What the Year of the Snake Taught Me About Leadership, Letting Go, and Moving Forward
Our Red-Tailed Visitor on December 30, 2025
Originally Published on LinkedIn December 31, 2025
December 31, 2025
As the final days of 2025 settled in, I found myself standing quietly in our kitchen, looking out the window. In the foreground, our maple tree stood bare for winter, its branches stripped down to their essential lines. Tucked within them, almost camouflaged, was something unexpected. A red-tailed hawk, still and composed, blended into the bark and sky until its steady, unmistakable gaze revealed it. Uncommon. Impossible to ignore.
It felt like a punctuation mark at the end of a year defined by transition.
2025 was the Year of the Snake. I was born in the Year of the Snake, a cycle often associated with wisdom, intuition, and purposeful transformation. Knowing that, I entered this year aware that it might ask more of me. Not in volume, but in intention. Not in speed, but in discernment. In hindsight, the symbolism was exact and on point.
This year offered an abundance of milestones and blessings. My 25th Chicago Race to Mackinac is a reminder that endurance is built over decades, not moments. A milestone birthday that brought perspective rather than pause. Watching my first child step confidently into college, marking a generational shift defined by trust and growth. Above all, a clean bill of health is the foundation upon which everything else stands.
There were challenges, as there always are. But I have learned that challenges are not identities. They are moments. Focusing on them for too long robs valuable energy that could be better invested in building, learning, and moving forward. Progress does not come from rehearsing difficulty. It comes from choosing resilience, renewal, and direction.
The Year of the Snake reinforced that lesson. Real growth happens quietly. Transformation rarely announces itself. It asks for patience, discernment, and the courage to release old skins that once protected you but now limit your reach.
Then there was the hawk.
The red-tailed hawk is a symbol of strength, courage, and protection. A messenger calling for clarity, focus, and the ability to see the bigger picture. Its presence urges trust in intuition and confidence in change. Its red tail speaks to vitality, passion, and grounding, a reminder that true power is steady rather than rushed, rooted rather than reactive.
Watching that hawk survey its surroundings, the message was unmistakable. Elevate your view. Focus forward. Stay grounded as you rise.
Transitions demand both resolve and humility. As William Bridges observed, “It is not the changes that do you in, it is the transitions.” Growth is not only about where you are going, but about whom you are becoming along the way. When your most fundamental element is changing, it is time to move on.
As I look ahead, I carry the lessons of 2025 with gratitude and intention. This was a year that reset my trajectory, sharpened my priorities, and reinforced what truly matters. Experience over noise. Purpose over pace. Direction over distraction. As the new year begins, I am curious what lessons others are carrying forward and how they are choosing to step into what comes next.
The future is not something to rush toward. It is something to step into with intention.
Like the snake, I move forward renewed. Like the hawk, I keep my eyes on the horizon.
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