goodbye, 2025
yearly favourites
My history teacher told us to write a diary page. Something to tuck away, maybe lock up, and return to one day, nostalgic and curious about who we once were. Because how beautiful is that? I think it’s wonderful. So I’m listening to her, and letting this be my end-of-the-year page.
Reflections
There were ups, downs, uppers and downers, but I’m grateful to be ending this year on a more-or-less high note (knocking on wood). I spent a lot of time crying, lamenting, feeling happy, and feeling content. Yet I struggled to focus on small, tangible goals. Either because I was busy, scared, or busy doubting myself.
I felt absurdly proud on the days I wasn’t glued to my phone, as if presence were an achievement instead of a baseline. I had realizations that felt heavy and ambitions that felt unreachable. Next year, I hope to become more balanced — more grounded, more present.
For I haven’t done a monthly favourites in a while, here are my top 5 yearly favourites (in no particular order)
albums
The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess - Chappell Roan
Loaded: Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition - The Velvet Underground
Older (and Wiser) - Lizzy McAlpine
Strangers in the Alps - Phoebe Bridgers
Taste - Haechan
songs
Casual - Chappell Roan
She’s Always a Woman - Billy Joel
Growing Sideways - Noah Kahan
Eső - Margaret Island
Call Your Mom - Noah Kahan
films and series
Bones and All
Il treno dei bambini
Companion
Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake
Queer
books
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Halandók - Gorondy-Novák Márton
Everything I Know About Love - Dolly Alderton
The Happy Prince and Other Tales - Oscar Wilde
Where The Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens
pinterest clothes and accessories
happiest moments
lake trip with my parents
three full days of dance workshops, sore and alive
buying the vinyl of Haechan’s first solo album
listening to Noah Kahan1s music in a scenic shower
skating with mum
Goals
Read more: books, magazines, anything with weight and texture.
Eat well. Drink water.
Move my body. Stretch. Walk. Dance, endlessly.
Be consistent, but gentle.
Find balance.
Notice beauty in small, ordinary moments.
Write more here. Write more everywhere.
Be conscious. Be present. Be kind to myself.
Journal. Write down my feelings, my hopes, my dreams, my despairs. Learn how to reflect. Learn how to look back.
And many other cliches.
I’ll archive this year the way I archive memories: imperfectly, with tenderness, with a little ache. Not everything is resolved, not everything needs to be. I’m ending the year the same way I lived it: feeling deeply, learning slowly, and hoping for more light ahead. And I’m wishing everyone who reads this, whenever the read this steadiness, small joys, and moments that make life feel a little lighter, and memories they can feel nostagic about later.