Year-End Health Review: Amy Mewborn’s 5-Step Framework to Close 2025 With Clarity 

Year-End Health Review: Amy Mewborn’s Simple 5-Step Framework to Close 2025 With Clarity

Welcome back to Living Simpler.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed about closing out 2025, you’re not alone. Most of us finish the year exhausted, remembering only the hard parts and overlooking the wins that actually happened.

A year-end health review changes that.

This isn’t another generic “New Year, New You” article. It’s a proven framework that takes just 15-20 minutes and helps you honestly assess what worked, what didn’t, and how to set yourself up for genuine success in 2026.

Amy Mewborn, founder of Living Simpler and an integrative health practitioner, uses this exact process every year to transform how she approaches her health, business, and personal life. And after spending her 48th birthday in the ICU with dangerously high blood pressure, this year it became non-negotiable.

Let’s walk through it together.

What Is a Year-End Health Review? (And Why It Actually Matters)

A year-end health review is a structured reflection process where you assess three core areas of your life:

• Your Health (nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, energy)
• Your Business or Career (achievements, growth, challenges)
• Your Personal Life (relationships, travel, joy, connection)

Here’s what makes it different from standard New Year’s resolutions:

It’s based on real data. You look at your actual calendar, not your feelings about your year. This prevents you from rewriting history.

It’s honest and kind. You celebrate wins AND acknowledge what didn’t work—without shame or harsh judgment.

It’s forward-focused. Instead of dwelling on the past, you use what you learned to make smarter choices going forward.

It takes 15-20 minutes. You don’t need hours of journaling. Just clarity.

The Powerful Truth Amy Almost Missed

When Amy started 2025, she had one goal: make health her priority.

She implemented daily morning walks. She increased her protein from 50 grams to 125-150 grams daily. She shifted from one meal at 4 PM to two balanced meals. She added wellness tools like PEMF mat sessions, red light therapy, and sauna time.

The results were undeniable.

She transformed from someone who slept until 8-9 AM feeling lethargic into a woman who naturally wakes at 5 AM with energy for a full workout. Her circadian rhythm reset. Her energy soared. Her health stabilized.

But here’s what almost happened:

When Amy started reflecting on her year, she thought, “2025 was all work and health. I didn’t have much fun.”

She almost let that become her story.

Then she pulled out her actual calendar and scrolled through 2025. And everything changed.

She discovered she’d traveled nearly 11 weeks that year:

• A girls’ weekend in Las Vegas
• Two weeks in Nashville
• A women’s retreat in Minnesota and Wisconsin
• Multiple trips to Southern California with her husband, Mike
• Days in Washington, D.C.
• Visits to fitness studios across Virginia Beach and Colonial Williamsburg
• Two weeks in Cabo

She’d also started teaching group Pilates again at Raya Wellness, a women-focused wellness facility. She’d helped launch 25+ fitness studios. She’d deepened her business while protecting her health.

The year wasn’t lacking in fun. She’d just forgotten to remember it.

This is exactly why a year-end health review matters.

Before You Start: Three Simple Things

1. Gather Your Tools

You’ll need:

• A journal or your phone’s notes app
• Your calendar from 2025 (this is important!)
• 15-20 uninterrupted minutes

2. Find Your Timing

The best time is early morning (ideally after a walk to activate your circadian rhythm) or a quiet evening when you can think clearly.

Pro tip: Amy records episodes right after her Monday morning walk. The clarity sticks.

3. Commit to Honesty and Kindness

This isn’t about beating yourself up. It’s about understanding what actually works for your unique body, business, and life. There’s no judgment here—only curiosity.

Step 1: Celebrate What Worked

This is where you start. Not with criticism. With celebration.

Look back at 2025 and identify three wins across your health, business, and personal life. They can be big or small. Major achievements or simple moments that made you proud.

Health Wins

What actually worked for your body this year?

