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One Year Anniversary! How Do You Measure a Year? An Entrepreneur's Guide to Returning to the Trail6/24/2026 Summary In this reflective voice note, Wisdom for Wannabes host Jackie Morreale celebrates the first anniversary of the podcast and YouTube channel by exploring a question inspired by the musical Rent: How do you measure a year? Through a year marked by 100,000 subscribers, six books, three marathons, unforgettable travels, personal growth, and the loss of her 99-year-old grandmother, Jackie reflects on the milestones that can be counted—and the ones that can't. She shares a guided imagination exercise inspired by her favorite morning running trail, inviting listeners to reconnect with a place that grounds them, inspires them, and reminds them who they are. This episode is a meditation on entrepreneurship, resilience, gratitude, and returning to yourself when life feels busy or overwhelming. Topics:
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Chapters: 00:00 Introduction and Reflection on One Year of 'Wisdom for Wannabes' 00:41 Measuring Success in Entrepreneurship 01:06 Celebrating Personal Milestones and Achievements 01:49 The Unquantifiable Aspects of Growth 02:39 The Power of Visualization and Memory 03:57 Inner Strength and Resilience 04:52 Final Reflections and Closing Thoughts  Transcript How do you measure a year? An entrepreneur's guide to returning to the trail. My name is Jackie Morreale, and I'm the host of Wisdom for Wannabes. That still feels a little bit odd to say. One year ago, on June 9th, 2025, I uploaded the first Wisdom for Wannabes video. At that time, I had no idea where this would lead. There was no guarantee that anyone would watch. No annual review. No boss telling me whether or not I was doing a good job. That's one of the strangest parts of entrepreneurship. When you have a traditional job, success is often measured for you. There are salaries, bonuses, performance reviews, promotions. When you're building something on your own, the measurements become much harder to see. And yet, they matter. Recently, as Wisdom for Wannabes celebrated its first anniversary, I found myself thinking about that song from Rent that goes: How do you measure a year? In sunsets? In cups of coffee?
Wisdom for Wannabes year one looked something like this: A hundred thousand YouTube subscribers. How is that even possible? Wherever you are in the world, thank you so much for joining me. I never would have expected this. Six books published. One, two, three, four, five. Most recently, six. Six books published. My life dream of becoming an author and illustrator, fulfilled! Three coloring books published. Two school readings. (My gosh!) Author speaking events.
Thirty-five conversations with remarkable guests on this podcast. One unforgettable trip to Austria, Italy, and Germany, and 'memory lane'. Three marathons completed, so I had to show the hardware. Miami. Publix Fort Lauderdale. Treasure Coast. Hundreds of morning runs. One semester of a PhD program. Two spiritual healing seminars. One fitness certification. Nearly 400 consecutive days of Duolingo... that one started before the year. Singing every Sunday. Getting past the third and sixth grade, again, vicariously.
The older I get, the more I realize the most important things aren't always the easiest to count. How do you quantify creativity? How do you measure resilience? How do you count the mornings when you wanted to quit and went anyway? How do you measure the wisdom of a grandmother who lived 99 years and who was still singing into her final days? Some things don't fit neatly into spreadsheets. Some things live in our memories, some things live in places. For me, one of those places is a morning running trail. Almost every morning I run through the same park, the same lake, the same turns, same sunrise reflections over the water. I've celebrated victories there, I've mourned losses there, I've found story ideas there, I've solved problems there, I've prayed there, I've imagined entire books there. Lately, I've been thinking about something: What happens when we can't be 'there', wherever there is for you? Maybe you're traveling, maybe life gets busy, maybe you're recovering from an injury. Or maybe you're simply in a season of life where your favorite place feels very far away. Can you still return to it? I think you can. Close your eyes for a minute. Two-Minute Imagination Exercise:Imagine your favorite trail, beach, park, mountain path, neighborhood street, or forest road. Picture where you begin. Feel your shoes beneath your feet. Notice the first sounds, the birds, the breeze, distant conversations, the rhythm of your own breathing, and start moving forward. Not quickly, just enough to remember. Notice the landmarks that you've passed a hundred times before. The tree you always look for, the bend in the path, the bench where you've stopped to think. The view that never gets old. Keep moving. Feel your body become lighter with each step. Leave behind the emails, the deadlines, the expectations. Leave behind the opinions of people who don't understand what you're building. Just keep moving. Notice how familiar everything feels. Notice how safe it feels. Notice how much of yourself you've left here over the years. Your victories, your disappointments, your hopes, your ideas, your prayers. Now imagine reaching that final stretch. The place where you know you're almost home. The place where you've crossed the finish line before. The place where you've proven yourself again and again that you can do hard things. Stand there for a moment. Now take it all in. The people you've met, the lessons you've version of yourself who started this journey, the version of yourself standing here today. They're both present. Remember this:
Those places simply helped reveal what's already there, within you. Whenever life gets busy, whenever entrepreneurship feels overwhelming, whenever motivation fades, you can return to the same place in your mind. Because the path is still there. The sunrise is still there. The memories are still there. And the person who started this journey is running beside you. One year, 100,000 subscribers, millions of views, books, miles, conversations, lessons, losses, victories. How do you measure a year? Not just in numbers, but in the places that shaped the person I became while traveling through them. Have a wonderful day, and thanks for being with me this year. Love from Wisdom for Wannabes. Timelapse art videos:
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Jackie MorrealeJackie writes from her own experiences and reflections on her journey in seeking wisdom, creativity, spirituality, and life in general. This is "putting thyself out there" at its finest. 
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