Growing Into New Seasons — Gratitude, Awareness, and the Courage to Keep Becoming

G=Goals O=Outlook   A=Authentic T=Truth (#coateisaGOAT)

Thanksgiving has a way of slowing me down long enough to see what I might’ve rushed past during the year. The table filled with food, the familiar voices, the laughter that rises without effort—those moments remind me how grateful I am for the people I get to love in this life. For family, for friends who have become family, for the stories that brought us all here.

But this year, gratitude brought something else with it- something quiet, honest… and real. I became aware of how growth shows up differently in each of us.

We don’t all outgrow things at the same time. We don’t all stretch or heal or seek new chapters at the same pace. Sometimes the people who’ve always been, or newly become, a part of your life remain exactly where you met them, while you feel God pulling you somewhere new. That realization isn’t harsh—it’s tender, bittersweet, and true.

And the truth is, growth changes us. Sometimes growth shifts the room around us, too.

As always, November and December invite me into reflection—looking back at who I was this year, and forward to who I’m becoming. Two months left not to cram, but to set intention. Purpose. Clarity. Vision.

In this next season, I want to:

✨ Love my family and friends with intention and presence. Not just “showing up,” but truly being there.

✨ Continue growing Coate Mindset, not just as a brand, but as a community.

✨ Build the heart behind the Blessing Ring—one story passed forward at a time.

✨ Make meaningful impact in Career & Technical Education through the work I’m called to do.

And as I’ve been reflecting, something beautiful settled on my heart about celebrating my birthday this year. For my 50th birthday, I don’t want big or loud or complicated. I want meaningful.

I want to be in church with the people who’ve been walking through life with me—praying, worshiping, thanking God for another year around the sun—and then go to brunch afterwards to laugh, share stories, and just be together. No decorations. No pressure. Just presence.

Will some people find that uncomfortable or unfamiliar? Possibly. Will some choose not to come because it’s outside the norm? Maybe. Am I inviting them anyway? Without hesitation.

As I was processing all of this, one scripture stood out to me:

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19

A new thing. A new season. A new way—forward.

So if you’re in that place too—where growth feels like both a blessing and a letting go—know this:

• You are allowed to expand.
• You are allowed to change.
• You are allowed to keep becoming, even if not everyone comes with you.

Honour where you’ve been. Treasure who’s walked beside you. And step boldly into where God is leading next.

I’ll keep you posted on how this birthday celebration unfolds. December 15 is still around the corner, and the plan is already taking shape—simple, special, shared. The way this season feels in my spirit.

Here’s to gratitude. Here’s to growth. Here’s to the new thing springing up—even now.