So this is the New Year 🎶
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(First of all, bless you if you got that DCFC song reference in the subject line 🙏) But...so, uh: it's 2026 now, huh? I used to do year-in-review recaps as a reflective exercise here where I'd recap all the wins and good things that happened over the last 12 months, but as I get older (and more averse to the highlight reel that is all things internet these days), I decided maybe it would be all illuminating for *all of us* if I pulled back the curtain a bit this time around. Because you know what? 2025 was a tough one for me. And as easy as it would be for me to spin up a story for you about how great everything was, I'd rather be honest: some parts of it sucked. This ain't no pity party (it ain't no country club, either) This is 2025 🎶 Q1: A season of business uncertainty Work is always slow to ramp back up post-holidays, and as a freelancer, every year, without fail, this fact sends me into a tailspin about the viability of my career. But as you can see from the chart below, that Q1 slump really held on for a good long while. And, in fact, January was quite in the red. I made it through, though, and things did eventually pick back up. However, over those months, and with the AI boom underway, I started to get very serious about the idea that I may need to hang up my freelancing hat and go back in-house. I posted an announcement on LinkedIn about that, and it got a decent amount of response that resulted in some interviews. I tried several different test runs for full-time roles, but none of them were the right fit. This was also my first year of not having healthcare benefits, which also fueled the thinking that, perchance, it was time to go back in-house. I can't tell you how many days I woke up and thought, "I hope nothing bad happens to me todayyyyy!" (Spoiler alert: Nothing terrible happened, and for that I am eternally grateful. I've since joined CrowdHealth as a stop-gap healthcare solution, in case you were wondering, and it has put a lot of that medical expense anxiety to rest.) Q2: A very promising opportunity In early June, I got a LinkedIn message from a person at a Very Big Tech Company about a role she needed to fill. It seemed like a great opportunity as a Next Step™️ for my career. Long story short (you can read more about that here), the role was eliminated, and so, no...I did not get that job. Part of making it so far in the interview process for the role was that I had already decided to move to a new city to be near the office I'd be working from, as it was a hybrid role. My lease was ending, and it seemed like a good time to try a new location. I don't regret the move in hindsight, and really enjoy my new location, but it was embarrassing to explain to people that this thing I thought I had "in the bag" didn't work out. Sigh. In other developments, Emma and I also recorded the final season of our podcast, The Freelance Writing Coach, which was bittersweet. If you missed those episodes, you now have a backlog of 88 episodes to listen to! Q3: Ch-ch-changes I packed up my things and moved 825 miles (truly my first time living in an entirely new and unfamiliar place, ever) in August, and in a stroke of good luck, my workload picked up quite a bit. As part of the cross-state move, I had to re-domesticate my LLC, which, to be totally honest, I am still sorting out, but my bookkeeping and tax provider Collective has made *so much easier.* In fact, when I sent the support team an email that said: "I was sent the attached form to complete and could really use some assistance filling it out, as I don't want it to be incorrect/have negative tax implications. There are some fields on this form that I'm not sure how to complete. Can someone from Collective help advise?" They replied with the most beautiful response: BLESS THEM. I also leaned back into my reporting work during this period and went to NYFW, attended class on campus for the Philosophy and Ethics graduate work I'm still pursuing, and got to go on a few other fun trips while getting settled in my new city. Q4: Endings, endings The last few months of the year had a theme of endings for me.
That said, those endings coinciding with the end of the year made the start of 2026 feel very much like a fresh start. For this year, I'm looking forward to new possibilities.
2025 was hard. It was! But I made it, and so did you. Good for us, gang. 2026 is looking good. 'Til next time, |