A personal reflection of 2025
Something I want to do with my blog is keep that personal touch, we’re not all tips, techniques and how-to guides and I feel like almost a year on from when I posted my plan ahead for 2025 post on this blog, now feels like the time to reflect on all that has gone on in 2025.
Starting with the more negative personal events of 2025 which have well and truly shaped our year, 2025 has been the hardest year of so many of our lives in my family. Starting with losing my mother-in-law back in March after a short battle with cancer, to make this event even harder, it followed almost immediately with my own cancer diagnosis in April.
My diagnosis meant scans, biopsy’s, surgery and radiation treatment over the last 8 months or so and now I take on the future where all being well, with regular tests, I will hopefully eventually get discharged as being absolutely clear, however long that will be. The surgery, radiation, treatment and adjustments I’ve had to face this year because of the cancer have been tough, however all being well, the worst of that experience is now well and truly behind me.
As we finally got out of all the negativity and stress that this year has thrown at us, at the end of October we suddenly lost my sister-in-law without any warning, which has absolutely devastated our family and wider social circle. Laura was one of the kindest and most genuine people I ever had the fortune to meet, and she will be missed incredibly.
As you can imagine, after a year of constant devastating news, we’re kind of ready to have a fresh start with 2026 where I have a load of plans and ideas for this business as well as our own personal plans, including the addition of a new puppy to the family in January, which as you can imagine has the kids absolutely buzzing with excitement.
But before I get carried away with 2026, I want to reflect on the plans I had for 2025 on the graphic design side of things, I’ve seen some real positive progress as this year has gone on, with a handful of projects taken on as well as plenty of practise and learning on a personal level to help elevate my skillset and abilities.
I also officially registered my business and set up as a sole trader earlier this year, I felt like it was a good step to make the whole venture feel a little more official and real. Along with a recent rebrand and website shake up, I absolutely feel like I’m on the right tracks to head into 2026 and just make more forward progress to the eventual goal of going full-time with this business.
2025 was also the year I saw my own branding work appear out in the wild for the first time; with a design I created for a traditional ale for St Austell Brewery become an official product along with physical pump clips for the beer being on bars across the Midlands.
An overall reflection for 2025 can be summarised as a year to forget, with constant challenges along the way, it has been a really tough one, but I can take the little wins along the way as a positive looking ahead into 2026. In the next few days, I will upload another post looking ahead into the new year and going into a little more detail as to what I hope to achieve over the next year ahead.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
