Pivotal Year · Creator Party

Pivotal Year

2025 feels like a pivotal year in a pivotal decade. The rate of change seems to have accelerated and sometimes it feels like the ground is shifting beneath my feet.

I’ve been aware of the increased rate of change for some time now. I’m dating myself here, but I remember when a co-worker first demonstrated a facsimile (fax) machine to me.

It was a big, clunky piece of machinery that took up half a desktop. It was loud and so slow it took close to 5 minutes for an entire 1 page message to materialize.

My co-worker beamed with pride and declared that the facsimile machine would someday replace the postal service. He said, “no need to mail a letter when you could just send a quick fax”.

Less than a decade later, I bought a considerably smaller and faster fax machine for my second business venture.

That crazy expensive (over $1,000) fax machine began gathering dust just 9 years later when I bought my first computer. Once I became computer literate, I fell in love with email and blogs.

Partying on the Early Internet

The early internet was such fun! I spent hours each night surfing from blog to blog, site to site. Sometimes I followed so many links, I couldn’t remember where I started.

It wasn’t usual for my surfing sessions to end well after midnight. My husband complained half-joking that he’d become an internet widower.

Within a few years, I moved from consuming blogs to writing a blog. I discovered RapidWeaver and learned the tech to start and maintain my own stand-alone sites.

I learned a lot from the community that coalesced around RapidWeaver. They were a lot of early coders who used RapidWeaver as a shortcut for growing their web design businesses.

Then I fell into Tumbler. It was such a blast! Tumbler had a fun and engaged community on the backend. Nights and weekends were devoted to partying online with the Tumbler community.

The party ended in the early 20-Teens when I migrated over to WordPress. I was attracted by the advanced blog functionality and versatility of the platform. However, that versatility came with a hefty price.

I discovered WordPress is like a medieval European castle. The only way to prevent marauder/hacker attacks is to constantly patrol the ramparts and put metal grates at all entry points.

When my second blog was hacked, I dove into site security. I took webmaster courses and learned my way around c-Panel. I learned and put into practice every bit of information I could find about hardening WordPress.

As crazy making as WordPress still is, I’ve grown attached to the knowledgeable community that surrounds the platform. It is their depth and breadth of knowledge that helps me endure the endless learning curves WordPress demands.

Avalanche

The period from my first glimpse of a fax machine to learning how to deal with WordPress spanned 30 years. I dealt with lots of steep learning curves becoming proficient in one technology or another. Yet, the changes and learning always came at a pace I could handle.

I tend to be what our host Mariah calls a “turtle” or late adopter. I prefer learning slow and deep to learning fast and wide.

Over the past few years, I’ve become aware of an even greater acceleration of change in technology and everything else. Sometimes, I feel like a mountain climber. I’ve found the climb invigorating and relish ascending further, but I’m eyeing potential avalanche conditions ahead.

I’m concerned about 4 main areas of accelerated change and instability:

Tech upgrades seem to come faster and with less certain results. There was a time I looked forward to computer and platform updates, now I dread them. Each update breaks or retires some desired feature. I find myself dragging my feet with each update.

AI is all the buzz now. Some people are rushing forward to embrace AI, using it for workflows, coding and product creation. Others like me are sifting through the sizzle and trying to find the steak. So far, the little of AI I’ve seen consists of nonsensical “AI slop” videos and articles online.

Political Uncertainty. As an American citizen, I do my best to limit exposure to any news media since domestic politics has become a multi-ring circus. I work to remain focused on my business while keeping a wary eye on the clown car in D.C.

Climate Disruption. I attended an online workshop recently where the participants were primarily from the UK and North America. Most of them signed in with comments like: “toasty in Toronto”or “so hot in London”.

Since I grew up in a hot, humid climate it took me a minute to realize how out of the ordinary hot weather was to those workshop participants in the UK and Canada.

Disruptions in the natural world adds yet another layer of accelerated change and uncertainty to the sense of impending avalanche.

Doing What I Know Needs to be Done

Any one of these areas of change would be irritating or disheartening. All 4 converging at once sent me into “seeking a cave” mode this past year. In short, hiding.

A long time teacher recently sent an email that included how he’s dealt with the sense of overwhelm:

“When I get stressed or overwhelmed, I retreat to my comfort zone.

For me, that’s building.

Coding.

Fiddling with the website.

Trying to improve my PageSpeed score by 3 points.

Rewriting an onboarding email.

Shipping a cool little feature that no one asked for.

Instead of doing the stuff I know would help, like following up with people who booked a demo but didn’t buy.

Or reaching out to customers and asking them what they like / hate about the product.

Or getting out of my own bubble and talking to more people.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. I had also immersed myself in comforting busywork like:

Clearing tech issues in the website backend.

Re-writing my email Welcome Sequence.

Making a dent in the backlog of courses I paid for and never completed.

At some point, I realized I was hiding and not doing the things I know needs to be done to move my business forward. Things like starting a YouTube channel and podcast or adding pins to my desolate Pinterest account.

I know I have to find the courage to deal with the avalanche and keep working. I have to do what I know needs to be done.

I also realized that even though the avalanche is scary as heck, this is also a time of great opportunity. New technologies to explore. Finding ways to make AI a servant instead of a master. Joining like-minded people in new political directions. Working with others to adapt to and mitigate climate change.

2025 is not an easy time to be alive. But it does feel like a pivotal year in a pivotal decade and I plan to make the most of this time.

What has 2025 been like for you? Have you been hiding with busywork? Or have you been doing what needs to be done to move your business and your life forward?

Hiding with busywork

Embracing change and moving forward

Stuck

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