January is already over and it is time to look at 2025 in the rearview mirror. I hope you are looking back at it with a smile and fond memories. Last year was a year of change for us. A year that moved our retirement life in a new direction. It put me on a roller coaster of emotions as we evaluated our retirement lifestyle and made big steps towards rightsizing it. Scary steps that turned our little world upside down.

We knew that change was in the air, so I chose the word “rightsizing” to be My 2025 Word of the Year (WOTY). I hoped that it would guide our decisions and move us to a retirement lifestyle that fit our unique interests and needs. At this point, Mr. U and I have both been retired for several years, we are in our 60’s and have whittled down how we want to move forward in this phase of life. So, 2025 was our year of trying to rightsize our retirement life. Fair warning – photo bomb ahead. ⚠️

The year 2025 in review

Like all of you, we celebrated birthdays.

We shared holidays with family.

And we welcomed a precious new grandson into the family.

And amidst the joy was heartbreaking loss for our little city.

Best trip in 2025

We did not do a lot of travel because we were so busy at home, but the best trip of 2025, hands down, was our trip to the Oregon Coast with all of our kids. We have done it for two years in a row now. Does that make it a tradition? While it was a busy year, I am so glad we made time for this. It is the stuff that gives family a common bond, shared laughter and memories to carry you for a lifetime.

Biggest changes in 2025

We spent a good hunk of 2025 preparing to sell our home. We went through every single item we owned and determined if it still served us as we moved forward into a smaller space. Hard decisions. It took me on an emotional roller coaster as I relived my life with each piece.

Once I was done sorting and packing, I mopped up my tears and we were ready. We said farewell to The House that Built a Family. It was a home that we loved for 24 years and held us during life’s storms – both physical and emotional.

In the midst of preparing our house to sell, we were also busy making the constant decisions on the new house we were building. We built it on the same property where I grew up, next to a little lake.

As if this wasn’t enough going on, we added in buying a small condo in Arizona last winter. It was in our retirement plan for several years. We had been looking for a while, but then everything lined up and so we needed to move on it.

Daily life continues on

And in between all of the big life changes, daily life still went on. It always surprises me how life does not stop when I have a big, major hairy transition going on. There were still burdens to carry and the house still needed to be cleaned, the wash done, groceries bought, meals prepared and health issues that had to be followed up on. But there were also coffee dates to go on, micro trips to take and life to be lived.

Looking back over 2025

As I look back over 2025, I realize how much life and change we packed in. No wonder I am tired! Perhaps my 2025 WOTY should have been change, because there was so much of it. Yet it helped to control it by keeping the concept of “rightsizing” in the back of my brain through it all. It reminded me to constantly ask, what was right for us, at this stage in our lives? What did we want the rest of our foreseeable retirement life to look like? What can we do now that we may not be able to do in 5 or 10 years? It helped to drive decisions. Thus, 2025 was the year we spent working to bring our planned retirement lifestyle to fruition.

As you look back over the past year, what were your 2025 highlights? Did it reflect movement towards the life you hoped to live at this point? Do you feel like your life is the right size for you? If not, what changes do you need to make? Maybe it is just a few little tweaks or maybe it is a big hairy change.

My 2026 WOTY

I don’t have one. Nope. Nada. I decided not to pick a WOTY this year. It is more a lifestyle that I want to cultivate, and that cannot be captured in one word. After the frenzy of 2025 and all of the changes it brought, I am ready to settle in and nest. I want to live a little slower, more intentional life. I plan to treat my health like a part-time job. And I need more time to sit by the lake to reflect and just be. I want to purposefully spend more of my time on what feeds my soul. We spent 2025 setting up our retirement lifestyle and now I just want to sink into it.

Do you have a WOTY for 2026, or are you feeling more like me and want to slow down and just live life well and appreciate the moments? Either way, may your 2026 hold lots of laughter, joy and be a life lived well.

Cheers to the retirement years!