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We've completed another round around the sun! If you think about it, it's kind of silly that we celebrate something that we don't actively do anything for. A year will pass whether we spend it sleeping or being hyperproductive. The world doesn't care whether we have done enough, a year will pass by when it is supposed to.
However, I like that we still celebrate it and form our lives around it. A new year gives us cause to celebrate because there are adventures on the horizon and new opportunities waiting to be snatched. They are there even if we can't see it.
I'm starting this year as a 26-year-old who cannot avoid thinking about the changes happening in everyone's lives. In the past few months alone, several people I care about have crossed milestones and reached new stages in their lives. More are about to in the next few months. And I don't mean just getting marriedâpeople are moving cities or countries or doing something wildly different with their lives.
Sometimes, it's hard to correlate a person to who they were in high school or college. I know that I have changed a ton but it's more jarring to see someone else after several years and realize that you know nothing about them. People change and grow every year, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
There's this quote from the Bhagavad Gita prominently painted in one of the metro stations that I frequent: "Man does not reach actionlessness by not performing actions; nor does he attain perfection by mere renunciation." It took me a while to grasp its full meaning and ever since I understood it, I haven't been able to ignore it while passing by.
Simply doing one thing does not lead to the desired outcome. Most of the time, it's a collection of things that slowly take us towards our destination. Just like the back-and-forth movement of a pendulum, our life moves forwards and backwards but towards the destination determined by our actions.
2025 is a changing year for me, like many around me. In a way, I have been working towards it for the past few years. From another angle, it is something I never expected and was actually something I didn't want. It's funny how life works. It can take us towards something while pulling us back to something else at the same time.
I'm not one to back down and worry, though. I definitely don't close the door when opportunity knocks. I'm facing 2025 with optimism. I haven't set big goals or a full action plan for things. I'm not entirely sure how my year will look yet, but I can hope and do my part to ensure it goes well.
Welcoming the new year well is easier if you have something you're excited about. Although there are many things that aren't in my control or that I'm uncertain about, I still have control over my actions. Every year, I try to have at least one tiny daily thing that makes my days better and fills them with excitement.
This year, I'm excited to try out digital planning. I was never a planner person and used a bullet journal throughout college. For the last couple of years, I've used a completely digital system using a few apps. It worked so far but it won't work for 2025 so I researched and got a digital planner.
Will a digital planner help me get my life straight while going through a big change? No idea. But I'm excited to open my iPad for 10 minutes a day to write important things, add stickers, and add photo memories while planning and accomplishing things along the way.
If you don't have a small exciting thing to do every day, I highly recommend picking one so that the year starts off on a good note. Even something like reading one page a day works. Tying it to a hobby makes it even better.
I picked up Girl, Goddess, Queen after seeing it in the bookstore and didn't expect it to be such a good Hades and Persephone retelling. Check out my review of it.â
After rereading it a few times, I could finally write a coherent review of Just For the Summer. Yours Trulywas good and, somehow, the author topped it with a book that became another favourite of mine.
It's reminiscing and goal-making season! To start off the 2024 wrap posts, I posted my 2024 favourites in clothing, tech, accessories, and more.