What a Year. It Taught Me About Strength, Trust, and Showing Up – 2025
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December 31, 2025

Life has a way of teaching us when everything stops — not gradually, but all at once — forcing us to see things differently than we planned and to trust what we cannot control.

This year reminded me of that in a way I didn’t expect. As doctors, we are so often the ones guiding, reassuring, holding space. But this year asked me to receive care instead of always giving it — and in doing so, it quietly shifted my perspective.

While playing tennis, one wrong step during a backhand changed everything. I tore my ACL and meniscus and had to undergo surgery to reconstruct and repair the damage.

I learned that strength doesn’t always look like pushing through. Sometimes it looks like patience. Like resting when you’d rather keep going. Like trusting the process even when you don’t fully understand the timing.

One of the greatest gifts this season gave me was seeing how people show up. Family, friends, colleagues, patients — often in quiet, practical, deeply human ways. Not by chance, but with intention. There’s a Afrikaans saying that captured this so beautifully, ‘Leer ontvang in ’n seisoen waar jy gestroop word.’

This year also taught me acceptance. That some things cannot be rushed. Some outcomes cannot be forced. And some disappointments are not a reflection of our worth, but a refining of it.

The final month of the year has a way of creating space for reflection. To look back at the chapters we’ve lived — the ones that stretched us, shaped us, and carried us through days we didn’t even realise we were strong enough to survive.


Here is what I take into 2026:

  • Not every new beginning starts with new goals. Some start with honest reflection.
  • Fatigue isn’t weakness — it’s often unexamined pressure.
  • Patterns, habits, and expectations matter more than surface busyness.
  • Without reflection, a new year easily becomes a repeat.
  • Real change starts with awareness, not motivation.


We step into 2026 not needing to push harder or prove more, but willing to walk forward with intention, humility, and hope — one steady step at a time.