At the end of the year, I always like to take a moment to reflect on what went well—and what I want to carry forward. It’s easy to obsess over the negative habits we want to cut out, but I think it’s just as important to celebrate the habits that are actually working.

Looking back, there are four habits that have absolutely changed my life for the better. Here they are, in no particular order:

This past November, I hit a 5-year streak of meditating every day for at least 10 minutes. Since February, I’ve bumped that to 15 minutes, and just last week, I started experimenting with 20. With every year, I find it becomes easier and more rewarding to add a little more time.

Meditation has taught me that I am not my thoughts.

When I first started, I used an app that offered a visualization I still use today: Imagine you are standing on the side of a busy road. The cars whizzing by are your thoughts, emotions, and feelings.

In life, we tend to hop into these cars and let them take us for a ride. We merge with traffic until we can’t tell the difference between the car and ourselves. (The English language reinforces this; we say “I am anxious” rather than “I have anxiety.”)

Meditation teaches you to stay on the sidewalk. You don't have to jump into every car that drives past. You can just let them go.

I still feel my feelings—I’m not a robot with a blank expression. But now, I choose how to engage with them. I notice when I have anger, and I choose to express it constructively rather than lashing out. I notice when I’m happy, and I choose to lean into it. It has been the foundation for so much positive change in my life.

*The asterisk is because I wear my Apple Watch for safety/emergencies. But I leave the scrolling device at home.

This habit forces me to use technology as a tool, not a crutch. Since I’m not tempted to pull my phone out and mindlessly scroll, I am actually present. I notice what my dog is noticing. I slow down. I allow my brain to cool its engine.

We spend an insane amount of time feeding our brains information—social media, news, texts, work emails. We desperately need quiet time to decompress and let our prefrontal cortex reset.

I used to view dog walks as a chore. But once I ditched the phone, I started craving this time. It’s one of my few chances to feel like a human, and not just a node plugged into a machine.

I’ve done this for nearly a decade, and it is baked with health benefits.

Every morning, I open my journal to the previous day’s date and write down everything positive I can remember. Sometimes it’s big stuff, like a promotion or my baby’s arrival. But mostly, it’s the little things: a great cup of coffee, "Donut Friday," or a nice phone call with a friend.

This trains your brain to scan the world for the positive. Humans have a strong negativity bias (evolutionarily, it kept us alive). We have to actively train our brains to see the good.

This isn’t about whitewashing struggles or ignoring hard things. It’s simply recognizing that the negatives are only part of the equation. There is always something that made you smile.

Strength training is the pillar that holds up the rest of my life.

When you work on your body, you are investing in your future self. You are choosing to do hard work today for a payoff later. That’s the real magic of working out: delayed gratification.

You don’t get strong from one workout. In fact, you often feel the opposite—tired and beaten down. But you keep at it. You learn to override the voice that says “I can’t” with the voice that says “Of course I can.”

Strength training has taught me that the mind I use in the gym is the same mind I use in the rest of my life. When I add weight to a deadlift, I am choosing the harder path. I am choosing growth over comfort.

So, when I face anxiety in my day-to-day—like selling my products or applying for jobs—I tap into that same muscle. I learned that growth takes tension. It takes loading up the weights. But it is always so rewarding on the other side.

These four habits have shaped who I am today, and I plan to carry them well into the future.

What habits helped you in 2025? What do you plan to keep doing? Hit reply and let me know—I love hearing your stories!

P.S. If this helped you, send it to a friend who might need it too. Small habits, shared often, can change more lives than we think.