A Look Back at 2025 (pt.1)
Caption: Andreas Weith • CC BY-SA 4.0
Another year has come and gone, and I'm most certainly in denial! Yet I thought I'd write a similar post as I did last year celebrating my highlights of the year.
The habits I kept up over 2025
When I wrote my last look back post at the end of 2024, I had identified a bunch of habits that I wanted to keep doing in 2025. Lets see which of those I have kept up:
Habits I kept up:
- My weekly 5K routine
- Playing single player games
- Finding and listening to good music
- Watching movies with good stories
- Keeping connected with the people in my life
- Taking good care of my health
- Helping others where possible
Habits that fell off the wagon:
- Travelling to new places
- Rekindled passion for video editing
- Falling in love with where I live
I still want to retain the same list as I feel I'd identified most of what makes me feel fullfilled. Especially with my new editing laptop, I am even more inclined to start video editing again! Although I travelled a little bit this year and explored my city, I didn't do it nearly as much as I would've liked to.
In addition to the list above, here are a few additional habits that I believe would serve me well over 2026.
Keep on climbing
I did not imagine that when I took my cousin and wife climbing in December last year that I would fall so deeply in love with climbing. Just this week I wrapped up my hundred climbs which raised a whopping £160 for Percy Hedley Foundation. I managed to climb an f6c route which, according to Griptonite, classifies me as an intermediate climber.
In 2026, I would like to climb two or three times a week. I'd also like to keep working on my strength training. Hopefully I'll be able to climb an f7a route this year!
Build social connections
2025 unfortunately saw the disintegration of a close group of friends due to a variety of reasons. Social connection is a big part of what makes us human and I identify as an extrovert and like regular social interaction.
Therefore this year, I'd like to put myself out there a bit more while I continue to nurture my existing friendships.
Live in the present
2025 also happened to be one of the most challenging years for my personal life so far. I hinted at my recent struggles in a few of my previous blog posts. Having endured hardship, I have come to the realisation that it is never truly possible to change the past nor to predict the future.
I've identified that the best thing we can do at any given moment, is to be fully present in the moment. The easiest way to do this is to minimise time spent dwelling in the past and catastrophising the future.
Find meaning in everyday experience
Contrary to what social media will have you believe, our lives are not filled with luxurious holidays and exhilerating experiences. Our lives (for the most part) is quite boring, doing the same routine over and over again.
So I'd like to keep up my routines and enjoy the mundane moments.
Prioritise myself and my family
You cannot pour from an empty cup.
-Anonymous
For the first time ever, I truly experienced what it means to prioritise myself. Again I wrote about the importance of keeping up routines in a previous blog post to cultivate a good mental state to take on adversity.
In the coming year, I would like to do the things that I need to do so that I can be an asset rather than a liability to the people around me.
Some honourable mentions
I fully realise that taking on too much can be overwhelming. At the same time, identifying more than one approach means you have a contingency for when other avenues aren't working out.
These are some of the habits that I believe could also help me find fullfillment in 2026:
- Learning new skils (like playing guitar, speaking chinese, coding and self-hosting)
- Find and participate in interesting groups (like board game clubs, book clubs, climbing clubs and running club)
- Keep up the writing and other creative outlets (like this very blog!)
This is post one in a series that I have planned to wrap up 2025. I may or may not get around to posting them today but expect them in the coming days!
What are some of your highlights? Do you have some opinions on any of the habits I identified above? Do leave a comment on Mastodon or reply via email)!
Until next time,
Tony
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