Nicole’s 2025 Reflections: Shedding the Past, Small Victories, and a Taste of the Future

Read Nicole’s personal reflections on 2025, and the lessons she brings with her into 2026!

Welcome to my annual (delayed) reflections on the year, and a glimpse into the inner workings of my brain. I hope you enjoy!

A Heartbreaking Start to the Year

The year started out in the most heartbreaking way, with the Los Angeles fires. I myself had to evacuate, and was in complete disbelief until family members told me I needed to go immediately as I live in the middle of Santa Monica with only buildings and large roads surrounding me. That night, the smoke had blackened the entire sky, the winds were reaching tornado levels with every street sign swinging full force, and tree branches were hitting my windshield from every angle. I luckily had my parents’ home to evacuate to, but many were not so lucky. There is so much devastation even now, with very slow progress of any signs of rebuilding.

The sentiment from the rest of the world was quite alarming during this time, and very few people checked in despite it being covered on every major news outlet. This made me realize what a warped and twisted view people have of Los Angeles. Having grown up here, I wish there was a way to broadcast to the world how many millions of people live here, the diversity, the hard-working people, the small businesses, and the outpour of love and strong sense of community that comes from being an Angeleno. The constant displays of humanity, support, and love to everyone who lost their homes and the first responders made me feel so connected to my city, which I had honestly been missing for a little while. Many people (understandably) announced intent to move immediately, but I on the other hand felt it was even more reason to stay.

My blog covers a variety of my interests with the niche being me, but this was one of the first times that I felt a sense of purpose to use my blog as a resource for Angelenos. I wrote several blog posts day and night for weeks with real time updates covering my firsthand account, evacuation zones, helping loved ones through a crisis, fire tracking, evacuation centers and food supplies, helplines, lawyers and insurance, air quality, volunteering, donating, and medications and relief funds. Even if I was able to help just one person, it was worth it. In 2026, I plan to spotlight small businesses around LA!

I Got Published in a Magazine (Twice)

An exciting moment during this devastating time of the fire evacuations was getting reached out to by Voyage LA magazine for an interview. I am still honestly dumbfounded as to how this happened, but a part of me thinks that I somewhat manifested the type of magazine that reached out to me. When I was little and wanted to watch 13 Going on 30 on repeat, I always wished there was a magazine that would highlight incredible everyday people just like Jenna pitched in the movie. Well, Voyage LA is just that! You can read the initial interview here. I was even more surprised a few months ago when they reached out to do a follow-up interview, which just got published last month here. This second interview is definitely a bit more vulnerable, so I am proud of putting myself out there and giving truly raw, honest responses.

Experiences and Research

You’ll notice that 2025 was a bit lacking in the writing department, as much of my time was devoted to investing my time and resources into new experiences to blog about. The major highlights include my trip to Ireland at Ashford Castle, and a week long solo trip in Paris. I have a lot of catching up to do, so this year I plan to do a better job of mapping out all of my content, and even taking myself on a quarterly solo blogging retreat to really hunker down on publishing my blogs.

Putting My Burnout Recovery to the Test

If you have not read my ‘About Me’ page, I’m linking it here for better context on my burnout and blogging origin story. I have yet to truly detail out how bad it was, so here we go. My sabbatical was specifically a medical leave, as the symptoms I was showing for a prolonged period included extremely slowed and delayed speaking and movement, complete loss of motivation, numbness, memory lapses, crying everyday, major brain fog, and 24/7 exhaustion. I would hear phantom pings all the time (which is why I’m a DnD princess), and there were periods for months at a time that I would get the most debilitating sleep paralysis every single night without fail. This made me scared to fall asleep every night, which created a never ending cycle. I went to therapy (out of pocket) for years solely to address the topic of work (when there are tons of other things that could have been covered, lol).

A couple of years later I moved to a new job that was a great environment reset. However, in the earlier half of 2025 I needed to cover for a coworker on paternity leave and truly put my burnout recovery to the test, as I was essentially doing two very high visibility jobs. I was working until midnight most nights and my days were at an accelerated, high pressure pace as they had been previously. I was so nervous that I was being truly idiotic by risking all the progress that I had made. Was I going to relapse and need to go on another leave? Would I need to quit my job altogether?

Somehow, I made it through and I honestly think I needed to be tested past my limits to see if I could manage on my own. I learned so much over the years about myself, my mindset, my thoughts, and my crippling perfectionism that I was able to use all of these learnings in my day-to-day to get by. Would I want to go through that again? Absolutely not, lol. However, I think sometimes we have to test ourselves in a new environment to see if we truly have healed.

Failing at TikTok and Instagram (Badly)

At the very end of 2024, I made a new Instagram account @nicoles_bloggie with hopes that it might do better than my previous one. I’m at 103 followers, which is obviously better than nothing, but I acknowledge that I am really bad at it. It’s funny because my private account has over 550 friend requests, yet those people have no interest in following my public blog account so clearly listed in my bio. It’s also a bit of a karmic lesson for me, as college me used to look down on influencers and see it as an easy out as I was a nerd studying data science about to enter Big Tech. Boy, have I learned my lesson! Content creation is hard. Not only is it hard for posts to do well, but it sucks up all of your time and energy! The worst is knowing that people all around you are watching constantly and validating that your content sucks by never hitting the like button—I promise I’m trying, lol!

I also did my best to post on TikTok on a more consistent basis (@nsimonek there), and I am still stuck in 300 view jail despite posting daily now. I did have one semi-viral post this past year on my Paris souvenirs, which has about 350,000 views, 28,000 likes, and 14,900 saves! This was truly an exciting time for me, as I was able to increase my follow count to over 400! Last month, I even created a dedicated blog product of a Paris souvenir guide due to popularity (can be purchased here).

