Pace è Salute ✨
Personal reflections on 2024 and intentions before fully embracing 2025
Hi everyone! Happy New Year and best wishes for 2025! Or as we say here in Corsica “Pace è Salute” — which literally means “peace and health”.
I’ve been a bit quiet since mid-December, and I’m sorry for that. The last month of 2024 took quite a toll on me. Between the real and self-imposed mental load of the end-of-year period, my daughter falling sick just before the Christmas holidays, and a packed schedule of social gatherings, heavy meals, and travel back to my hometown of Lyon, it’s been overwhelming.
To top it off, I got sick too right after Christmas and spent the final days of the year literally voiceless. Given that 2024 was all about “finding back my voice”, it was interesting to say the least, and felt like a nudge from the Universe to slow down and reflect. It reminded me that rest isn’t optional if I want to keep growing. It’s also made me crystal clear about what to focus on, what to nurture, and what to leave behind in 2025.
2024: a year of learning, personal growth and reflection
Truth be told, 2024 was A LOT, but in a positive way.
I started the year in a tough mental state after a rough 2023, marked by serious health issues in my family and my partner’s. Seeing cancer reappear in our lives —after losing my father and uncle to it years ago — hit me harder than I expected. By early January, I felt like I was on the verge of burnout or depression, if not already there.
But hitting rock bottom gave me an electroshock. I stopped pretending everything was okay and began seeking help. Deep down, I knew I needed to focus more on myself and reignite my creative spark — though I didn’t know how. Opening up about my struggles in a LinkedIn post led to unexpected support from friends, colleagues, and even strangers, as well as finding tools and communities that helped me turn my year around.
Reflecting now, I see how far I’ve come, and I’m grateful for both the wins and the struggles. “Merci pour les roses et merci pour les épines” (“Thank you for the roses and thank you for the thorns”) as Jean d’Ormesson, a famous late French writer, would say.
I won’t go into the details in this already long post, but if you’d like me to share more about this personal journey in another post, let me know in the comments.
Slowing down before easing into 2025
Before the Christmas holidays, I managed to slow down enough to do a thorough year-end review.
’s Unravel Your Year workbook, which I discovered through the community, was an incredible tool. It helped me reflect on 2024 as a whole, acknowledge my wins, and express gratitude for the journey.Starting 2025 while still sick, I decided not to rush into resolutions or big goals. Instead, I’m giving myself all of January to ease into the year and set myself up for success.
’s “SLOWanuary” post resonated with my need to take things slow for once.
Besides, I read in one of the latest posts of
that in Human Design the new year truly begins on January 22. My birthday being on January 24, it seems quite fitting to align with this timing 😉
Creating my vision for 2025
As part of the Unravel Your Year workbook, I’ve chosen “NURTURE” as my guiding word for 2025, along with “CONNECTION” as my supporting word. It’s a reminder to care for myself, strengthen the connections between my body, soul and mind, cultivate my dreams but also the meaningful relationships in my life as well as this space and community. I’m still working through how to apply this word to shape my writing intentions here on Sip of Corsica, but as the Corsican (and Italian) proverb goes, “Chì và pianu và sanu, chì và sanu và luntanu” (“Slow and steady wins the race.”).
I’ve also taken the crazy decision back in December to participate to the 12 Chapters club of
. I don’t have a book idea yet but anything that could encourage me to write more feels like a good idea. Besides I already know that Claire is not only very good at what she does, but also a great and genuine cheerleader, so I’m confident the experience will be positive no matter the outcome.For now, I’m easing back into writing. Hopefully, I’ll stick to my goal of weekly posts and continue sharing the beauty, culture, and everyday magic of Corsica with you.
What about you? Do you have a word or intention guiding your 2025? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Wishing you a nurturing and peaceful start to the year.
Pace è Salute!
Maïlys
My word for 2025 is SHE-led which, to me, means pressing into my intuition to make decisions. As I've been learning about my human design, my authority (how I make decisions) is emotion/solar plexus which is the core or intuition. I wrote a short article about this:
https://open.substack.com/pub/soulyogaretreat/p/she-led?r=1hthfa&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
And I dove more into the theme in my IWD post (this one): https://open.substack.com/pub/soulyogaretreat/p/approaching-life-with-whole-hearted?r=1hthfa&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I love the projects you are working on right now! Can't wait to read more!