Examples:

• You started a daily morning walk routine (and felt your circadian rhythm shift)
• You increased your protein intake significantly
• You finally prioritized sleep—and it changed everything
• You reduced alcohol consumption
• You committed to weekly sauna sessions or red light therapy
• You got regular blood work and adjusted your nutrition based on results
• You returned to teaching fitness or started a new movement practice
• You managed your stress better
• You eliminated foods that were making you feel inflamed

Amy’s health wins for 2025:

1. Daily morning walks transformed her entire circadian rhythm
2. Increasing protein intake gave her sustained energy and strength
3. Returning to teach group Pilates fed her soul and built community

Business Wins

What did you actually build, launch, or accomplish professionally?

Examples:

• You launched a new program or service
• You helped a specific number of clients achieve real results
• You implemented systems that made your work easier
• You added a new income stream
• You invested in education or certifications
• You built something you’re genuinely proud of
• You set better boundaries with clients
• You hired support or built a team
• You doubled down on what actually works

Amy’s business wins for 2025:

1. Helped launch 25+ fitness studios (75% Pilates, 15% yoga, 10% other formats)
2. Created 10 new AI agents specifically trained for Studio in a Box to help studio owners
3. Added health coaching as a new income stream
4. Built three major new projects launching in 2026

Personal Wins

What brought you joy, connection, or aliveness?

Examples:

• You took meaningful trips or travel
• You spent quality time with people you love
• You said no to things that didn’t serve you
• You started a hobby or creative practice
• You attended a retreat or workshop that filled your cup
• You deepened important relationships
• You had moments of real presence and joy
• You prioritized time for rest and restoration

Amy’s personal wins for 2025:

1. Traveled 11 weeks total—Vegas, Nashville, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Southern California, D.C., Virginia Beach, Colonial Williamsburg, Cabo
2. Joined Raya Wellness community and built friendships with women focused on wellness
3. Maintained her marriage and took regular trips with her husband

Write It Down

Now write your three wins. One health. One business. One personal.

Let yourself actually feel proud.

This isn’t bragging. This is honoring what you’ve accomplished. And momentum builds on celebrating what’s already working.

Step 2: Release What Didn’t Work (With Kindness)

Now it’s time to let go.

Ask yourself: What felt heavy, draining, or out of alignment this year?

This isn’t about failure. It’s about evolution. Some things don’t work because they were never right for you in the first place. Some things worked for a season but aren’t serving you anymore.

The goal is to identify them, acknowledge them, and consciously release them.

Health Habits to Release

What wellness practices became obligations instead of nourishment?

Examples:

• A supplement routine that became overwhelming or expensive
• A workout style that felt obligatory, not energizing
• Foods you thought you “should” eat but that made you feel sluggish
• A morning routine that never quite fit your actual life
• Alcohol or habits that no longer align with your wellness
• Over-exercising or under-eating
• Pushing through pain instead of listening to your body
• Comparison to other people’s wellness journeys

Amy released:

• Alcohol (even though she loves a good Mezcalita, it no longer serves her wellness goals)
• Calorie counting (it created unnecessary mental burden)
• Rigid meal timing (she moved to a more flexible two-meal approach)

Business Habits to Release

What professional commitments are draining your energy without serving your vision?

Examples:

• A service or program that doesn’t align with your passion
• A marketing strategy that feels inauthentic
• Team members who didn’t grow with you
• Perfectionism that prevents you from launching
• Overcommitment to clients or projects
• Trying to do everything yourself
• Systems that no longer fit your growing business
• Financial models that aren’t sustainable

Amy released:

• Trying to manage all social media, marketing, and operations alone
• The idea that she had to figure everything out without AI support
• Two part-time VAs who couldn’t adapt to technology changes

Personal Habits to Release

What time commitments feel obligatory rather than joyful?

