2025! Am I the Drama. I see the Headlines.

What 2025 revealed to me: Chaos, Peri, Energy, and Survival….These are my confessions.

Chapter 1: Anxiety & Mean Girl Energy

WOKE up this morning with the urge to write again. On the real, truth telling in 2025 is like social suicide. I’d been up most of the night, stuck in my thoughts about life and the decisions that shape it. By 7 a.m., I was already at work, documenting everything. I’m a full-time HR Manager in a union environment, the person responsible for making sure policies are understood and followed. Unfortunately, that role doesn’t always stay at work; it carries over into my life, too.

For those struggling with my bad girl energy, I am a fire sign. Sagittarius woman. I was raised by a Sagittarius woman and my youngest daughter is a Sagittarius and I am pretty true to my sign. Many Sag women can’t get along with each other. That is our sign’s greatest downfall. I am not a group project type chic. I conquer more independently. Can you believe I am have an identical twin? I am older. Ha Ha. Adventurous, Honest, Independent & Free Spirited, Philosophical & Reflective and Optimistic. I can be dramatic and spontaneous which adds tension or surprise to many narratives. Am I the drama? I love spontaneity!

Sometimes I feel like a ninety-year-old woman with the face of someone in her forties, or even younger. Lately, my EQ has been suffering. Women are typically perceived as bs with high Q’s. I process stuff really quickly in my head. I was really good at it one time. My brain did a switch. It’s like a reroute from another country on a plane. I was on the trajectory of starting something huge but peri set in. I was the woman bringing everyone together in the creator space but when things got bad for me, I bowed out. People preyed on my downfall. I hate feeling like that. Because I’m perceived as younger and tend to act that way, people often treat me as if I have less experience than I do. I have a very stressful lifestyle and need to release some energy and have fun. Being a HR Manager also has a weight attached to it especially while I show myself in a vulnerable situation.

Back to my story, I brewed a cup of coffee, sat still for a moment, and began writing. These days, I start my mornings with estrogen because the hot flashes have returned during a certain phase of my menstrual cycle. During this time, my body temperature rises slightly, and the mood changes, bloating, insomnia, and fatigue come back, too.

Honestly, if I were you, I’d set an alarm with today’s date that says: Do not disturb Lynn Wesley Coleman. Laugh Out Loud. She’s having a Macy’s semi-annual peri-parade—except it happens every month.

2025 tested me in ways I could have never imagined.

I started the year in the ER at New Orleans East Hospital. I thought I was about to die—well, not really—but my body was shutting down because I hadn’t been taking care of myself. Anxiety had taken the lead, and I wasn’t listening to what my body needed.

During the year, I walked away from my job at the airport. The stress became too much, and my anxiety reached a breaking point. Managing five airports and traveling was too much for me and for my family. I needed to walk away. I called my husband crying, unsure of what came next. He told me to take a break and assured me he would handle everything. I got in the car and drove home, still overwhelmed.

On that same drive, I received a call from an Uptown high school offering me an interview. Later, I wondered if I should have taken that opportunity—especially since my husband and kids eventually transferred Uptown. But I truly believe in God’s timing. I also received a call from another school that was rebuilding.

Then came the call that shifted everything.

It was the airlines—working with catering services for flights. I honestly thought it was too good to be true. How could I bounce back that quickly? At my previous role, I checked in with TSA daily and managed over 1,000 employees. I assumed this move would mean a massive pay cut after leaving a six-figure salary. But you know what? It worked out.

Today, I manage fewer than 100 employees, have a huge office space, and (most importantly) more time to create balance in my life.

My husband is the man seriously. I want to publicly thank my husband for being a truly incredible husband and father. Supporting me isn’t for the faint at heart—because let’s be honest, I am a reality show all by myself. I am like Diana Ross at times. I am learning every day not to take my flaws too seriously and give myself grace. Show up as the woman I want to show up in my life. And that, my friends, is a testimony that God is real.

Now listen… y’all gotta stop testing me during my time of the month. Please mark your calendars.

I’m feeling much better these days, but every single day is still a journey—learning balance, protecting my energy, and choosing sustainability. Pray for me, not prey on me. Girlies in your thirties, you must take care of your bodies and avoid drugs and alcohol. The more you neglect your body, peri sets in.

Later this year, I experienced a miscarriage on my husband’s birthday. My children saw it, and that broke me—I never wanted them to witness that. I wasn’t even fully aware of what was happening because I thought my cycles were just skipping. I wasn’t paying close enough attention to my body. Just because I don’t talk about my struggles every day doesn’t mean I don’t have them. Girls who appear to have it all still struggle.