I also had a severe panic attack this past year when I realized that every single one of my carousel posts were completely cropped and cut off (two years of posting like this, lol). @TikTok, you really need to fix this bug! After a lot of research, I found out that it only affects a handful of accounts and there’s literally nothing you can do except keep your captions to just a few words (and unless you view from another account, you can’t tell!). I did temporarily delete my account and create a new one, then reactivated it and mass deleted the beheaded carousel posts which definitely was not a good move on my part. Oh well!

Social media is hard because you can put dozens of hours into a post just for it to flop with a single like, lol. I have also realized what a time suck it has been for me the past couple of years, so I am ending 2025 with a compromise. I am still going to stay consistent, because I do believe in constantly failing, putting yourself out there, and doing things that you are genuinely bad at. However, I am going to be more intentional about batching content, doing easy posts, and editing in record time so that my main focus this year can be writing.

Realizing I’m a Pinterest Princess

One night this past year, I had an aha! moment in the middle of the night (as they so often come to me). I am a Pinterest princess, and I needed to start posting like one. I spent years creating Canva templates of my blog post titles, but I realized that I needed to just post pictures similar to what I would pin for my vision board scrapbooks. And so, I created a dedicated board called Moodboard Lifestyle | Beauty, Travel, Wine, & DIY. I’m at 274 pins on that particular board, but plan to stay consistent in 2026 by publishing at least 15 pins per week. I am pleased with my progress as well, as I started the year hovering around 20-50,000 monthly views, and am now at 90-100,000 views. I have even started seeing posts on TikTok using my (stolen) pictures as their own from this board, which is a tell tale sign that I’m doing something right! I think a true test of creating anything whether you’re on a micro scale or mega influencer is being okay with getting copied, and I have had an entire lifetime of practice!

Finally Reaching Icon Status on ShopMy and PR Galore!

I finally reached Icon status (the highest status) on ShopMy (the affiliate program I use—read about it here), which is actually a pretty admirable achievement. You must fully complete your profile, have a high level of recent activity generating links and responding to requests, have over 10,000 monthly link clicks, and over $2,500 of monthly order volume. I created a lot of great collections of my unique, niche, and favorite items this past year, and also had a year full of amazing PR gifts. I received NINE sweatsuit items from The Mayfair Group, perfume and balm from NOYZ, oil and scrub from Fur, a ZIIP Halo and Crystal Gel (the most exciting one!!), VIO2 mouth tape, cleansers from Remedy Skin and VERSED, and haircare sets from ROZ and Bumble and Bumble!

I am manifesting here that my dream PR gifts are from Baccarat, Amina Muaddi, Gentle Monster, Sisley, Beyond Yoga, Perfect Bars, Monkey 47, and Dior Beauty!

Treating My Solar Urticaria

Though it happened at the latter end of 2025, I finally got approved to start Xolair to treat my solar urticaria that I have had since early middle school. Now that I have had two shots, I can proudly say that my symptoms are already a million times better! I unexpectedly saw results the day of my second shot when I went to the nail salon. Normally when I am putting my hands and feet under the UV light over and over again, I immediately get hives. Because the light is so close and concentrated, it normally takes a few hours after my appointments for the severe redness, puffiness, and itchiness to go away. To my surprise, after putting my hands under the light quite a few times, I felt nothing. I had never felt nothing before and immediately burst into tears. That weekend, I decided to test out going on a long drive on a sunny day in just a tank top. Normally on sunny days (even from inside of the car), I get hives on my hands, chest, face, and even scalp if not wearing a hat within a few minutes. I drove around for over two hours and did not develop a single hive!

I honestly have TikTok to thank because I made a video a couple of years back trying to find just one person who also had it, and may have gotten a cure and Xolair was mentioned. I don’t think people quite understand the severity that any type of chronic urticaria can have on one’s quality of life, and how completely life-changing getting treatment is. Having had it for so long, I now realize how much I downplayed the excruciating amount of pain I was constantly in. Now that I have experienced relief I am going to make it my mission to get the word out!

Sticking With It

I think it’s about time that I gave myself some flowers as it’s crazy to think that I launched my blog at the end of 2022 and it’s already 2026! There are not many people who can stick to something for so long without seeing substantial material gain, but I have somehow kept up with blogging and all that comes with it this whole time (in addition to my full-time job). If I do the math and assume ~4 hours dedicated to blogging activities per day (there have been a lot of 8+ hour days since I don’t sleep, lol), I’ve dedicated over 4,500 hours to nicolesimonek.com! I’ve realized that having a “second thing” is something not a lot of people can do for a long period of time, as it means sacrificing free time, sleep, and leisure activities every single day (and experiencing humiliation rituals every now and then, lol).

In 2026 I will be testing my limits by adding on a lot of lofty hobbies and goals, but if I can accomplish even a percentage I can show others that they can do it too! It’s absolutely never too late to start something, but what better time to start than now?

Getting Serious About My Goals in 2026

I recently launched my 2026 Action Plan product, which I put a ton of hard work into. The idea came to me right at midnight on New Year’s, and I scribbled furiously for several hours to get all of my ideas out then turned it into a formal digital download PDF. I am biased, but I honestly think that it is a genius workbook to stay disciplined and on track of your goals without having to fill out a daily planner. If you want to join me in making all of your goals and dreams come true, you can purchase the planner here.

I am going to make a separate post shortly where I will list out all of the goals I am tracking to in 2026, and will make updates under each goal with my progress so far. As a small preview, most of my goals revolve around becoming my dream woman/who I aspire to be! Cheers to an incredible year ahead! <3