Examples:

• Relationships that feel draining
• Activities you do because you “should”
• Travel that doesn’t fill your cup
• Expectations you place on yourself that don’t serve you
• Comparing your journey to others
• Saying yes when you want to say no
• Staying in spaces that don’t feel aligned with your values

Amy released:

• The guilt of thinking she “didn’t have fun” in 2025 (she just hadn’t remembered to celebrate it)
• The pressure to do everything alone in her business

The Release Practice

Write down what you’re releasing. Then ask yourself: “I’m grateful for what this taught me, and I’m ready to let it go.”

This transforms release from blame to gratitude.

Step 3: Capture the Lessons Your Body, Business, and Gut Tried to Tell You

Every experience—whether it worked beautifully or crashed spectacularly—has a lesson embedded in it.

Your body sends messages. Your business shows you what’s sustainable and what isn’t. Your gut whispers truths you need to hear.

The question is: Were you listening?

What Did Your Body Tell You?

Your physical health is always communicating.

Examples of body wisdom:

• Your energy shifted dramatically when you changed one thing (movement, food timing, sleep, stress management)
• Certain foods consistently made you feel inflamed, bloated, or sluggish
• Your blood work revealed deficiencies you didn’t know about
• Stress showed up physically (tension, poor digestion, inflammation, elevated blood pressure)
• Your movement practice completely changed how you feel
• Sleep became non-negotiable
• Your circadian rhythm shifted (waking earlier, more alert, more energy)

Amy’s body messages:

Her biggest health message came from her MOGAD diagnosis in 2024, which taught her that her immune system needed serious support. Her neurologist recommended increasing magnesium, zinc, and vitamin D significantly.

She listened. Her body responded.

Now she takes a minimum of 10,000 IUs of vitamin D daily, plus daily zinc, magnesium, a multivitamin, omegas, and others she cycles strategically.

Her body also told her that morning light was non-negotiable. When she started taking daily walks first thing in the morning, her entire circadian rhythm reset. She went from fighting to wake up to naturally waking at 5 AM with energy.

What Did Your Business Tell You?

Your professional work shows you what’s working and what isn’t.

Examples of business wisdom:

• Certain clients or projects energize you while others drain you
• Some services are profitable while others aren’t
• Your team either grows with you or holds you back
• Systems that once worked no longer scale
• Marketing channels that worked last year might not work this year
• Profitability requires honest conversations and sometimes hard changes
• Delegation and automation can transform your business
• Community matters—isolation doesn’t work long-term

Amy’s business messages:

Working with 25+ studio owners revealed a hard truth: 80-90% of fitness studios never achieve true profitability.

This statistic haunted her. She thought about the studio owners who invested their life savings, betting everything on their dream—only to find themselves trapped in unprofitable businesses they can’t sell or fix.

One example particularly struck her: A celebrity-owned studio in California. Despite the owner’s name and brand, they couldn’t reach profitability. Years later, they wanted to sell—but couldn’t, because they’d made critical mistakes in their lease that now prevented any path to profitability.

This is why Amy built Studio in a Box in the first place. It was meant to help women avoid these preventable mistakes.

Her other business lessons:

• Pre-marketing is critical. Studios that pre-sell memberships and launch with “lines at the door” dramatically outperform others.
• Construction costs have doubled. Studios that used to launch for under $50K now need $100K+.
• Timelines have extended. What used to take 3-6 months now takes 6-12 months.
• Multiple income streams are essential. Studios depending on class memberships alone struggle.
• Wellness integration is becoming standard. Salt therapy, sauna, cold plunge, red light, compression, IV therapy—these are no longer nice-to-haves.

What Did Your Gut Tell You?

Beyond data and logic, what did your intuition whisper?

Examples:

• An opportunity felt right even though it looked different than expected
• A relationship or commitment felt off but you ignored it
• You knew something needed to change even before the evidence appeared
• Your body said no but your mind said yes (or vice versa)
• You wanted to say no but felt obligated to say yes
• Something felt misaligned with your values

Amy’s gut wisdom:

When a new women’s wellness facility (Raya Wellness) opened in Summerland and posted for Pilates instructors, Amy’s gut said YES immediately.

The moment she saw the posting, she knew it was the place for her. She applied that day and was selected for their staff.