In my Miami/New Orleans boy DJ Khaled voice, 2025 YOU were a mess. You are the realest headline. You were a test, a fire hot sausage po boy from Genes, a perfect storm of anxiety, politics, perimenopause, social chaos, and inherited survival strategies. And yes, somehow, I was expected to navigate you gracefully.

Let’s be honest. I’ve always been a bad girl. Not in the headline-making way, but in the way that notices energy, tests the room, and refuses to settle for people or systems that don’t match integrity and awareness. When I got back with my husband while dating, I had a business for Single Urban Professionals. I did such a good job, I didn’t need the business because I met him. I have also helped an app developer with building recs for New Orleans in 2010. The app didn’t work out but that’s how I know so much about the city and restaurants. I also managed a region of Restaurants at Waffle House. I get so upset at some with poor hospitality. We have to get it together.

I watched as girls bonded over my absence, over my sadness, over the space I left open. Energy is not just personal—it’s social, relational, ancestral. Oftentimes, I think about enslaved people living during this time and the impact it has on us mentally today. Every time I withdrew, the room shifted. Every time I spoke, someone noticed. Leadership, influence, survival—it all requires reading energy, testing it, and understanding that reactions are a reflection of the room, not a reflection of me.

I was in rage for years. I wrote a perimenopausal apology that accidentally went out to 4,000 people. I didn’t intend to send to my Xavier class of 2000 but they were in my contacts so it went to them. I engaged creators on Threads to highlight Black-owned businesses, to inspire action, to test leadership. I talked up the restaurants to get people to flow to them more. I was testing dem Katrina waters to see who would respond and take charge. I do stuff like that. Bad girl stuff. And YES some tried to compete. People competing with me showed me exactly who could follow, who could lead, and who was ready for influence.

Politics didn’t help. I have been reading 1619 Project all year because it is such a good book. During certain times of perimenopause, I felt like an enslaved person. That’s what drew me to the book so much. Not sure when it will get better. This book reveals why we have so much conflict in the city today. Trump, Louisiana voters, NOLA.com and the chaos of corporate and social systems triggered old wounds, childhood triggers, and generational trauma. Watching Black women navigate these systems, while the world ignored inequity and unfairness, made me reflect on inherited survival strategies. After the last Mayoral election, I realized that proximity to whiteness, historical or better yet longstanding social hierarchies, and the chaos embedded in New Orleans history show up in our daily lives, our nervous systems, our friendships, our leadership, our social media interactions.

By the end of 2025, I could see the lessons clearly:

• Energy is social: it flows, it reacts, it tests, it teaches. Social Media can be a toxic space.

• Boundaries matter: giving too much when your system is fried is self-neglect. I have to pause for the cause and give myself grace. I do have mood swings and shifts during certain times and I need to think strategically about when I show up and always go with timing. I will work on being truthful about my problems going forward. I manage to truth tell so much but about how I really feel. I am just discovering the HOW.

• Leadership is tested in chaos: those who compete prove you’re leading. Life is a test. People will test your gantsta. Remember to think independently and not like everyone else. If someone has something bad to say about me or someone, ask for examples. Don’t just settle for fake news.

• Authenticity is power: How can I authentically and unapologetically tell my story to touch the most women. That is my goal this go round. Mean girl moments, everything bad girl energy, unapologetic honesty—all of it draws in the right people. I did make some mistakes that could have cost friendships. I do apologize. Am I the drama? When is the reality show hitting Bravo, Lynn. You ask! Ha.. I will always be the hottest housewife is such a funny line and I am aging and will run with that. Entertain me, I am fragile.

I hope y’all enjoy this blog. I want to discuss uncomfortable topics. If I started my first blog like this, imagine the HOT TOPICS like ESSENCE.

I’m going to tap in 2026 softer with myself and firmer with my boundaries. I am honoring my mind, body & spirit. I am fragile, not angry. I’m listening to my body, honoring my seasons, and allowing life to unfold without forcing it. Being a New Orleans girl is tough, check on us mentally and physically or something to the effect we have to work twice as hard because of the history of the city. I pray for the people running this city. We have to do it smarter this time and mean it. Let’s authentically build a bridge to work together and not against each other, for real. I will see who will be the leader and reach out. Leave a comment below. I want to know who is reading my blog. If you do not want to share your name, leave an alias. Hi, I am Lynn Wesley Coleman and you just read THE GLOW UP. Salute to all strong women!

Let’s give each other more Grace in 2026! Let Grace be the headliner of 2026. These are the defining moments and things that separate the girls from the women! All the things..