Alright, I’ll admit it…I wasn’t sure what to expect for 2025. Mostly that’s because it was the first year in a long time that I didn’t write an annual Goals post. This year wasn’t what I expected because there were no expectations. Why still write a 2025 Year in Review then? Reflection is always a useful and worthwhile activity.
As I write this, it’s December 29th. The winter wind is furiously whipping around outside my window, and I’m just starting to glance back in the rearview mirror. Three themes for 2025 initially come to mind: friendship, treading, and showing up.
Friendship
Friendship has been a wonderful, if at times complex, part of 2025. Over the past 12 months, I met some really amazing women through my run club (that ironically I haven’t attended in just as long!). We started the year at an intimate breathwork session, not knowing each other and yet still holding space for one another. Since then we’ve bonded over stolen cars, singledom and the “joys” of dating, heartbreak, travel, motherhood, embracing the analogue, cooking nights, education, and so on. They’ve reminded me that there are other women in their 30s and beyond seeking similar friendship. Then I went on a trip with other friends for longer than a weekend away for the first time in years. We explored Guatemala together, remote working as we traversed this beautiful country. Another welcome reminder that there are like-minded folk available and excited to share new experiences with. I hosted various get togethers and became friends with some really fantastic neighbours. I reconnected with once-very-close friends and have decided to step away, at least for now, from others. At lot of 2025 was marked by friendship and consciously deciding what I want that to look like at this life stage.
Treading
I’ve always been a strong swimmer. I love the water and could easily out tread my peers growing up. Even now, without as much practice, I can still tread pretty darn long and well. There’s comes a point, however, whether the tread remains strong or the fatigue sets in, that you start to wonder why. What will the persistence bring forth and what is the point? This has been a rough year professionally, as far as “the bottom line” and the impacts of Google updates and AI is concerned. At the same time, there have still been resounding YES moments. The moments that make you say, “yup, this is exactly what I want to be doing, who I want to be helping, and where I want to invest my energy”. I told myself at the end of 2024 that this would be the last year of Travel with TMc (in its current capacity) if things didn’t move in an upwards trajectory. I made a bunch of changes, systematized processes, maintained consistency (for a while), etc… Spoiler, the trajectory did not go up. Some of that is out of my control and other items I can, and should, improve. Double spoiler, I’m still not ready to throw in the towel, however there will be change. So there’s that.
Showing Up
Perhaps the aspect of 2025 that I’m most proud of, though it took me the longest to think of when writing this post, is showing up. I showed up for my health and felt fantastic in a myriad ways. I showed up for myself in other areas – choosing new boundaries, celebrating even when I didn’t feel like it, sending mail and cooking new recipes again, to name a few. I showed up better for friends and family than I have in a long time. And I have tentatively returned to showing up in ways I used to love yet had stopped. I had silently made it a point at the beginning of the year to do better at showing up. After 12 months I can say I did and I will continue to do so. That makes me very very happy. (*Small aside from December 30th: After writing this paragraph, for some reason, I went back and read the post I wrote after my Baba’s passing earlier this year. I couldn’t help but smile when, near the end of the post, I write about “showing up”. I had totally forgotten that was in there. Reading it reinforced for me how it important a theme it was in 2025. Another beautiful nod from the universe.)
Alright, without further ado, here is a little recap on my non-goals for 2025. Stay tuned for a new type of post I’m writing this year: How little I spent on flights in 2025 thanks to points and miles!
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Personal “Non-Goals“
- Read Books – In 2025 I finished 7 books. I started several books (also listed below) that I haven’t finished, which is not typically my style. To be honest, even knowing that I didn’t read a ton this year I was still surprised at the final tally. Here are the 2025 reads.
(February) The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight
(March) The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
(May) Bad Blood by Colm Tóibín
(May) The Sweetness of a Simple Life by Diana Beresford-Kroeger
(June) Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
(November) Let Me Go Mad In My Own Way by Elaine Feeney
(December) Simply More by Cynthia Erivo
Books In-Progress:
Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho *not yet completed and also a re-read
When the Body Says No by Gabor Maté
Everything But Money by Jessica Moorhouse
- Health – Mostly knocked this one out of the park. The exception was the last quarter when I travelled for 6 weeks before returning home to a changed work schedule and disappeared morning classes at my studio. I’m looking forward to re-establishing routines in the coming days.
Travel “Non-Goals“
The travel “goal” was simply to travel in 2025. See some new places. Learn some new things. Work. Mission accomplished.
