Reflecting on 2024: Lessons from Adventures with Divot & Swish
As I look back on 2024, I’m struck by how much this past year has taught me about the core themes of my books, Adventures with Divot & Swish. At its heart, Divot & Swish is about empowering people—especially kids—with the tools to navigate life’s challenges and embrace its opportunities. Using the metaphor of sports and play, the book explores three key superpowers: Courage, Confidence, and Resilience.
These superpowers aren’t just for children; they are life skills that we can all work on. The beauty of these traits is that they’re not fixed or innate—they’re skills we can intentionally develop through practice, reflection, and persistence.
I see how these superpowers shaped my year. Personally, and professionally, they were a source of strength during difficult moments and a guide for growth and learning. Let’s take a closer look at how Courage, Confidence, and Resilience made an impact.
Courage: Taking Action in the Face of Fear
Courage is one of the foundational ideas in Divot & Swish. It’s not about fearlessness—it’s about choosing to act despite fear. Courage shows up in the small, quiet decisions as much as the big, bold ones. Whether it’s trying something new, facing a challenge head-on, or standing up for what matters, courage is the spark that ignites growth.
Developing courage starts with creating safe environments where we feel supported to take risks, fail, and try again. In the book, I emphasize how important it is to guide kids through this process. They need encouragement to face challenges and learn from their experiences. But this lesson isn’t just for kids—it’s for all of us.
Courage doesn’t have to be dramatic or life changing. Sometimes, it’s simply taking one step forward when fear tells you to stay put. And each step we take builds a foundation for the next.
Confidence: Building Belief in Ourselves
Confidence is another superpower we explore in Divot & Swish. Unlike popular belief, confidence isn’t something you’re born with—it’s something you build over time. It’s created through intentional actions, small victories, and consistent practice.
Some of my favorite confidence-building strategies include:
Celebrating effort and progress instead of focusing only on results.
Practicing a growth mindset, viewing setbacks as opportunities to learn.
Reframing mistakes as steps forward, not failures.
Using confident body language to influence your mindset.
These aren’t just lessons for kids—they’re just as transformative for adults. I’ve seen these strategies help elite performers push their boundaries and achieve new heights. Confidence is a superpower we all need, and it’s one we can actively create.
Resilience: The Art of Bouncing Back
If one theme defined 2024 for me, it was Resilience—what I like to call “bounce-back-ability.” Life has a way of testing us, and resilience is what helps us adapt, recover, and move forward. It’s not about avoiding challenges; it’s about finding ways to rise above them.
The American Psychological Association (APA) defines resilience as the ability to adapt to adversity, trauma, or stress while maintaining psychological flexibility. This concept resonates deeply with me. Psychological flexibility—being able to bend without breaking—is an essential part of resilience.
This year tested my resilience in deeply personal ways. I lost two incredible people: my dear friend, who passed away from breast cancer, and my lifelong mentor and former golf coach, who also succumbed to cancer. Professionally, I worked on an exciting but demanding project, building something new from the ground up. These experiences reminded me that resilience isn’t just about enduring; it’s about growing through what you go through.
Here are a few strategies that helped me practice resilience this year:
Prioritizing self-care: Regular exercise, good nutrition, and sleep became my non-negotiables.
Maintaining perspective: I reminded myself that tough times are just one chapter—not the entire story.
Seeking support: Leaning on friends, family, and even a counselor made all the difference.
Practicing gratitude: Writing down what I’m thankful for shifted my mindset toward abundance rather than loss.
Resilience isn’t something we’re born with—it’s a skill we can build. And while the process isn’t always easy, it’s always worth it.
Intentional Growth
What ties these superpowers—Courage, Confidence, and Resilience—together is intentionality. None of them happen by accident. They require effort, consistency, and a willingness to try, fail, learn and try again. Developing these skills is like training for a marathon or learning a new instrument—it takes time and dedication, but the rewards are life-changing.
This year has shown me how these superpowers can transform not just individuals, but entire communities. They remind us that growth often comes from the hardest moments and that we’re capable of far more than we realize.
Happy 2025!
Beth