As 2025 draws to a close, I find myself doing what I always do at this time of year. I slow down, look back and take inventory. Not of accomplishments or accolades, but of moments. Quiet, hard and sacred moments. The fierce moments that shape a woman more than any checklist ever could.

Can you believe we are already standing at the edge of another New Year? The arrival of January has a way of stirring urgency. We are encouraged to reinvent ourselves or improve ourselves. Everywhere we look, we are told to resolve, reset, renew. While intention is not a bad thing, I want to gently suggest something different. Before you decide what needs changing, I want you to pause and honor what has endured. Because if you are reading this, you are still here. And that matters.

Looking Back Before Looking Forward

When I think about 2025, I do not see it as a neat chapter with a tidy ending. It was layered, complex and tender. It asked me to continue living inside unanswered questions while still choosing joy when it presented itself. This year reminded me that life does not move in straight lines. Healing is not linear. Growth does not arrive on command. Strength does not always announce itself loudly.

Some days in 2025 felt grounded and full. Other days felt hollow, uncertain, and quiet in ways that made me sit with myself longer than I wanted to. But every day asked something of me. And I answered as best I could. That, I have learned, is one of the truest forms of fierceness.

Rethinking the Word Fierce Again

Years ago, the word fierce entered my life unexpectedly. I did not seek it out. It was placed in my hands, and frankly, I did not know what to do with it. At that time, I associated fierceness with sharp edges and with a force that did not feel like me. What I have come to understand, especially through the experiences of recent years, is that fierceness is not about how loudly you take up space. It is about how faithfully you inhabit your life. 2025 deepened that understanding.

This year, fierceness showed up quietly. It showed up in my willingness to keep loving, listening and believing that meaning can be built even when some dreams remain unfulfilled. It showed up in my commitment to stay present for my Ultimate Concierge. To nurture connection with intention. To protect the sanctity of companionship in a world that often pulls us in a thousand directions.

It showed up in my continued devotion to writing, philanthropy, and to showing up honestly for women who are navigating their own private storms. Fierceness, I now know, is not a force. It is fidelity. Fidelity to who you are becoming.

What This Year Asked of Me

2025 did not ask me to be perfect. Instead, it invited me to be awake. To notice grief that still exists without demanding resolution. To welcome joy when it arrives unexpectedly and allow it to be received without guilt. It also asked me to accept that life can be both beautiful and painful at the same time, and that holding both truths is not weakness.

This year asked me to continue the work of acceptance. The kind of acceptance that allows you to live fully without denying reality. It asked me to trust timing, even when I did not understand it. To trust that the seeds I have planted, in my work, in my relationships, and in my inner life.

It also asked me to listen more carefully to the women who reach out to me. Their stories are not abstract, but rather they are lived, raw and honest. They have shaped me as much as I hope my words have shaped them. This is not a one way exchange. It is a shared journey.

A Community Built on Truth, Not Perfection

One of the greatest gifts of this year has been the continued growth of a supportive, thoughtful community of women who are not interested in pretending. Women who are asking real questions. Women who are navigating estrangement, loneliness, reinvention, caregiving, grief, marriage, identity, and purpose all at once. Strong women are fierce, not because they have it all figured out, but because they refuse to give up on themselves.

If you are part of this community, I want you to know that you belong here exactly as you are. You do not need to be fixed to be worthy. You do not need to be cheerful to be welcome. You do not need to have answers to be valued. Fierceness lives in your honesty.

Redefining Fierce at This Stage of Life

At this chapter of my life, fierceness looks different than it did decades ago. It has softened, deepened, matured.

Today, fierceness means:

I am fierce because I choose compassion without self abandonment.
I am fierce because I allow myself to grieve without apologizing.
I am fierce because I stay curious instead of becoming bitter.
I am fierce because I protect my energy and my peace.
I am fierce because I continue to hope, even when hope feels risky.
I am fierce because I speak truth gently, but clearly.
I am fierce because I understand that rest is not weakness.
I am fierce because I show up honestly, even when the story is unfinished.
I am fierce because gratitude still guides me.

To the Woman Reading This Right Now

If you are reading this at the end of 2025, I want to speak directly to you. You may be entering the new year with clarity. You may feel grounded, or you may feel unmoored. All of these experiences are valid.

If you are carrying unspoken grief, I see you.
If you are rebuilding your identity after loss or change, I see you.
If you are longing for connection, understanding, or reassurance, I see you.

You are not behind or failing. You are living! And living takes courage.

I invite you to take a quiet moment for yourself, without distractions, and reflect by journaling or thinking about all the moments that shaped you this year!

An Invitation, Not a Resolution

Instead of making a resolution to become someone else, I invite you to begin 2026 by honoring who you already are. Create a quiet moment for yourself. Not as an indulgence, but as a necessity. Sit with yourself without distraction. Then say it out loud, even if it feels uncomfortable:

“I am fierce.”

Afterward, write one sentence. Just one.

“I am fierce because…”

Do not overthink it and let it be honest and imperfect. Let it be yours! Keep that sentence somewhere you will see it when doubt creeps in. Let it remind you of what you have already survived, what you have already learned, and what you are still capable of becoming.

I Am Here

As we step into a new year, I want you to know that I remain here. Not as someone with all the answers, but as someone who is willing to sit with the questions.

• If you need a place to land.
• If you need perspective.
• If you need to feel less alone.

You can always reach out to me at AskMe@HoneyGood.com. This community exists so that no woman has to navigate her life in silence.

Thank you for walking through 2025 with me. Thank you for your trust, your vulnerability, and your willingness to engage honestly with your own life. We will step into whatever comes next together. Fierce, not because we are unbreakable, but because we continue to rise.

Happy New Year, darling!