- Visit New Places – To date, I’ve been to 34 countries and lived on 4 continents. I prefer slower travel and anticipate it will be a lifelong journey to reach my goal of visiting every country and territory in the world. In 2025 I visited 1 new country (Guatemala) and revisited 4 countries (Ireland, Italy, Croatia, and England).
I spent a month in Guatemala with married friends who also work remotely. It was a welcome change to have company on the road and not be the only one on a laptop!
- I went to Ireland twice, specifically for work (the TBEX conference and then several meetings), which was a first for me since I typically go to visit friends, explore, and attend gigs. In fact, several of the friends I saw in Dublin were coincidental last-minute meet-ups thanks to lucky timing and seeing each other on Instagram. On the first trip I also stayed with friends and their fantastically energetic kids. On the second whirlwind Ireland trip a fellow Canadian wanderer and I cheered the Blue Jays on in the World Series. In Italy I experienced the country’s “timely transportation” on my way to surprise my Mom and congratulate her on 10 years of MP TOURS. Leaving the country, I narrowly dodged protests and national strikes to make my exit flight. Talk about a memorable experience. Then I spent a night in Croatia with the most lovely Airbnb host (they still exist!) and her friendly neighbours before spending a day in Dublin reconnecting with 2 close friends. The trip to the UK was for another conference and a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and friends. Funnily enough, in London I met an Irish friend for brunch who was there on holiday.
Professional “Non-Goals“
As foolish as it may sound, I didn’t set any “proper” work goals for 2025. I just wanted to work as much a possible, to grow my skillsets, and to see some really amazing places in the process.
- Write Blog Posts Each Month – This year I wrote 28 blog posts. There are 2 categories to break this into: blog blog posts (15) and podcast blog posts (13). “Blog blog posts” are the standard How-Tos, Guides, Personal Anecdotes, etc… The “podcast blog posts” are where I’ve compiled each episode’s summaries, YouTube links, resources, and links to the podcast players for listening. The other blog posts cover a range of countries (Canada, Ireland, Guatemala) and topics (best travel apps, podcasting, travel books, and conference reviews).
- Write for a print publication – Over the past year I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of writing and photographing for my own local travel column for The Community Edition. My favourite part of this job has been the monthly in-person get togethers with the other writers and editors to analyze each newly printed edition and brainstorm ideas for the coming month.
- Send 1 Newsletter per Month – In 2025 I sent out 26 newsletters and emails with deals or podcast updates. Subscribe below to get travel tips, the insider scoop on the podcast and blog BTS, and some pretty sweet travel discounts!
- Marketing – As it stands today, January 21st, there are 4,235 of us hanging out on the Travel with TMc Instagram page, which is 626 more than last year. That’s pretty awesome! If that’s you, thank you for all of your engagement and participation in this year’s travels. Several of the emails mentioned above had more of a marketing focus (not just travel updates), which was something new I tried out.
- TTLAPOG Podcast – Originally when I was dreaming up the podcast, I envisioned releasing 3 seasons per year with 12 episodes each. While there is no shortage of interesting people I’d like to introduce listeners to (Really, you should see how huge the list is!), I have a finite amount of time and money to make it all happen. Approximately 20 hours of work goes into each episode. At 12 episodes, that’s roughly 240 hours or 6 weeks of full-time work days. As it’s not yet monetized with ads (though you can support the podcast for as low as $3/month here!), there are only so many hours I can reasonably devote to it. For now, the most feasible output is 1 season of 12 episodes each year.
To date, The podcast has received nearly 1,100 downloads, not including YouTube – and I’m just getting started. The feedback has been incredible so far! Check out some of the reviews below. If you haven’t yet listened to Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go, definitely subscribe so you receive updates with new episodes!
- Start YouTube Channel – Check it ouuuuuut!!!
Thank You!
If I haven’t said it to you already, thank you for being here. Thank you for reading, watching, listening to, sharing or engaging in any way with any of the content I create for Travel with TMc or Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go. It really is so much more fulfilling to share our experiences and advice than it is to silo away. A big thank you as well to those who who’ve donated a tea this year. Your contributions, no matter the amount, truly help fuel the late night / long day work, so thank you and I appreciate you!
Did You Write a 2025 Year in Review of Your Own?
Reflecting and look back on the year is typically one of my favourite traditions. I like the time it requires to slow down, take stock of everything you did (and didn’t do), realize all that was accomplished, and analyze and learn from the past 12 months as we prepare for the next year. Did you make your own 2025 goals review?
