M & M’s With Obstacles: A Trail Mix Approach to Review 2025 and Plan 2026
M & M’s With Obstacles: A Trail Mix Approach to Review 2025 and Plan 2026
I started thinking about today’s content as I was packing my work bag one day last week. I’m recording today’s content before Christmas, even though I know it won't come out until after Christmas. That's okay. Time has strange meaning here in podcast land.
I was packing my lunch that day and setting my intention to use that day’s extensive commute planning content for January, thinking and planning what I want my message to be for the first few months of 2026.
And “packing my lunch”, this is probably content for an upcoming meal planning podcast episode and article sometime in January, but I am none too thrilled with my lunch options at present. Packing my lunch to be eaten in bits between client appointments in my car presents certain challenges. I don’t do fast food, so snacks are where it's at right now. Hard boiled eggs, cheese and crackers, grapes. Car time charcuterie. Call it what you want. How about “Car-cuterie”? Yeah, there's definitely an upcoming topic there.
I had fruit and veggies and protein packed, I had the essentials but I was uninspired. So I grabbed a small go jar (4 oz glass jar with a lid), I have a lot of them from the jam making (and then eating) extravaganza, and I thought I would pack some nuts for crunch, and grabbed the jar of trail mix instead.
This is an episode about trail mix, I guess. Metaphorically speaking. And literally, too, for my lunch that day.
The episode is not about how we take trail mix on adventures, the fabulous portability of trail mix, or that you can so easily personalize it. I mean, wow, I guess this could be deep philosophical thoughts about trail mix, which is a sentence I've never would have expected to publish.
But I was working on lunch and I needed a little something extra. I do love a good trail mix.
My 21 year old, my youngest son, when he was much younger, called trail mix “M & M’s with obstacles.” Way to focus on the positive, buddy. And he still does. He is a marvel, that one, they all are.
“M & M’s with obstacles.”
Way to lead with the good, pal. Yep, you have to eat some protein and fiber, and probably some dried raisins or cranberries or dried cherries in our house because, you know, we love our dried Michigan cherries. “M & M’s with obstacles.” I don’t even remember when that started, he was likely 5 or 6.
Way to focus on the positive, right?
My thought for today, as we look ahead to 2026, is to focus on the positive because let's face it, my friends, there's a lot of crazy out there. There's a lot of negativity. So much negative.
But, I’m not going to let that pull focus. I’ll invite you to focus on the positive. Focusing on the positive doesn't mean that there's not the negative, or that I am so delusional that I gloss right over the hard things. Or the hard days, some more difficult than others. Our hearts may be heavy for many reasons. And unfortunately, we don’t always get to just rest and heal from the hard stuff. But for today, we are going to focus on the M & M’s and not the obstacles.
Focusing on the M &M’s doesn't mean we don't mention or acknowledge the obstacles. It doesn't mean we don't plan around the obstacles. It doesn't mean that we don't know that we still need to overcome the obstacles. All of those things can be true.
But let’s take a page from little John’s handbook, and let’s focus on the M & M’s, right? Because we have to eat all of the trail mix. Because it's good for us, we need the energy and the protein and the fiber and we can take it with us because it's portable, and it will sustain us.
Sometimes we have to eat it all because that is what we have with us. We eat it all because we need to. But let's focus on the M and M's, not the obstacles. There you go.
Your late 2025 motivational words for the day. Trail Mix. Who knew?
Focus on what you want to or need to focus on, and make sure to put a little goodness in there for yourself, a little something to look forward to in your trail mix. I guess I really could run with that idea, January planning is all about the trail mix. I thought I was done with the Trail Mix analogy, but hear me out:
The messages for my Q1 2026 writing and planning and content for you and for me could be
Trail mix = Goal Setting, focusing on the M & M’s while being realistic about the obstacles
Trail mix = Being intentional about your health, and creating the mix that supports that.
Trail mix = Setting yourself up to succeed for the day
Trial mix = meal planning - ALL THE meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner and snacks (this is one area I need to work on, better portable lunches, intentional breakfasts, etc.)
Trail mix = Plan your 2026 adventures, and take the trail mix with you
Trail mix = planning for bumps along the way, because I try to keep trail mix in the car in case of traffic or a travel breakdown, etc.
Trail mix = being prepared, as I just out loud asked Alexa to put trail mix on our shopping list because we’re now out of it!
Which shifts me to a 2025 Review and a 2026 Preview:
Now that I have set the stage with Trail Mix (again, a sentence I never imagined writing or saying), here’s the rest of your assignment (or not, you can always choose!) for the week, and we will work on this more fully next week, if you are resting this week:
Review 2025: What did you do this year?
Check in with your focus areas, and ask the question: “What did I do this year?”
If you haven’t identified your focus areas, don’t worry - we will be talking about these again soon, too!
If you’re stumped as to what you did this year, check the following resources for trends: your calendar, the photo log on your phone, your sent emails, your text conversations and your bank statements. This information will tell you where your energy and resources went in 2025, and may shed some light - what did you do this year?
Quick answers for me, off the top of my head!
I am here. I survived and even flourished in some areas, and held steady in others.
If that’s you, and that is what is on the list, that may be enough.
Business specific:
New this year, for 6 months, I supported my students as a Student Success Coach with Moraine Valley Community College and The Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind.
I attended the NAPO Summit for the first time. I re-launched my website. I took classes, read books and learned a lot.
I spent more time and made more money in public speaking this year than ever before.
Service specific:
I completed my 8 years on the Board of Education, the last 4 as Board President, competently and compassionately serving my community, and handed on resources and knowledge to my team if they need them.
My parish has a new pastor and music director, and I actively participated in the growth of my parish.
I spent more time and made more money singing this year than ever before.
Personal:
I took care of all of my preventive maintenance and health related tasks, and had 2 more basal cell carcinomas removed.
We traveled many times to Michigan for family. We traveled to Seattle, Alaska (new), Canada, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island (new) and Vermont (new).
Another area for review, Did you start the year with Goals? If you did, how did you do with meeting those?
After a quick review of my 2025 goals, I am pleased to say I accomplished many, if not most. And the ones that are left will be reviewed, and either deleted if they’re no longer important to me, or moved to 2026. That list has already begun.
And finally, what did you learn? About yourself? About something new? About the people around you? What did you learn? And how does all of that impact your 2026?
What did I do last year? And what did I learn?
As we review 2025 and plan for 2026, appreciate the M & M’s, while recognizing the obstacles. And maybe some of your 2026 planning is to work on fixing or removing the obstacles. If an obstacle is a health issue, what are steps to make it better? If an obstacle is a strained relationship, what are steps to make it better or to work on your healing around it?
“M & M’s with obstacles.” Trail mix motivation that I never realized I would write. Happy New Year, and I look forward to an amazing 2026 with all of you.
