I like the idea of doing a quarterly review of my annual theme, as a way to reset, re-evaluate, figure out what I want to change and celebrate what I did actually accomplish.
I set my intention for the year as “health”, and in Q4 I returned to myself as a creative being. I read more. I wrote more. I exercised. I used the end of year break to really catch up on my digital life and set a foundation for next year, and spent several hours with the Year Compass to orient myself.
A focus in Q4 every year is Hamper Season, and this year was no exception. We built beautiful piles in metallic wrapping and ribbon.
An important part of the word “health” is the core habits that keep me grounded. In Q4 I:
- Caught up from Q3 to meet my overall goal of 6K peloton minutes! This is a full 1K more than last year; the consistency really paid off. The Whoop also tells me my VO2 has improved, which is gratifying.
- Read 19 novels including Fang Fiction (my first ever vampire novel and I loved it), Promise me Sunshine (a heartrending novel about grief), Last Call at the Savoy (interesting blend of two stories, one present and one from the past) and The Last Secret of Lily Adams (a former actress leaves a mystery after her death… I devoured it in one day).
- Read three non-fiction books – The Fax Club Experiment, Life in Three Dimensions, and one on women’s health.
- Continued to chip away at my enormous Monet Water Lilies x-stitch (now on sheet 4…)
- Wrote five blog posts.
- Sent 4 WTHIC letters.
In Q4 we again mainly stayed in Ireland, and this year managed to carve out the entirety of December for hibernation season. However we did have some adventures:
- We spent a weekend in Barcelona with friends visiting from Australia.
- We attended our first Irish Wedding in Tipperary.
- We spent a week in Rotterdam, revisiting our favourite places from when we lived there, and trying some new things.
- We met my parents in Dublin for a weekend.
- We went to Dun Laoghaire to have Hamper Season and a show with some friends.
When I’m stressed I tend to stay with things that are familiar, so one of the things I’m paying attention to is how many new experiences I have, aiming for at least one each month. This quarter was more cultural!
- I attended the Release Party of a Showgirl with a friend (very fun) and Experienced the magic that is KPop Demon Hunters. Both these soundtracks live on repeat.
- Took a civil war tour in Barcelona.
- Went to see Rhod Gilbert, Snorri Halgrimsson and Fascinating Aïda live.
- Tried a new kind of facial (Venus Concept)
- Went to the Fenix Museum and the Van Herpen exhibition at the Kunsthal, and the Little Museum of Dublin
- Visited Den Haag
Professionally outside of the day job I:
- Launched DRI Your Career with my friend Jean. A long time coming and we’re so excited.
- Took some courses on book promotion from the Book Publicity School.
- Set up and started some drafts for a new newsletter – What’s My Job Again?
- Did a thorough update of my blog – updating the theme, adding in some (subtle) book promotion, and updating the structure.
- Did a livestream for RedHat’s GitOps Guide to the Galaxy.
- Finished reviewing my friend Cat’s upcoming book.
- I got the Leadership Circle Profile from my coach and am now working through what I can learn from it.
- Did some vibe coding for a bonkers little project I plan to launch in the new year.
Looking forward to 2026, I want to keep leaning into the creativity whilst being grounded in the habits that I know work for me. I have many more ideas and it’s been fun to get some energy back and fuel into my own stuff after the post-book fried vibe and a bunch of big things at work.
My word for 2026 is freedom. I’m excited. Let’s go.