Since 2014, I’ve shared These 3 Words as a monthly practice—an intentional pause for introspection, inspiration, aspiration, and validation.
Some years, the words arrive with diversity.
Some years, they arrive with uniformity.
In 2025, one word anchored everything:
Thrive.
Not hustle.
Not endure.
Not “push through.”
Thrive.
Over the course of the year, that word invited exploration from many angles—each one revealing something essential about how we live, lead, and choose ourselves.
These 3 Words 2025
- Capacity to Thrive
- Thrive in 2025
- Thrive with Purpose
- Thrive in Love
- Born to Thrive
- Thrive in Softness
- Thrive with Integrity
- Thrive on Vacation
- Thrive for Yourself
- Thrive in Gratitude
- Choose to Thrive
- Thrive in Sovereignty
Together, these mantras formed a map.
Not toward productivity.
But toward wholeness.
Thriving Is Not a Reward for Exhaustion
Hustle culture treats thriving like a destination you earn after burnout—something reserved for “later,” once you’ve sacrificed enough.
My work and my life have taught me something different.
Thriving is relational.
It’s shaped by how you treat yourself when no one is watching.
It’s reflected in the boundaries you keep, the values you honor, and the pace you choose.
That’s why this year’s words weren’t about becoming more.
They were about becoming truer.
Thriving as a Leadership Stance
This year reinforced a truth I see daily in my work:
Burnout doesn’t come from a lack of resilience.
It comes from being asked to lead without freedom.
When leadership requires self-abandonment, fragmentation becomes inevitable.
Thriving, then, is not passive.
It is a leadership stance.
One rooted in:
- Liberation over survival
- Sovereignty over self-abandonment
- Sustainability over sacrifice
To thrive is to refuse leadership models that require you to disappear parts of yourself in order to succeed.
Carrying the Practice Forward
As we close out 2025, I invite you to reflect—not on what you accomplished, but on how you lived.
Where did you feel most like yourself?
Where did you override your needs?
What version of thriving are you ready to practice next?
You don’t need three perfect words.
You just need words that tell your truth.
Because thriving isn’t about doing more.
It’s about choosing yourself—
consistently, consciously, and without apology.
RELATED POST: These 3 Words Monthly Mantras 2024 RECAP
Nicki Sanders, MSW, is committed to leadership development, professional development, and organizational development. As Founder and CEO of Nicki Sanders Leadership Consulting, her mission is simple – to eliminate toxic workplaces by developing skilled, empathetic, and goal-oriented leaders who have the vision, support, and resources to create a culture where business prospers, and employees thrive individually and collectively. Nicki has an extensive background in nonprofit management leading high-functioning, multi-disciplinary teams, volunteer recruitment and retention, and social impact programming. She is a thought leader dedicated to dismantling the outdated, narrow view of social work and an accomplished professor, coach, trainer, and group facilitator who has combined her gift for authentic relationships, Master of Social Work degree, and over 20 years of diverse work experience to create a life and career aligned with her values and purpose. She is a lover of nature, cupcakes, travel, and 80’s hip hop and R&B music.
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