The Upside Down Year: Reflections on 2025 and the Fire That Awaits

“Upside down / Boy, you turn me inside out / And ‘round and ‘round.”

Diana Ross sang these words in 1980, and they’ve been echoing in my mind as I look back at 2025. Not because of a boy, but because of the year itself—a year that spun me around, turned me inside out, and left me dizzy with transformation.

Going Backwards to Move Forward

There were moments this year when I felt like I was regressing rather than progressing. I found myself more impulsive, more honest, more authentic—qualities I hadn’t embodied so fully since my teenage years. The polished adult persona I’d carefully constructed seemed to crack and peel away, revealing something rawer underneath. I dove deeper into my inner world, sometimes at the expense of outward focus, sometimes feeling directionless or dejected.

If I’m being honest, 2025 was a writhing, uncomfortable, elusive, slippery sucker of a year that bit me on the bum more than once. I’ll be glad to shed this skin and slither into the next.

Perhaps fittingly, 2025 is the Chinese Year of the Snake (蛇 - shé)—a symbol of transformation, rebirth, and the wisdom that comes from shedding old habits and embracing change. Sometimes the universe speaks in symbols we can’t ignore.

Welcome to the Upside Down

As a devoted Stranger Things fan and a coach who loves the power of metaphor, I recently discovered something that made my strange year make more sense. The show’s creators have revealed that the Upside Down—that inverted parallel dimension of horrors—is a metaphor for chaos, upheaval, and distorted reality. Inspired by Buddhist concepts, it represents our inner demons, our mental struggles, our hidden fears. It can also simply describe a life drastically changed by tragedy or loss.

Let’s be honest: we’ve all had our moments in the Upside Down this year, haven’t we?

But here’s what makes Stranger Things resonate so deeply with me: it’s the kids’ courage, friendship, and teamwork that ultimately save the world. Watching their collective Hero’s Journey unfold across five seasons reminds me that these aren’t just entertainment values—they’re survival tools. Courage, friendship, and collaboration sit at the heart of everything I do as a coach, and they’re the qualities that get us through our own Upside Down moments.

.(Gemini depicting someone who is supposed to look like me in the Upside Down - AI is a work in progress!)

The Courage to Choose Change

Which brings me to you.

I want to thank every client, coachee, and partner who showed courage by commissioning coaching, coach training, and leadership development services in 2025. In today’s business climate, it takes real bravery to stick your neck out. It’s so much easier to freeze in fear, to err on the side of caution and tradition. Fighting for budgets that facilitate the retention and development of people is a genuinely heroic act of leadership.

Change was the perennial theme of 2025, and leading through change dominated my coaching conversations. Time and again, I witnessed people confronting an uncomfortable truth: the only way to successfully navigate change is by changing ourselves—our beliefs, mindsets, and behaviours. Sustainable change requires time, investment, and an openness to self-critique and innovation. As the saying goes, “If we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always got.”

Other themes emerged with striking consistency: making meaning of uncertainty and volatility; understanding and managing burnout; setting boundaries and creating sustainable ways of living and working; having difficult conversations and building healthier feedback cultures; sustaining team performance amid mistrust and fear.

These aren’t just coaching topics. They’re the defining struggles of our time.

Enter the Fire Horse

As we move toward 2026, we enter the Year of the Fire Horse (馬 - mǎ). Not just any horse, but a Fire Horse—and in Chinese Zodiac lore, that’s significant. The Fire Horse symbolises intense energy, passion, independence, and unstoppable momentum. It combines the Horse’s freedom-loving spirit with Fire’s dynamic, transformative power, representing innovation, courage, and an unrelenting drive for success.

2026 promises dynamism, bold action, and—yes—more change. Zodiac experts suggest it will be ideal for chasing dreams and launching new ventures, though they caution us to manage our potential impulsiveness, particularly in relationships and major life choices.

The Snake year asked us to shed our skin. The Fire Horse year is inviting us to run.

Three Questions for Your Mulled Wine Moments

As you sip your favourite holiday beverage, I invite you to sit with these coaching questions:

Which of your lifelong dreams do you want to turn into reality in 2026?

Which love, passion, or hobby might you convert into a new venture?

Which relationships will you invest in—or continue to invest in—and why?

These aren’t simply questions. They’re invitations. Coaching serves to help you move from wondering to doing, from dreaming to realising. If you’d like to explore how coaching could enable you to achieve your dreams, ventures, and goals in 2026—for yourself or for your team—let’s put some time in the diary for January.

The Upside Down of 2025 taught us something valuable: transformation is uncomfortable, change is constant, and courage is a choice we make every day. As we step into the fire and momentum of 2026, may we choose courage, lean on friendship, and remember that we’re all on a Hero’s Journey together.

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Sending you love, peace, and joy as we close this chapter and begin the next.

Amanda

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If you’d like to discuss any of the coaching themes mentioned in this piece—leading through change, managing burnout, creating healthier team cultures, or navigating uncertainty—please drop me a line. I’d love to hear what your 2025 looked like, and what you’re ready to create in 2026.