THE ONES WHO DARED

A Reflective Guide To Closing The Year | SVETKA

• Svetka

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We pause before the new year to reflect on what the year has been, name its themes, and choose intentions over resolutions. Along with my top books from 2025.

Thank you for following along THE ONES WHO DARED podcast. Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year!

Feel free to share this podcast with a friend or send me a direct text below. Would love to hear from you, your year and your top reads from 2025.



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Breathe And Ditch Resolutions

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to the Once O Dare Podcast. I'm your host, Fecca, and I am delighted to be here with you. Thank you so much for your time. And before we rush into the new year, I want to invite you to pause with me. Wherever you are right now, take a slow breath in and let it out. This episode isn't about productivity or new year's resolutions because let's face it, we all know New Year's resolutions do not work. And if you really want to establish some new habits or practices in your life, I highly recommend you read Atomic Habits by James Clear, which really focuses on creating the environment that you want and taking away the resistance in order to create the life that you want, versus to just setting some big goals of achieving in the new year. And so I just want you to think about this year, and if you would describe this year in one word, what would that word be? I don't know about you, but for me, this one word would be challenge. This year was indeed one of the most challenging years. It wasn't the hardest year, but it definitely is in the top for sure. And if this year was hard for you in any form, I just want you to know that you're not alone. Through all the different people that I talked to this year and have done life with, this year had something very peculiar about it that it was very challenging for a lot of people in different pillars of their life. So if this year was hard for you, just know that you're not alone. And um when we look back on this year, instead of focusing on events, um I want you to focus on some themes that you experienced this year. So instead of asking what happened, ask yourself what kept showing up for you this year. Maybe this year was about courage or letting go or learning to trust or simply surviving and staying present. For me, this year reminded me that life will throw you curveballs. And if you listen to my previous episode, but we can still create joy, anyways. And so, as challenging as this year was, I also looked back on this year. And one of the great ways to do that for us now is looking back on our pictures and photos and our phones and seeing some of the moments and some of the perhaps wonderful things that we experienced this year that we may forget because they get overshadowed by all the circumstances and problems that we may also be experiencing. So I encourage you to take some time to reflect on your photos from this year and take some moment to have gratitude for the things that went well and the joy that you experienced, the memories that you shared with your loved ones and your friends. And also, this is a practice that I really love. And um it's a practice of writing down all the people that impacted you this year. People who perhaps showed up in your life, who encouraged you, people who you shared some significant moments with, or people who may have supported you in certain ways that you needed. Um, for me, some an unusual way that someone supported me was my neighbor who um really helped me with our Appalachian Trail backpacking trip. And he had not only resources from his previous trips that he's done in various parts of the world, um, from Spain to um the States and all the different hikes that he's done, but he also gave me a lot of resources and words of encouragement and some really practical advice, which I've shared in the hiking episode. So, some people like that that, you know, I'm sure next year, if I won't be hiking, he may not be um someone that'll be part of my life in that sense. But this past year he's really encouraged me, and as well as a lot of different friends and people who have been a really important part of this past year. So take some time to write a thank you note to them or even send out a encouraging text and just let them know how much they meant to you and how much their support has encouraged you this past year. And you'd be surprised of how well received those things are. We sometimes tend to underestimate how much highlighting the people that were important to us and what they've done, the impact that it makes on them, and encourages them to continue to do that for others. And so I just encourage you to reach out to the people that were fundamental or people that were supportive in your year and let them know that. Let them know how they impacted you. Um, also, I want us to acknowledge the good that happened this year. Um, not for the sake of impressing people, but really to honor your growth. Um, so I want you to ask yourself, what are the moments that made you feel alive this year? Where did you grow, even if no one else had noticed? What are you proud of this year? Maybe you spoke up when you normally didn't. Maybe you stayed with something when it was easy to leave. Maybe you rested without guilt. And that's a really big one, too. A lot of us feel guilty for taking time to rest, but rest is just as important as productivity. As a matter of fact, some of the most successful people have intervals of productivity followed by rest. Productivity followed by rest, because that is the way that we're able to be the most productive. Um, when we rest, our brain gets to recalibrate and we get to uh process things and we actually give ourselves time to think and for those ideas to settle in and then come forth. So don't rush past this one because gratitude is a form of courage. And one of the things that I've done this year with my siblings is we've actually did a 20-25 year reflections, and I will give you the questions that I ask in case you want to do them as well. So we listed our wins and accomplishments from this year. So we did at least three different wins and accomplishments. Um, we also um put down who supported us or motivated us this year, what fear, belief, or patterns most limited my growth and why I'm still holding on to it. What must become a non-negotiable for me next year for my next level of life? What tested your strength and patience? What did life teach you about yourself or others? How have you changed, grown, or improved? Moments that reminded you of God's goodness. And the last one is this year taught me that what? And so it's always good to reflect. As I said earlier, I don't really believe in New Year's resolutions because when we set out these ambitious goals, especially a lot of them, at once we tend to overestimate what we can achieve, and we don't actually create the daily practices in order to lead us to accomplishing those goals. Um, yeah, so the other thing I want you to acknowledge too is um every meaningful year has weight to it. Um so what was harder than you expected? What was some disappointments that you experienced? What asked more of you than you felt ready to give. Um, and so sometimes the bravest thing we can say is this was hard. And you're still here. So congratulations. Um, and the other thing too is like I mentioned in the reflection uh uh worksheet that I did with my siblings, is what did this year teach me? This is a really powerful question to to reflect on because every year can teach us something, and as we know, lessons that aren't learned are repeated. So take some time to sit with