2025, New year, New Energy! Welcome back!
Welcome to 2025!
You know how traditionally Australia doesn’t really start the year until after Australia Day? Well this year the year seemed to swing into action from the 13th of January- and I’m taking that as an omen that the economy, hope, planning, momentum- those things that kick us into gear and keep us going- are back after a long wobbly slumber that for me takes us all the way back to the Black Summer of 2019/2020.
So for me this year- thanks to really resting and rebooting with a magical 3 week coming of age adventure in Mexico with my 15 year old son Zac back in December- I started this year fuelled with a let’s do this energy that has been hard to find in the last few years.
Hello my old friends hope and optimism – it’s nice to have you back!
If you have followed along this WorkLife journey for a few years- our ‘Word of the Year’ ritual should be familiar to you- (for those that are new to the community- here is a post about how it works from years gone by)– but essentially rather than beating yourself up for a slew of New Year/ New You- New Years Resolutions- the idea is to chose a word that can encapsulate your hopes and intentions for the year ahead- and then use that as a mantra to guide you back and remind you what to focus on when the path gets a little unclear in the months ahead.
By the time I was sliding into the Mexico adventure I was pretty burnt out by the slog of small business through the disruptions of fires, floods, covid and the mother of all disasters- inflation. So my working title for Word for 2025 was going to be “EDIT”- this was to be a year of pruning and focus- getting back to basics and lightening the load.
But instead I landed in 2025 with a very different word instead. EDIT was out, ENERGY was in. I blame this switcheroo on two things-
- The fresh perspective of MexicanLife– a place where despite what American popular culture would have you think- the economy is booming, there is a progressive female Prime Minister kicking goals, the largest solar farm in the world, an indigenous led cultural reclamation underway, cities that close their streets to cars every Sunday- and a pervasive feeling of hope and (yes!) safety on the streets. There the “enshittification” of everything that seems to have captured the western world doesn’t seem to have taken hold of the zeitgeist. They are on the way up.
- Some very persuasive members of the Berry Community tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I would consider running as a Community Independent for the Federal Seat of Gilmore at the upcoming Federal Election. A ‘HELL-NO’ (but let me introduce you to some excellent people I know who I would love to back on such an adventure) was followed by a very enthusiastic ‘HELL-YES’. So fuelled with my 2025 energy and my two favourite family mottos “hope is a verb” and “fun is just on the other side of scared” – I am embarking on a bold new venture into the world of political campaigning for the first few months of 2025 that- if you similarly feel that we need to do politics differently in this country- I would LOVE for you to follow along, join or contribute to.
(Or indulge me enough to scroll on by if it’s not your thing).And yes, the colour of the campaign will be a very familiar YELLOW!
So I hope that your Word of the Year is becoming clear to you (I would LOVE to hear what it is- send me an email back to let us know) and that you had a wonderful summer filled with rest and connection and fun.
At WorkLife it is a DELIGHT to see our spaces so very busy and so very buzzy. New businesses to get to know, long time members to swap tales of summer reads and future holiday destinations with. See our Summer reads recommendations below.
Now if you are pretty sure that 2025 needs to deliver a bit more PRODUCTIVITY, BALANCE & COMMUNITY- to your working life – then we have our BIGGEST incentive ever to the coworking curious- A FIRST MONTH FREE for all new coworking members- (see details below).
So at the beginning of this new working year, I am excited to set course for the opportunities that ENERGY will bring.
May your year start as you intend it to. And if it doesn’t feel right- come and give your local WorkLife a try. First month is on us for a limited time.
Let’s do this 2025!
Kate