Her gut also told her something important about AI and business: She needed to become a “tech girl” and help her clients leverage AI, not fear it.

This led to creating 10 new AI agents specifically trained for Studio in a Box—something she believes nobody else in her industry is doing at this scale.

Write Down the Patterns

What patterns showed up repeatedly? What are the three biggest lessons your body, business, and gut are trying to teach you?

Write them down. These become your roadmap for 2026.

Step 4: Set a Simple Vision for 2026

Here’s where your review becomes forward-focused and genuinely exciting.

Instead of asking, “What do I want to achieve?”

Ask, “How do I want to FEEL in 2026?”

This shift is everything.

Goals based on effort often fail. But visions based on how you want to feel actually stick because they’re rooted in what matters most to you.

How Do You Want to Feel in Your Health?

Think about your body, energy, and physical presence in 2026.

Do you want to:

• Wake up naturally with energy?
• Feel strong and capable in your body?
• Trust your food choices?
• Have less inflammation and better digestion?
• Sleep deeply and wake refreshed?
• Feel in control of your health instead of reactive?
• Move your body in ways that feel joyful?
• Have the energy for your goals?

Amy’s health vision for 2026: Sustained energy, strength, and the foundation to build everything else.

How Do You Want to Feel in Your Business?

Think about your work, your clients, and your impact.

Do you want to:

• Feel less overwhelmed?
• Work with clients you genuinely love?
• Feel like your business supports your health (not destroys it)?
• Feel excited about your work again?
• Feel supported by a strong team?
• Feel like you’re making real impact?
• Feel profitable and sustainable?
• Feel like you’re building something that matters?

Amy’s business vision for 2026: Launching three major projects that better serve her clients and create sustainable, multiple income streams.

How Do You Want to Feel in Your Personal Life?

Think about your relationships, your time, and your joy.

Do you want to:

• Feel more connected to people you love?
• Feel rested and restored?
• Feel adventurous and alive?
• Feel present instead of perpetually busy?
• Feel like you have time for joy?
• Feel supported by your community?
• Feel at peace?
• Feel proud of how you’re showing up?

Amy’s personal vision for 2026: Continued travel, deepened relationships, and presence with the people and experiences she loves.

Write It Down and Sit With It

Write how you want to feel across these three areas. Then stop and actually feel it.

Close your eyes. Imagine waking up on December 31, 2026, feeling exactly this way.

What does that look like? What are you doing? Who are you with? How does your body feel?

This emotional anchor is what will keep you motivated when January willpower fades.

Step 5: Pick Your Big Three (One Goal Per Pillar)

This is the most important step: Simplicity.

You’re not going to transform everything in 2026.

You’re going to pick ONE health goal, ONE business goal, and ONE personal goal.

That’s it.

Why?

Because small steps equal big change. Trying to do everything usually means doing nothing well.

Your Health Big Goal

Pick the one health priority that, if you achieved it, would make the biggest difference in how you feel.

Ask: “What one health change would give me the most energy and aliveness?”

Examples:

• Establish a consistent daily morning walk routine
• Increase protein intake to 125-150g daily
• Get regular blood work quarterly and adjust nutrition based on results
• Reduce alcohol to minimal consumption
• Implement consistent red light therapy or sauna practice
• Sleep 7-8 hours consistently
• Move your body in joyful ways 4-5 times weekly
• Reduce inflammation through strategic nutrition

Amy’s health goal for 2026: Continue and expand her daily morning walk and high-protein routine while adding new wellness tools (vibration plate, lymphatic massage pants, oasis lights).

Your Business Big Goal

Pick the one business priority that will move the needle most.

Ask: “What one business change would make my work feel more aligned and sustainable?”

