ELEVATING Happiness in December 2025

You guys… a new year. I wish I felt more excited than I let you believe yesterday the day before yesterday. I am sick. Again. I believe I have been sick almost every month in 2025 and I am so so frustrated. I haven been able to probably prepare for the arctic since October because every time I do something I am back with a cold. I really hate my immune system these days. My only hope is that I get it all out of the way now and then be healthy during the trip. Sigh… But lets not dwell to much on that – or I start getting anxiety of things going wrong – instead let’s have a last look on how I elevated December. Before we dive into the curiosity of 2026.

How I incorporated my word ELEVATE in December

I elevated my soul by

• unraveling my year and finding a new word of the year.
• going to church three out of four Sundays – one missed to stupid migraine.
• watching a total of ten Christmas movies.
• taking a bath, a hot shower.

I elevated my creativity by

• making some Fröbel stars.
• having a crafter noon with my mom – I am not patient enough making straw stars.
• made some Christmas tree ornaments as gifts.

I elevated my hobbies by

• doing my new puzzle.
• reading (stupid) romance novels but at least reading.
• a little bit of blogging.

I elevated my physical appearance and fitness by

• doing yoga only once for 17 minutes..
• walking over 10.000 steps/day on X days, total of XXXkm and an average of XXX daily steps (XXX% of goal).
• doing strength training twice average of 28 min each.
• closing my apple rings three times.
• riding my bike a total of 37,6km. 
• walking over 10.000 steps/day on 6 days, total of 158.5km and an average of 7,429 daily steps (106.1% of goal).

I elevated my health by

• consulting with the sleep doctor.
• setting up my new apple watch and getting to know the new stats.
• realizing I DO NOT have blood pressure.
• getting a call from the gyn office telling my my hormone screening is normal and does not suggest I am already in perimenopause. (So what were those crapy panicky nights?)

I elevated my relationships by

• meeting my sister for lunch.
• meeting my best friend.
• writing Christmas cards.
• attending a business Christmas party – stressful as out of town but good for networking.
• leaving 38 blog comments.
• spending the week between the years with the husband.

I elevated my home by

• decorating a tiny bit.
• vacuuming the carpet.
• deep cleaning the kitchen before leaving for Christmas at my parents.
• buying a poinsettia and an amaryllis.

I elevated my style by

• painting my nails – not much time for more.

CURIOUS January

I admit I am having a hard time focusing on setting goals and being excited about it while wallowing in my self pity of being sick and wasting away the favorite time of year.

Also, in order to stay on top of my fitness and health goals I am adding another category because otherwise I will not keep track and loose momentum.

I will tickle my curious mind by
…looking into books that might fit my criteria of ethnicity.
…attending two webinars in the AI community and participate in 50% of the challenges.

I will tickle my curious life by
…booking my return flight from the Arctic.
…attending a NBA game here in Berlin – the husbands Christmas present.
…booking our anniversary get-away at the cabin by the sea.
…having a planning session with husband to scheduling in all the fun stuff so we won’t miss out again.

I will tickle curious connections by
…starting my volunteer role at church with an official blessing on January 4th, a work breakfast for the publicity group on January 10th and then a first council meeting on the 13th. It’s gonna be busy.
…hosting brunch for my parents.
…attending a Pearl Anniversary (30th wedding anniversary) of some friends.
…having a FaceTime call with my best friend since we can’t make it in real life this month.

I will curiously continue my health journey by
…committing to yoga everyday on January.
…doing everything to get rid of this cold and then be patient to not overdo it with exercise.
…starting the behavioral sleep therapy
…having two walks over 5km.
…trying for a weekly strength sessions once well again.

I will tickle my curious soul by
…enjoying the winter air and hopefully a bit more snow.
…starting my routine of one-line-journaling again.

I am going to be curious about aka The Curiosity Club
…curiosity.
As I mentioned in my resolutions post I am starting a Curiosity Club. I will dedicate a certain topic to the month and then try to read, listen, watch about this topic. Have a discussion about it or just ponder the issue. I invite you to join me. Either finding your own topic or piggy back on mine. In order to get better acquainted with my word of the year it is only fitting I look into curiosity a bit more.

I will commit to these not so curious things like
…spending an hour or two scheduling routine tasks in my to-do app.
…putting away the Christmas decorations before January 6th.
…getting back to cleaner eating and less sugary treats.
…re-evaluating my health insurance. It’s been increased and costs me almost as much as half the rent. I have a special termination right so I better look into it.
…sitting down and doing a financial status quo – something planned for November pushed to December but was pushed for my sanity into January. It needs to get done sooner than later.

Tell me how elevated your December was! Did the year end on a high note? How is your planning for 2026 going? Will you have a word of the year to cary you through goal setting?