Favorite words of 2025

Here we are at the tail end of 2025. I just "opened" my Spotify Unwrapped... And after 3 years of burnout recovery, I’m finally ready to figure out what getting my shit together in the shadow of everything I’ve learned about myself and my needs in the last five years is going to look like.

It’s tempting to assume that getting one’s shit together is a forward-looking pursuit. You know, “Here are all the things I’m going to do.” But, in my opinion, an important part of getting one’s shit together is taking stock of said shit. And so this episode is a step in that direction. I enlisted my husband, Sean, to do a bit of a year-end review. 

This review is in no way comprehensive. It’s a wee bit stilted. And if it sounds a little forced, it is—because getting your shit together takes doing some things that you’re out of practice with.

This episode is simply an exercise in remembering. It’s that first awkward practice that you just have to get through at the beginning of a new season. 

Getting my shit together is very much a work in progress, not a grand announcement of some new project or direction for my work. Maybe that will come. Maybe it won’t. My main objective is to feel like I’m steering the ship again.

Heads up: this will be my final new episode of 2025. I'll be back on January 8 with fresh ideas, stories, and ways to rethink work.

This episode contains repeated uses of the word "shit," so if that's something you'd prefer not to hear. Skip this one!

Footnotes:

• YellowHouse.Media (the podcast & video production agency that Sean and I run)
• Waxwing Books
• Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
• I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
• The Wall by Marlen Haushofer
• "No Good Art Comes From Greed" by Kelsey McKinney on Defector
• Alchemised by SenLinYu

• (00:00) - 2025 Review
• (00:35) - Introduction
• (06:08) - Reflecting on 2025
• (08:09) - What was unexpectedly fun or easy for you this year?
• (14:42) - What did you create this year?
• (19:06) - What habits or systems supported your well-being?
• (34:06) - What did you read, watch, or listen to that stuck with you?
• (45:02) - What was your favorite word this year?
• (46:51) - What are you looking forward to in 2026?
• (50:28) - Last Thing