Hey hey, happy New Year's Eve!

Welcome to the 2025 celebration stream from Startup Grounds. This is our New Year's Eve tradition where we celebrate everything - the wins, the struggles, the growth, and yeah, even the failures.

Here's the thing: I don't like celebration streams that only focus on the good stuff. Life has duality. We all had beautiful moments this year AND difficult, confronting moments. Both deserve to be celebrated because we made it through all of it.

In this episode, we're going through reflection questions together:

1. What were your biggest challenges and failures this year?
2. How do you want to remember those challenges?
3. What's different about you compared to a year ago?
4. What surprised you most about what you're capable of?
5. What's something brave you did this year?

This is a no downplaying zone. Your brain is going to tell you "it wasn't that big of a deal" - but for the next hour, we're making everything a big deal. You're a big deal. Your life is a big deal. This year is a big deal.

I also talk about partnering with negative emotions (anxiety, embarrassment, disappointment), why rejection is protection, setting boundaries, and how our brains think in patterns.

My biggest surprise this year? I actually expanded my capacity for producing more than I thought possible. Turns out the hardest part wasn't the doing - it was deciding to try while partnering with the fear of disappointing people.

Happy New Year, everyone. We did it. We're here. That's worth celebrating.