Examples:

• Implement AI tools to reduce admin work and social media overwhelm
• Add one new income stream (like health coaching or membership)
• Build a team or hire support so you’re not doing everything
• Pre-sell a program to create momentum and clear feedback
• Audit your profitability and make necessary changes
• Launch a community program for existing clients
• Reach 80% profitability instead of struggling at 30%
• Create systems so your business runs without you

Amy’s business goal for 2026: Successfully launch three new projects—Fitness Marketing Made Easy, Living Simpler Wellness Collective, and Living Simpler App—while maintaining Studio in a Box and her health coaching.

Your Personal Big Goal

Pick the one personal priority that will restore your sense of aliveness.

Ask: “What one personal experience would make me feel truly alive?”

Examples:

• Take at least one big trip that excites you
• Establish weekly quality time with your partner
• Join a community that fills your cup
• Start a creative practice or hobby you’ve been thinking about
• Prioritize time with close friends
• Create a daily ritual or practice that brings you joy
• Be more present and less busy
• Deepen one important relationship

Amy’s personal goal for 2026: Continue regular travel (already planned: Cabo again, California trips, plus new adventures), deepen relationships with her community at Raya Wellness, and maintain quality time with Mike.

The Final Step

Write down your Big Three:

1. My Health Goal for 2026: ___________________
2. My Business Goal for 2026: ___________________
3. My Personal Goal for 2026: ___________________

These become your North Star.

When you’re deciding whether to say yes or no to something in 2026, ask: “Does this support one of my Big Three?”

If yes, go all in. If no, you have permission to say no.

The 15-20 Minute Year-End Health Review Checklist

Ready to do this today?

Print or screenshot this and work through it:

•  Celebrate: Three wins (health, business, personal)
•  Release: What felt heavy or draining
•  Capture: Lessons from your body, business, and gut
•  Vision: How you want to feel in each area
•  Big Three: One goal per pillar for 2026

Grab a journal. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Work through each section.

The clarity you’ll feel on the other side? That’s worth every minute.

The Permission You Need to Hear

As you do this review, you might feel:

Guilt. About things you didn’t accomplish or habits you couldn’t maintain. Release it. You did the best you could with what you knew.

Overwhelm. About how much needs to change. Remember: small steps equal big change. Pick ONE goal per area.

Doubt. That your goals are achievable. But look back at 2025. You already achieved things you might not have remembered. You’re more capable than you think.

Resistance. To looking honestly at what didn’t work. Push through it. This honesty is where transformation begins.

You don’t need to be perfect in 2026. You just need to be intentional.

One Final Truth

Amy almost forgot the best parts of her year.

She almost let the hard parts become her whole story.

You probably will too.

This is why the year-end health review matters.

It brings the good stuff back into focus. It honors your effort. It celebrates your wins. And it gives you the clarity to step into 2026 not with pressure, but with genuine excitement.

So before you close out 2025, take 20 minutes.

Do this review.

Celebrate what worked. Release what didn’t. Capture the lessons. Set your vision. Pick your Big Three.

You’ll close the year with clarity instead of chaos.

And you’ll start 2026 with real momentum.

Ready to Take This Further?

Listen to the full episode where Amy shares even more about her year, the business trends she’s seeing, and the exciting new projects launching in 2026: [Living Simpler Podcast: “Amy’s 2025 Health Transformation + 5-Step Year-End Review”]

Explore Living Simpler Resources:

• Full Living Simpler Blog & Resources
• Follow Amy on Instagram
• Shop Amy’s Wellness Favorites
• Shaklee Products Amy Recommends

Ready to build your own wellness business? Learn about Studio in a Box and how to launch or scale a fitness studio.

Keep an eye out for these exciting 2026 launches:

• Fitness Marketing Made Easy (ongoing support + community for established studios)
• Living Simpler Wellness Collective (monthly health coaching + protocols + affiliate opportunities)
• Living Simpler App (all-in-one wellness tracking launching January 2026)

Listen to the full EPISODE “Amy’s 2025 Health Transformation + 5-Step Year-End Review | Living Simpler” episode on Apple Podcasts, complete Amy’s five-step review this week, and share this episode with a friend ready to take back her power in 2026.

Your transformation is waiting. 2026 starts now.