December's Reflection 2025

A reflective look back on December 2025, graduation, growth, strategy, quiet Christmas moments, dream clients, and rediscovering a calmer, happier version of myself.

Graduating and Beginning the Month with Gratitude

December began with a milestone I’m deeply proud of: graduating with a Master’s in Business and Executive Coaching from UCD Smurfit, surrounded by classmates who have become friends, collaborators, and inspirations. A beautiful full‑circle moment to start the month.

From there, December unfolded in a way only December can: Christmas lunches with the Institute of Directors, ACCA, and a group of business friends; cups of coffee that turned into long walks; chats that moved between laughter, tears, joy, sadness, and those quiet moments where the most meaningful thing you can do is hold space for someone who needs it.

Having worked in business for long enough, I’m always aware that December brings its own “baggage.” People wear masks to cope. Emotions rise. Old triggers surface. And yet, there’s something beautiful about the collective exhale the month brings with it.

Annual Business Strategy Day

A Room Full of Honesty, Challenge and Encouragement

One Saturday was dedicated to our annual business strategy session. A room of business owners who showed up focused, open, honest, accountable, encouraging, reflective, challenging, coaching, and ready to celebrate both big and small wins.

My biggest learning from that day?

It was eye‑opening to see someone downplay an achievement I genuinely saw as big, a reminder of how often we minimise our own progress.

We all had a moment where we had to pause and really check in with ourselves:

• How far have we actually come this year?
• What challenges have we overcome?
• What wins (even the tiny ones) carried us to the finish line?

As the conversations unfolded, it dawned on us:
we all had one hell of a year.
Bruises, smiles, lessons, breakthroughs, all of it.

Rediscovering My Energy

I had planned to wind down by the 16th of December, but life and business had other plans. And honestly? That extra week of work energised me.

For the first time in two years, I felt like I was back.
Yes, me, Sarah Daly, the woman with business in her DNA.

But this time, a better version:
quieter, calmer, happier.

And 2026?
Watch out. I’m coming with clarity, confidence, and a roster of dream clients, coaching, consulting, advising, and being that trusted confidant. Clients who stretched me in new directions and reminded me exactly why I do what I do.

A Quiet Christmas I Appreciated Deeply

Christmas itself was wonderfully quiet, exactly what I needed.
Time to myself.
Time to rest.
Time to simply be.

I slept in, ate well, walked, read, chatted to strangers, and on some days treated myself to not one but two mugs of Nibbed Cacao, pure luxury!

Before my partner of 26 years headed home for Christmas, he left me with the words I needed most:

“Remember Sarah, you won’t get everything done on that long, never‑ending list. But whatever you do get done, enjoy every moment of it.”

He was right, of course. (Infuriatingly so!)

I didn’t read the 20 books on my list, I read 5.
I didn’t finish all the ironing either, I thought it best to leave something for his return. (You’re welcome, hon!)

Closing the Year

December reminded me of who I am, how far I’ve come, and how much joy there is in the quieter spaces between the big milestones.

It was a month of depth, connection, laughter, reflection, and a renewed sense of purpose.

Here’s to 2026, the year of a quieter, calmer, stronger, and happier Sarah, with her feet firmly on the ground and her heart very much in the work.