When Life Interrupts Your Plans

Hello Friends,

As you look back to January 2025, I wonder whether your year unfolded the way you expected it to. I wonder whether the life and work goals you set for yourself (or even just vaguely hoped for) had the chance to come to pass. Perhaps 2025 wildly exceeded your expectations, and your life looks unimaginably better than you had dared hope. If so, I’m truly happy for you.

But I suspect many of you had plans that simply didn’t materialise, and in fact, this year may have been much harder than you thought it would be. Life threw curveballs that most definitely were not on the vision board, and this year became more about digging in, getting through, or learning to live within circumstances you never saw coming.

I didn’t get the job 

The big C is back

My marriage is over

She didn’t get into uni

I need an operation, it’s going to knock me back for months

No, we’re still not pregnant

I didn’t pass my exam - I can’t take it again 

I had to whistleblow and now the whole situation has taken over my life

We’ve lost the house

We’ve got to move mom into a care home

Mom has got dementia now

My mom has died 

Those last three were my own. 

Sometimes years exceed our expectations, sometimes years push us to our limits.

All these situations - and many, many more - upset our plans, reshape us in ways we never asked for, and force us to reckon with realities we never saw coming. 

Good question. That’s exactly what Laura and I are talking about in this week’s podcast. 

As any of you who have been paying attention will know, this year has been - at the very least - decade-topping in its disruption for me. Some of the better things of life - a long-hoped for book deal and our son’s engagement (this is brand-new news, hooray!) have been rather few and far between this year, buried under a heap of large and small disappointments, hurts and losses. I won’t bore you with all of it, but suffice to say, Laura and I feel well equipped by recent experience to open up this topic with honesty and, hopefully, some practical encouragement.

Most of us will face years that not only interrupt, but fully disrupt our plans. Nobody likes these years, nobody asks for them, but they are going to happen anyway. The question is: What will we do when we find ourselves in them?

Here’s a few thoughts and encouragements (before you listen to the podcast, obviously):

I recently heard someone say that the painful seasons of life will either make us harder and weaker, or softer and stronger. We get to choose how we engage with the stuff of life that comes our way (that maybe we didn’t choose at all). 

Some of what you hoped for simply may not be possible right now. Some of what you expected from yourself may not be available to you. That’s hard, but it’s OK. This year I had to turn down a lot of work because of family priorities, and I’m also not going to break even financially. Less than ideal, but, as my dad would say, it is what it is. This isn’t giving up; it’s recognising that the landscape has changed, and your (and my) goals may need to change with it.

Not platitudes: nobody wants to hear “at least you’ve still got a job” or “you can try again.” Gratitude doesn’t minimise pain. It simply helps us notice what is still good, still hopeful, still sustaining. And it’s been shown to make us more resilient to emotional setbacks and negative experiences (McCraty & Childre, 2004). Very handy in a tough year.

So, if life is interrupting your plans, take heart. 

In the inimitable words of Winnie The Pooh, Promise me you'll always remember: you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.

Love, 

Hannah x

P.S. There’s much more on the seasons of life and dealing with disappointment in my new book, available now at all good bookshops. And if you’ve enjoyed the book, can I please ask that you consider giving it a review? Amazon is probably the key place, and also goodreads.com 

P.P.S. A massive thank you to each and every one of you who has taken the time to text, email, encourage, purchase, or champion as we’ve launched this book. It has meant the world to me, and I am more grateful than you probably realise.