If my 2025 had a shape, it would be one of those blobs. No uniform edges but fun to look at.

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It was the kind of year that looking back on had lots of uneven edges yet which all came together to form something to be be proud of and to reflect on with a huge sense of satisfaction.

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It was a year of coming back to what matters to me. When I recently turned my handwritten notes into the word cloud above, a few things jumped out immediately.

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Not surprises exactly, more confirmations.

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The words that showed up biggest were:

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Life First, Alignment, Health, Family, Community, Purpose.

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Words like growth, courage, learning, anxiety, recovery, boundaries sat alongside them.

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That combination pretty much sums up my year.

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Life First stopped being a slogan.

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For a long time, Life First has been something I believed in intellectually.

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In 2025, it became something I consciously practised. Sometimes clumsily, sometimes reluctantly, but more consistently than ever before. It's not perfect and its unlikely it ever will be but its helped me to be more level.

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That has meant making decisions where my main focus wasn't to optimise for revenue, visibility or momentum in the short term, but to optimise for energy, relationships and sustainability.

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There were days when the “productive” thing to do would have been to push on with a work first head. Instead, there were many times when I walked, rested, cancelled things, or stopped early.

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Not because I couldn’t cope, but because I didn’t want to live in permanent go mode.

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That shift alone changed the tone of my year.

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Health and movement became anchors, not add-ons. Movement showed up loudly in the reflection, and not by accident.

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Walking early in the day.

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Padel for joy, not just competition.

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Strength work for resilience rather than aesthetics.

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Stillness when my nervous system needed it.

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Health in 2025 wasn’t about transformation photos or targets. It was about trusting my body and learning when to push and when to protect. That also meant acknowledging anxiety rather than pretending it wasn’t there. Heights, crowds, unfamiliar environments; none of those magically disappeared. But my relationship with it started to change.

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Therapy, self-awareness, and honest conversations gave me more range rather than false confidence. I didn’t eliminate fear. I expanded my courage. Alignment replaced hustle.

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One of the strongest words in my word cloud was Alignment. That feels right. ALIGN began the year as a framework I was proud to have developed. As the year progressed, I was incredibly mindful about it in all I did:

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• How much does this piece of work matter right now?

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• Is this relationship reciprocal?

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• Is this growth coming from curiosity or obligation?

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• Am I building momentum, or just motion?

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That questioning led to simplification. Fewer projects. Clearer boundaries. Better systems. More structure where it supported flow, not rigidity.

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Some opportunities were good on paper and wrong in practice. Saying no to them wasn’t always comfortable, but it was almost always relieving.

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Community and contribution deepened.

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2025 reinforced something I’ve long suspected, which is that I do my best work in community.

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The launch of Business Uncorked in April wasn’t just a series of events; it has quickly become a place for shared stories, generosity and support.

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Uncorked Impact has brought that to life in a more tangible way, reminding me that contribution doesn’t need to be grand to be meaningful.

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Spending time with local charities, having real conversations rather than transactional ones, and staying rooted in place mattered more than scale this year.

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Impact felt quieter but more real.

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Creativity returned through writing and speaking.

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Writing showed up strongly in the reflection, and I’m glad it did. Not everything I wrote in 2025 was meant for publication. Some of it was simply thinking on the page. Making sense of contradictions. Letting ideas breathe before turning them into frameworks or programmes. However, you may have noticed that I upped the game this year with my published written content. I've seen it as a form of journalling in public. Even then, it's been for others but it has also been for me.

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Speaking, podcasting, and coaching felt more grounded too. Less about delivering answers and more about holding space for better questions.

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Ironically, by trying less hard to “sound like an expert”, the work became more useful. I appeared on two podcasts this year which I enjoyed immensely.

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Money stayed important an important part of my work and life, just not dominant. Money didn’t disappear from the picture, but it took its rightful place.

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Enough mattered.

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Sustainability mattered.

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Choice mattered.

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It became one input among many, alongside energy, health, time, relationships and meaning.

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That shift didn’t reduce my ambition. It refined it.

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What 2025 taught me if I had to distill the year into a few truths, they’d be these:

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• Alignment beats intensity.

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• Growth without recovery isn’t progress.

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• Anxiety shrinks when it’s acknowledged, not resisted.

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• Community multiplies resilience.

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• Life First is a practice, not a destination.

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I didn’t “arrive” anywhere in 2025.

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But I did feel more at home in how I’m living and working. That feels like the right foundation for whatever comes next.

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Our next ten years don’t start with a plan. The year has shown me that they begin by working on our alignment.