What are you hoping for in the new year?

Tracy Gay
Dec 31
3 min read

Around the world, the beginning of a new year symbolizes a fresh start (or a new beginning) and a sense of hope. It’s a great time to abandon any difficulties from the previous year as well as to embrace new opportunities for the coming year.

What are you hoping for or believing for in 2025?

Are you planning on ringing in the new year in a special way? Although we’ve gone out in the past, my husband and I don’t typically go out on New Year’s Eve, unless we’ve been invited to a friend’s or family’s home. We both prefer smaller, more intimate gatherings. This year, however, we will be hanging out with some of our pickleball friends.

As we near the end of the year, I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on this past year of peaks, valleys, and the in-between. Overall, I think 2024 was a pretty good year. Although it was birthed in my heart a few years earlier, I fully launched the Triumphant-Heart blog website. I’m looking forward to reaching more readers next year.

The first large project that I was a part of winning on my new job, unfortunately was canceled. However, on a positive note, a friend of mine from my previous company, joined me in my new firm.

I went on an elimination diet last Fall with the primary purpose of alleviating pain in my body. I hadn’t realized that my pain had improved significantly, until I made a homemade cheesecake for my husband’s birthday (And one after that) and we finished both of them! I knew that sugar caused inflammation, but I didn’t realize the extent of the impact of it on my body, such as extreme joint pain.

Finally, as you may know, the Lord blessed my husband and I with a beautiful home, although I think that it may be a while before we get rid of all of our boxes and are able to park in the garage. Baby steps and a lot of patience…

In thinking to the year ahead, many years ago, I made several New Year’s resolutions to change or improve my life, but I found that nine times out of ten, I broke them by the third month. Ironically, I just saw an article that mentioned that only about 25% of people stay committed to the resolutions after 30 days and less than 10% accomplish their goals.

I have found that instead of making traditional New Year’s resolutions, it is better for me to set specific, achievable goals or creating a theme for the year ahead. My personal mantra for 2025 is “Simplicity.” As I had been thinking and praying about what I’d like to change or focus on for the year ahead, the word “simple” kept popping up. A short time after that, my husband and I were talking with some friends about approaches to handling stress during a pickleball game, and he said that the code word that he uses with his partner during a game is KISS (Keep It Simple S-----). Personally, I think that a simple approach to life is the way to go!

A few other things that I would like to vigorously pursue is to laugh and be more playful. I am also committing to playing pickle ball more frequently, to improve my game.

Lastly, and more importantly, I’d like to continue to develop a closer relationship with Jesus.

New year, new blank page…. May every day of 2025 bring you a new reason to smile and be thankful!