My birthday is like New Years for me. On December 31 I rarely make a bunch of resolutions or “new me” promises. I’ve almost always naturally saved that for my April birthday. Early in the morning on my birthday or sometime in the week before it I crack open a journal and just free write.  Two years ago when I turned 50 this process got to me my 50 experiences in my 50th year — because time moves fast and I wanted to actually live it. I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. I tried an expensive bottle of wine that I’d always said I’d try but never did(worth every penny). I saw a psychic for fun, who told me I was going to lose all my friends if I didn’t align my chakras. Interesting. I started learning Scottish Gaelic. It was one of the best years of my life, not because anything dramatic happened, but because I was intentional about it.

52 rolled around last week, I knew I was doing it again. Different this time. Because what I need at 52 is different from what I needed at 50.

I realized this time that the little things I used to do for myself have kind of gotten pushed aside. The big self-care things like traveling and getting a puppy or buying new clothes are easy but the small things that actually add up (especially at my age) were getting neglected. I need a glow up. Desperately.

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Here’s the honest version of how I got here.

Most of 2025 was great. But the end of it was brutal.

In November I had a realization that stopped me in my tracks: my procrastination — the thing that had been quietly sabotaging my business for three years — wasn’t laziness. It was a trauma response – I’ll tell that story eventually. I’ve been saying I’m building something while dragging around weight I didn’t even know I was carrying. Once I saw it I couldn’t unsee it. And then, almost like the universe had been waiting for me to be ready, a trauma healing program found me. In just a few hours, something shifted that I’d been trying to shift for years. I felt lighter. Clearer. I was genuinely high on the healing – like walking on sunshine, the hills are alive, insert your favorite lyric or metaphor here, I was on it!!

And then the rug got yanked out from under me.

A friendship I believed was solid — the kind you think of as family — ended. Suddenly… by text… 3 days before Christmas… Without a real conversation. The dog I’d loved for six years went with her. Just gone. I’m not blameless in what happened and I’ve sat with my part in it. But I genuinely thought we we had the kind of friendship that would work through hard things. Instead, she just left. And I had to grieve not just the friendship and the dog, but the whole version of the story I thought we were in together. (I almost called the psychic back lol)

January was hard. I functioned. I worked. I went through the motions. And then I had to move — staying in a place full of memories didn’t make sense — so I spent the next month packing and relocating on top of everything else.

By the time my birthday arrived I was exhausted. Early 2026 had me in full survival mode. I neglected a lot. I bought collagen and it sat in my refrigerator. I kept meaning to drink more water. I would go out with new friends only to never follow up. I kept meaning to do a lot of things.

That’s the thing about habits — they’re hard to build even when life is easy. When life is hard, they’re almost impossible.

But here’s where I actually am: hopeful. Because the trauma work I did was real and it changed me. Because I know myself better than I ever have. Because I’ve been saying I’m building a business for three years and I’m finally ready to actually build it.

I needed a glow up. So I’m giving myself one. And these are mostly feel good, be strong, have more energy kinds of habits that have little to do with my business directly. But ( and the psychology checks out on this) when we consistently do the little things for ourselves we are constantly rewiring our brains to believe we are worth more and deserve the best.

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Here’s how this works.

Every week for 52 weeks I’m adding one thing to my life — something that moves the needle on how I look, feel, think, move, or operate. Fitness. Mental wellness. Skincare. Style. Business. All of it. It just happens to work out that in my 52^nd year there are 52 weeks until the next birthday.

The structure is intentional. I’m starting with something hard, then following it with a week or two of something easier — this gives the hard thing time to actually take root before I layer in the next challenge. Week one is hydration. I am terrible about drinking water and I know that fixing that will have a ripple effect on everything else. Week two is sunscreen. Week three is collagen — which will finally make it out of my refrigerator. I have a list of things I am compiling that I plan to include but this is also flexible. Who knows what I’ll discover along the way that I’d decide to implement. I’m winging this a little.

This is an experiment, not a prescription. The plan is subject to change as I learn what’s working and what isn’t. That’s the point. I’m not here to perform a perfect glow up — I’m here to actually have one, in real time, and document what it looks like.

The blogging is for accountability. It’s also so I have something real to look back on next year — not a highlight reel, not a polished before-and-after, but actual evidence of what changed and how. And of course, it’s an open invitation. If you want to do your own version of this alongside me, come along.

This is about looking and feeling better. Having sustained energy. Getting my spark back. Building the business. Showing up for myself the way I keep saying I’m going to.

Week one starts now.

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*I’ll be posting every week. Follow along — and if this resonates, share it with someone who needs it.*