2025: A Year of Yays

When I left the job I'd had for over 11 years around the end of 2024, I was excited to A) focus more on speaking, and B) finally have more time and flexibility to travel.

Now at the end of 2025, I'm so glad to have experienced both — over 3,000 people saw my talks either virtually or in-person, and I was able to travel to six countries with either my family, friends or my boyfriend Dan (and sometimes 2 out of the 3 together)!

From being interviewed by 3 mainstream media outlets, to becoming a School Program Ambassador for the Rick Hansen Foundation, to lighting up 20+ monuments for Rare Disease Day and my first lightings for Invisible Disabilities Week, to joining new speaking bureaus and speaking for new government and corporate clients, it's been an amazing year.

But with the highs, you have to recognize the lows. I worried I wasn't "doing enough" speaking-wise and productivity-wise, because internalized ableism still creeps in. I fell and wasn't able to get up by myself more times than I like to remember, which is fueling my movement goals for next year. And while I only hit 2/4 of my big goals for 2025, that's still something to yay about.

Speaking of which, my daily yay streak hits 365 days today — a full year of yays! 🥳

2025, you were really something. Thank you to everyone who yay-ed along with me. 🥰💖🎉