What Worked: 2025
Is it too late for a yearly wrap-up? Doesn't matter, it's my newsletter, I make the rules.
This year, I spotted far more “What I Loved” lists on Substack than “What I Hate About Myself and My Life and Want to Force Myself Into Changing” lists - which I think is a really good sign of the times (despite the, you know, times).
And in that spirit - though this does come to you a week into 2026 - I want to contribute to the general feeling of camaraderie and good-will-towards-humans by providing you: What Worked: 2025
Candlelit Showers
Since I started working for myself two years ago, I’ve had more time to experience the breadth of showers available to any one human over the course of 24 hours. There is the Standard Shower, the early morning wash’n’rise before the day, and the Internet loves the Everything Shower, a dedicated time slot for to slough, pluck, lather, and moisturize every last bit of bod. In 2024, I made my discovery of The Afternoon Shower, a miraculous 20 minutes spent standing under warm water at approximately 3 pm that leaves you refreshed and relaxed - winter or summer.
This year, it was all about the Candlelit Shower. Whenever I feel particularly whipped up, I like to turn all the lights off in the bathroom, light a few candles and then - do my thing. Nothing in the actual washing routine changes, but showering by candlelight is a really luxuriant, calming experience that costs one nothing and can be incorporated on the daily.
Having a Really Really Good Psychic
Look, it’s up to you to discern the hacks from the genuinely tuned in, but finding the right intuitive has really - like, really - helped me through some rough spots this year. You’ll know when you find The One, because their insight is personal, validating, and illuminating. And if you’re not the kind of person who goes in for the woo of it all, I’d still recommend giving a session (be that tarot, reiki, whatever) a go; it’s a good exercise in listening to your gut and practicing some openness.
I am a firm believer that any of us can tap into the Other Side, but sometimes you need a little extra boost. Where do you find one, pray tell? Ask around - my girlfriends and I all see the same person on the reg, and each of us has been blown away by how accurate and helpful their readings have been.
Blow Drying My Hair
I won’t call it an insecurity as such, but I am generally very frustrated with my hair. There’s a lot of it, but it’s also very thin, which means it gets tangled easily, greases at the crown easily, and becomes frizzy easily - a winning combo, let me tell you! My hair also has this kind of bizarro wave pattern to it? Like one side is always curlier than the other, and also the curls go…in??? I don’t know, we have a complicated relationship, my hair and I.
I guess I should say at this point that I’m also really lazy and perhaps the reason I approach my hair with such skepticism is because I’ve never learned how to properly “do” it. Anyway, this year I bit the bullet and just started styling it: a few layers each trim to give it some volume, and I whack this baddie through it and you know what? It’s going okay!
The Wonderland 222 A5 Weekly Planner
You’ve all heard me wax poetic about my Wonderland 222 Planner, but it was the first planner I’ve used in recent memory that I just loved. I’ve tried Filofax, I’ve tried Papier, and nothing felt as good as the Wonderland 222. I think it’s a combo of the beautiful Tomoe River Paper - since retired :’( - and the week-at-a-glance layout that allowed me to keep track of running to-do’s & appointments. Plus, as a chronic notetaker, I loved the thick back section of plain graph paper, which I used to track my reading, client notes, newsletter ideas…really anything and everything.
I should caveat this by saying I went with the Hobonichi this year, but will forever sing the praises of the Wonderland 222 version.
DIY Electrolytes
God - and likely every person I’ve ever encountered for more than 0.24 seconds of time - knows how much I love my Liquid IV Popsicle Electrolytes.
That said, I’m trying not love them enough to spend $15 every week on what essentially is just a lot of sugar and some salt.
This summer, I started MacGyvering my own version (unfortunately not Popsicle flavor :’( Maybe next year I’ll work that out).
Recipe:
Coconut water
Tangerine juice
Celtic sea salt
Splash of sparkling water
It really hits the spot at around 3:30 on a hot day in July. Bonus points if you put it in a Mason jar. What? Aren’t the 2010s coming back?
Versed Shade Swipe Blush Stick
In an attempt to look less…corpse-like, I nabbed the Versed Shade Swipe Blush Stick in Brownstone in July and have used it religiously ever since. It’s a brick, rusty red that makes me look a little bit sunburnt in the best way.
Gap Factory Donni Dupe Pants
Honestly consider this entry a commendation for Gap Factory in general. Anecdotally, my pal Shannon & I turned up to an afternoon of co-working wearing the exact same Gap Factory pants we’d bought separately that weekend. And it’s not just those pants and the pair I’m about to mention - in 2025 alone I’ve bought & loved barrel sweats, pointelle henleys, boatneck tanks…all from Gap Factory. What are they putting in the water at Gap Fucking Factory??
Okay but perhaps the best Gap Factory purchase I made this year - the infamous Donni dupe linen stripe track pants. They are comfortable and still stylish enough to feel good running to more casual meetings, hopping on planes, or simply lounging. The chocolate brown color makes them the ideal Annual Pant, easily worn from spring-to-summer-to-fall-to-winter.
“Just Do It”
Nike got it right. I spend so much of my time deliberating, holding off, and ultimately not moving forward. Maybe it’s optimization OCD, maybe it’s perfectionism - whatever it is, there are so many aspects of my life I freeze simply…because I do.
An example: buying a bed frame. I moved into our current apartment in October 2023. While my husband and I weren’t full-on college-boy roughing it with a mattress on the floor, we made do with a rolling metal frame (on hardwood floors) for almost.2 years because I couldn’t make up my mind about a bed frame. Do we go all-in on a really nice one? Wait to find our ideal make-and-model on Facebook Marketplace? Now, typing it out, I can’t even give you a good reason as to why I was so hesitant about purchasing a bed frame. I just didn’t do it.
In the end, I said fuck it and ordered one off of Amazon. It’s not our forever bed frame, but I’m no longer re-rolling the bed back into position each night.
Same goes for vacations that we could take but what about that doctor’s appointment six days before, or the concert for the band I kind of like but don’t know all of their songs, or the girls’ trip we are always dreaming about but need to work different schedules around. Little things too: updating car insurance, decluttering my bookshelf.
Just doing it - quite literally, telling myself to just do the thing - has been life changing.