to live, so you might as well say hi while you can. You never know how that hi will end up down the road. 

Just Do It Already (#JDIA)

Introducing my mantra for 2026 (and no I’m not trying to rip off Nike – emphasis on the ALREADY).  2025 may not have been perfect, but I will darn well remember that it was the turning point in my health journey. I’ve spent years since I left Colorado trying to get all my health pieces in a row and now I finally feel like I’m operating with a full deck. It’s going to take months, potentially years of work still, but I finally feel equipped to do it. And what’s more important, I’m no longer scared to do it. The only thing I fear now is how busy the gym is going to be in the month of January (JK, bring it on).

We all have things in life that we have procrastinated for one reason or another. My absolute worst character flaw is procrastination and it’s seriously time for me to recalibrate. I may not be super old, but I’m certainly not a twenty-something anymore and if I have the heart to do something – I have to start doing it now. There are too many cliches about how short life is, so I’m not going to bore you with those. Instead, I just want you to think about this, would you rather spend today planning for an amazing day tomorrow, or would you rather live that amazing day today? 

#JDIA

…

I honestly cannot tell you how a single thing is going to work out in 2026, but I sincerely believe every single thing will. 

I wish you all a very blessed and safe New Year, and I will be praying that God answers whatever needs or questions are in your heart. 

Last year at this time, I wasn’t sure if I should bring my blog back, but I’m so glad that I did.  Thank you all for reading my blog and making one of my dreams come true, day after day. 

I love y’all and I believe in you.

See you in 2026.

-Em ❤