THE REFLECTION WE ALL NEED THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR

Yep, it’s that time! It’s funny how the questionable moment of “Wait… how is it December already?” vanished faster than all your money after a quick trip to Target for “toilet paper.” Or faster than spreading chisme at a family party. Or faster than losing your patience and holiday spirit after standing in one line at Disneyland. Or faster than fresh Costco samples disappearing before you can get to them. Do we get the picture? So yeah, another one bit the dust – quietly for some, modestly for others, and chaotically for most. Sorry, I’m projecting. LOL.

Despite 2025’s deviant plot twists – still, here we are: VICTORIOUS. Total Resources International and Be Smart Get Prepared are standing at the finish line…a little wiser, a little tougher, and certainly grateful for surviving a year that felt like it kept assigning us homework we never signed up for.

This year wasn’t perfect – but it was honest. It showed us who we are when things got real. It was a long series of character development moments. With 25 episodes. It reminded us that digging deep, growing, improvement, and progression, rarely feel glamorous. And it taught us that even when we think we’re crawling, we’re actually inching toward something bigger, bolder, and better.

So, let’s take a moment to say thank you.

Thank you for the challenges that forced us to level up.

Thank you for the wins – big and small – that reminded us what we’re capable of.

Thank you for the opportunities to grow, expand, and push our limits.

Thank you for our partners who walked beside us, supported us, and sent us Porto’s for encouragement when we needed it most. 

Thank you for our people who showed up even on the days we wanted to hide under a blanket and claim a mysterious illness.

The thing is, a new year doesn’t offer to fix everything – it doesn’t erase the past. But it does give us the freedom to fix what we can, release what we can’t, and move forward with more wisdom, courage, and a whole lot of intention. A new year also offers us something powerful: permission.

Permission to try again. Because growth is a loop, not a straight line.

Permission to say yes. To opportunities that excite us, challenges that ignite us, or simply make us feel more alive.

Permission to evolve. To outgrow old versions of ourselves without apologizing to the people who preferred the earlier editions.

Permission to fervently chase what lights us up from the inside out. Even if it stretches us, makes us uncomfortable, or even requires a version of ourselves we’re still becoming.

Permission to be proud. Of how far we’ve come, even if the journey wasn’t pretty, perfect, or social media friendly.

Permission to keep pursuing the dream. Catch the vision, join the mission, and keep the legacy alive.

Permission to rest. Because we are human and we need it.

With one year closing and the next one opening, January always feels like the great reset button. There’s always a certain brilliance and excitement that comes with starting fresh – a crisp, clean slate, untainted by mishaps or questionable decisions. But the truth is: the magic isn’t in the calendar reset. The magic is in US.