yourself and ask yourself, what did this year teach you? Maybe taught you that you're stronger than you realized, like on the Appalachian trail hike that I did this past year. Um, I realized that I'm capable a lot more than I think I am, and that physical strength, just like mental strength, is something is a muscle that you can train, and you can grow that potential if you choose to do so. Um also, maybe it taught you that rest is essential or clarity often comes from obedience. Um, choose one lesson that you want to carry forward in the new year. And I love the next question too, which is what am I ready to leave behind? Is it a belief? Is it pressure? Is it a version of yourself that no longer fits? Something that you don't want to carry into your next season. The other thing, too, with reflecting on the past year is take some time to declutter not only your mental space, but also maybe your desktop. I know my desktop can get crammed with files and things that I need to put in my delete file. And maybe you need to declutter your closet, clean out your car, and just get clear and clean to start the new year. This is a really great practice to apply that you don't have to carry into your next season. I know for me, one of the things that I'm leaving behind is the pressure of needing to be strong for not only myself, but for everyone else. Um, this is something that's really deep and personal in my life. But essentially, I am learning to really work out of a softer place and less of an intensity. And um, so I'm really looking forward to a newer, different version of operating from soft feminine self of versus to the intensity of forced strength. So instead of force, I'm gonna be learning how to operate out of the soft flow and the quiet strength. And so that is something for me that I'm choosing to do differently this year, which is gonna be a whole undertaking. Um, and looking ahead, I just want you to into I don't want you to think about resolution, but I do want you to think about intentions. Who do you want to be? How do you want to show up? What kind of courage will the next season require of you? You don't need a whole plan, you just need the next honest step. And so I also want to share with you some top books that I read this year. Out of all the different books that I read, I just wanted to highlight a few that I feel are worthy of reading. And um, so as we close, I want you to remember this. You don't need to become someone new next year. You are becoming more of who you already are. And I really want to thank all the audience and everyone listening for really walking this year with me. Whether you know me personally and we walk together, and maybe you were someone who was even part of my surprise 40th birthday party. Thank you. Um, thank you for all the people who sent um the podcast fan mail, little text notes. You can do that in case you didn't know. Thank you for everyone who left a review on this podcast. Thank you for everyone who listened and shared an episode that was helpful to you. I'm really excited for what this podcast is going to bring in the next year. And all the new guests that we have lined up for next year, and some of the really exciting episodes that I'm excited to share with you. We'll be doing a few things a little differently, and some things will be the same as far as bringing audience on and guests to share some valuable insights and encourage you to continue to walk your journey of courage. And so I want to move on to sharing with you some of the books that were really um, I believe are really worth the read. Fiction, I'll start with the fiction section. I have to be honest, fiction was not a genre that I used to read because in my early years and my 20s and 30s, I really felt like fiction was a waste of time. And this is a false belief that I carried with me because I thought that I wasn't learning anything. And then as I began writing my own book, uh, my editor really encouraged me to read fiction fiction genre and read a lot of those books because it's really helps you to be a better writer. And so I've been reading more fiction in the past couple years than I have in my entire life. And this year is the top three fiction books that I read that were fantastic, was The Nightingale by Kristen Hanna, which, if you haven't read that, I highly encourage you to do that. Um, the other one that I read, which was also recommended by a lot of the guests that were on the podcast, and it's The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. I'm not sure if I'm saying that right. And then this was a fun read during a vacation, summer vacation, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. And uh so those are my fiction reads. My non-fiction reads, I'm gonna just bunch them all together. I have six, is Influence, the psychology of persuasion. That is an excellent book. It's really, really thick, but it has a lot of really great nuggets on human psychology and a lot of things that are used in business and in just social settings that really will be helpful for you. Um, another book that I really loved is As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. I read this book before and I reread it again via audio. Um, it's a really short book, but really just helps you to understand how powerful your thoughts are and how they impact our lives. A financial book that I read this year was The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. I'm not sure if I'm saying his last name right, but it was an excellent read. I highly, highly recommend you read this book. It was really great. Um, another one that I read was this is more in the spiritual section, and that is The Remarkable Ordinary by Frederick Buchananer: How to Stop, Look, and Listen to Life. And in a challenging year, this was a really great read for me to just really focus on the important things. The other book under, I would say, the spiritual category, relational category, is called The Relational Soul by Richard Pless and James Cofield. Love that book. That was really a beautiful book. And a memoir that I loved, and I read several different memoirs that were great as well. But Half Broke Courses by Jeanette Wells. Jeanette Walls was an excellent read. Um, it was about her grandmother, and she wrote it in first person as if the grandmother was writing this book. It's under the novel category, but really it's based on a true life story of Jeanette Walls' grandmother. So very interesting read, especially if you're um the grandmother was a really strong character and lived in some really difficult, challenging times, which was really fitting for me this year. So those are some of the books that I read that I really enjoyed, and um hopefully you'll enjoy them too. I would love to hear from you of some of the books that you enjoyed reading this year. If you want to send me a text via fan mail um at the end of each episode, you can scroll down on the episode and you will see send a text in there. You can message me directly, and I read all the reviews and all the text messages. So thank you so much for that. Um again, thank you for walking me with this year. Um, thank you for daring to reflect, to feel, and to grow. If this episode spoke to you, share it with someone who might need it. Until next time, continue to choose courage. And um I hope that these episodes have been encouraging you to live your courageous life. Thank you so much and have a happy 2026. Thank you for listening to the One Shooter podcast. It is an honor to share these encouraging stories with you. If you enjoy the show, I would love for you to tell your friends, leave us a reviewer rating, and subscribe to wherever you listen to podcasts because this helps others discover the show. You can find me on my website, specapapaw.com.