By Jeanni Ritchie
2024 was the year I slid back into the driver’s seat of my own life. 2025 was the year I stopped gripping the wheel and started enjoying the drive.
There’s a difference between surviving life and participating in it. For a lot of people—past-me included—life is about getting through the day, not leaning into it. This retrospective isn’t just about looking back—it’s about recognizing when you stop living on autopilot and start choosing again.
Saying yes to life doesn’t mean saying yes to everything. It means being willing to engage again. To follow curiosity. To try things that once felt intimidating or inconvenient. When we spend too long saying no out of fear or exhaustion, our world quietly shrinks. Saying yes—even in small ways—opens it back up.
This year, I’ve gone tubing down a mountain of snow, ridden a roller coaster for the first time in forty years, and tasted more international food than ever before. I’ve watched my first live NFL game, ridden carousels in multiple states, and finished a book on a hammock in the middle of a sugar cane plantation.
None of it erased fear—but it changed my relationship with it. Life got fuller when I stopped waiting for “someday” and started saying yes in the middle of imperfect seasons and unexpected detours.
It doesn’t require a dramatic personality shift or a perfectly cleared calendar. Re-engaging with life often starts quietly—by noticing what sparks curiosity, by allowing yourself to say yes to something small, or by choosing presence over routine. Growth doesn’t always look bold; sometimes it looks like simply showing up differently than you did before.
If you’ve been stuck in survival mode, it may not be fear holding you back. It might be exhaustion, grief, financial limits, or the slow numbness that comes from doing what’s necessary for too long without room for joy. Saying yes in this season isn’t about adding pressure or chasing experiences—it’s about widening your life just enough to breathe again.
A year defined by yes isn’t reckless; it’s intentional. It’s choosing engagement over autopilot and curiosity over retreat. Not doing more for the sake of doing more, but living more awake inside the life you already have. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is sit back in the driver’s seat—and step on the accelerator.
