RETRO '25

#yearinreview #career #learning #development

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
-Henry David Thoreau

2025 didn’t try to impress me. It tried to teach me how to live properly.

This was the year where things quietly fell into place. Not in a cinematic way. In a real, slightly messy, but deeply satisfying way.

Stepping Into the Real World

Somewhere along the way, I got placed in a company. I won’t name it, because that’s not the point.

What mattered was the environment. It was fun, challenging, and genuinely valuable. I wasn’t just working, I was learning how work actually feels when it’s done right. Good people, meaningful tasks, and a space where growth wasn’t forced, but expected.

For the first time, “career” stopped feeling abstract.

Learning to Slow Down and Read

I built a proper reading habit this year. Not skimming. Not collecting titles. Actually reading.

Books became less about productivity and more about perspective. Reading taught me patience, depth, and the uncomfortable joy of sitting with ideas that don’t resolve instantly. It changed how I think, how I write, and how I listen.

Attention, I learned, is a skill.

Writing to Think

2025 is when I started writing seriously on Medium.

Not for algorithms. Not for validation. To think clearly.

Writing forced me to confront half-formed opinions and lazy assumptions. It demanded clarity and honesty. Sometimes it was uncomfortable, which is exactly why it mattered.

Writing stopped being a side activity and became a way of understanding myself better.

Art as a Constant

Art stayed with me this year, but it evolved.

I stopped chasing motivation and started focusing on consistency. I drew more, observed more, and experimented quietly. Art became less about output and more about presence. A place to slow time down when everything else sped up.

Being Real, Finally

This might be the most important part.

I started talking more. Opening up. Being myself without rehearsing conversations in my head. I stopped trying to fit into versions of myself that looked impressive but felt hollow.

Along the way, I found genuinely good company. I went out more. Laughed more. Lived more in the real world than behind a screen.

Turns out reality is richer than any feed.