Hello 2025

Finally back home and trying to kick off the year today! A bit of a brain dump and personal catch up, and why I'm not quite ready to hit START just yet.

We got back home to Chicago from our Florida roadtrip yesterday (more on that to come on over my blog and IG) so today feels like the official first day of the year over here. If you’re back to work and/or your kids are back in school today, I’m sure you’re in the same boat.

We had such a wonderful trip and as much as I’m not a fan of these frigid temperatures, getting home and back into the swing of things feels good. (Or at least I’m trying to convince myself of that.) So far, Chicago hasn’t had much snow, but it seems like half of the United States is getting hit with this winter storm to some degree. Our friends in Kansas City and Louisville both got sooo much snow, but thankfully none of them lost power.

Speaking of losing power, we got notice this morning that there’s planned utility work happening in our neighborhood tomorrow, so we won’t have power from 8am - 1pm. 🤔 It’s been below freezing for days and the high temperature is only 27 degrees tomorrow, so I’m praying we won’t get any frozen pipes during the five hours without heat. (Very interesting timing on the city’s part, but there’s never a dull moment in Chicago. 🫠)

We really lucked out driving back through Kentucky and Indiana yesterday. With all of the pending winter storm notices, we thought about adjusting our trip back, but with careful consideration decided to keep our plans in Louisville on Saturday night. It was great getting to see our friends there and we were able to get on the road at 6am ahead of the storm!

Since we were back in Chicago by 11am yesterday, I made it a point to fully unpack and get all of my laundry done so I wouldn’t have any of that looming over me this morning. I wanted to wake up and feel like I was starting the year on the right foot!

I have to admit that I’m not feeling “full-steam-ahead” just yet, as it’s a bit of a weird week over here. We have to drop Marley off at the vet by 8am tomorrow morning to get her teeth cleaned. It’s her first time ever going under anesthesia, and statistically, I’m sure she will be fine, but it makes me cry even typing it out. She’s almost eleven and desperately needs the cleaning done, and she got all of her bloodwork done a few weeks ago to make sure everything looks good, but I can’t shake the fear of assuming the worst. Talk about the possibility of the year getting off on the wrong foot… I can’t even fathom.

As our time in Florida winded down last week and we were packing up to make the journey back to Chicago, I think the pending stress of Marley’s surgery (she has to get a few extractions) and the overall “Sunday Scaries” of a new year starting gave me yet another STYE. (New year, same me!!!! 😅🫣) You literally can’t spell my name (Jess Sturdy) without S-T-Y-E. This time, it’s on my right eyelid, whereas the one the week of my wedding was on the left. You can definitely see it if you look more closely at the picture above. At least I’m a pro at handling them at this point??

On the note of prolonged illnesses, I might force Dave to go to the doctor this week. He’s essentially been sick since December 15th, with a rollercoaster of symptoms. He had the flu originally, which completely knocked him out even though he got his flu shot. But just as he was getting better ~a week later, he caught a cold of some sort and has had a BRUTAL cough ever since. He feels fine most days, but I’m worried he has walking pneumonia at this point. How I’ve managed to not get any of what he’s had is beyond me! I’ve definitely felt like my body was fighting things off at various points over the last month, but I’ve luckily been okay so far. I felt kind of sick on Christmas Eve and maybe the 23rd, but I was never bedridden, thankfully! (Also, I just realized that celebrating the holidays honestly feels like a lifetime ago — does it for you, too??)

Pending the first half of this week goes as planned, the second half of the week will be a busy one starting on Wednesday. I’ve got an eye exam to finally get the glasses I’ve been putting off for years, a few other personal appointments, multiple meetings, a new styling client appointment, a mahjong meetup, and a dressy event on Thursday night with a dinner reservation after. I desperately need to schedule in some time to get back on the workout wagon, too!

We’re back on the road this coming weekend, heading up to Milwaukee to visit family that will be in town. At least it’s a much shorter drive this time around! Dave also has a friend’s mom’s funeral service before we head out of town, so like I said earlier, it’s kind of a weird week all around.

Since I’m at home today, I really want to spend some time thinking about the year ahead. Instead of diving headfirst into work and busywork (taxes 🫠), I want to get clear on my goals and aspirations first. This is a whole different story for another time, but I feel like I’ve accidentally let this go the past couple of years. And, unfortunately, I really do feel it internally. I used to be so good about dedicating time for reflection and planning, but I’ve completely fallen out of any of those practices the last few years. To be honest, I could say the same for all things spirituality and what I classify as ‘self-care.’ 🥵 (Journaling, meditation, therapy, self-reflection, reading, spiritually-adjacent content, digging into human design, etc.) Would love for 2025 to be the year of reconnecting with myself!

I actually was pretty against taking a trip between Christmas and New Year’s for this reason. Especially after such a chaotic 2024, I’ve just wanted to hibernate a little bit. We had such a wonderful, low-key trip, and I’m glad we ended up going, but I still haven’t scratched that ‘reset and refresh’ itch.

Since I already know sitting still or thinking clearly will be off the table tomorrow, I’m planning to handle all of my errands and post-holiday cleanup. Taking the tree down, packing up decorations, making a few returns, visiting the Apple Store, and getting my new laptop set up are all on the agenda. Hopefully all of those things will help keep my mind from spiraling to the worst possible outcome all day.

ps: Getting all of these random thoughts out of my head was so helpful! Highly encourage you to do the same if you, too, are feeling a little 🤯 to start the year. Even if it’s just the notes app in your phone and no one is reading it, ESPECIALLY if no one is reading it, it always helps to just get it O-U-T.

Speaking of no one reading… Every time I’ve written something on the more personal side over the last few years, I haven’t published it. I think it’s in part due to my paralyzing perfectionism, but I think there are a number of factors at play. Sometimes after being so vulnerable, I stop and I’m like, “Wait, why am I even sharing this on the internet??” (In fact, I’ve had that thought multiple times today as I’ve written this post.)

I’ve felt like such an open book over my fourteen year online stint. In fact, I’ve prided myself on that. Yet over the last few years, I’ve felt myself retracting into my shell when it comes to creating content. As a content consumer, I know others’ personal posts are usually my favorites to read. But as my personal life has expanded beyond just me over the last few years, it’s become increasingly difficult to figure out where to draw the line when it comes to what I share.

As a consumer, I know the annoyance of feeling like everything is behind a paywall these days. Since most of us have grown up in the blogging era, we’ve had access to everything, everywhere, out in the open. Yet as the world has grown increasingly more online, it feels a little scary to have everything posted for everyone to see. And not the scary in a vulnerable way as I mentioned before, but scary in a safety way. Again, not sure what exactly this looks like yet, but I hope to take some time to figure out that balance this year!

And then there’s the part where I get in my own way. Subconsciously and probably even consciously, I let the opinions of others get in the way of hitting publish. (Yes, even after 14 years.) I hate when my words and thoughts get misinterpreted, so I obsess over every last word until the point of just scrapping it all together. Talk about a waste of time!

I feel called to open up more again, but I’m not sure exactly what this looks like yet. If you’re still reading, thank you for being here as I continue to figure it out. 💜