My 2025 Mood Board | What This Year Taught Me About Strength, Self-Trust, and Returning to Myself

Have you been reflecting on this year yet? Well, I damn sure have. This year had weeks that pushed me, stretched me, and humbled me. I still somehow managed to understand and value the blessing within the lessons in ways I did not expect. When I sat down on Canva to create this 2025 mood board, I had R&B music playing from Spotify. 

Pexels

My kids were asleep in bed. The lights were dim in my living room with the Christmas tree being the lightning warming the room. The AC was on 72 and my mind was jamming out on the music. I was creating something not for aesthetics. I started off thinking that it was going to be an art piece, but I made it as a mirror. A place to pour out the emotions I held in. With every clip and word, I searched my memory for the goodness that found me anyway. I searched my mind for the thoughts that carried me through every chapter of this year.

Each thing or word on my board represents a version of me I had to become. It showcased the woman who kept going through exhaustion. Motherhood. Anemia scares. Academic pressure. The quiet moments where I had no choice but to sit with myself. 2025 did not let me slide on thin ice. It made me grow. It made me confront my limits. It made me choose myself in ways I never have before.

Real talk, I am saving this mood board as my screen saver as we go into these last few weeks in the year. I am doing this not just because it is cute. I am doing this because it reminds me of how far I have come. Where people only saw the highlight reels. I saw the behind-the-scenes. The nights I cried. The mornings I got up and took deep breaths in the mirror to keep myself from having an anxiety attack. The boundaries I strengthened. The joy I protected. The pride I built. The bad ass woman I became.

This visual is my reminder that the storms are okay. The softness can embrace me. The breakthroughs shattered through my sadness. The disappointments foreseen the grind. The grace was all part of something bigger. 2025 was not always sweet. 2025 it shaped me into a more grounded, more intentional, and more resilient version of myself.

Best believe; I’m carrying that woman forward.