• 15 Dec, 2025 *

some reflections on 2025

personal growth

I turned 30. I finished my second graduate degree, finishing school forever. This was a huge sigh of relief and weight lifted off my shoulders, as I had been in school for ~12 years straight, working full-time in my career of choice for the last 3 years.

Once the sigh of relief left my body, anxiety crept in. "I’m 30, but I don’t know how to operate with a ‘normal’ schedule and workload. I don’t have any hobbies, and I don’t even know what I like doing for fun." It was a bit of an early-life crisis for a second.

So I started journaling again (I journaled a ton as a teen). And I wanted to have fun with it, so I decorated my journal with a bunch of stickers I bought off Etsy.

I decided to not take on a bunch of home projects (I live in a fixer-upper) because I didn’t want to replace the workload of grad school with the workload of painting the interior or replacing the floors.

And I started experimenting with activities that felt fun. I started reading for fun (and not because a professor told me to). Fiction books, graphic novels, non-fiction books about cool sciency stuff made for a general audience (not academics). Now, I read every night before bed instead of doomscrolling until my brain calls it quits.

I started my own podcast. I got super into bird-watching and wildlife photography, which is a great excuse to spend time outdoors. That led me to start gardening and supporting the local wildlife with my yard.

I started writing music again, getting into Lego building sets, and reading long-form content like the Audubon Magazine and Bear Blog posts.

I started spending more time with friends and family. I took two small trips with friends this year and one small trip with my mom. I started playing more video games with my best friends of 10+ years (one of our favorite pastimes), like Deep Rock Galactic, Split Fiction, Blanc, Unravel 2, RV There Yet, and now we’re starting a DnD campaign together.

I feel like I got to know myself again in 2025. Turns out, I’m pretty cool :)

tech changes

My eyes were also opened to how ridiculous it is that Big Tech collects, sells, and uses our personal data, mostly without our knowledge or clear consent (everyone clicks "Agree to Terms" because who wants to read pages of legal jargon). I don’t like the fact that my brain, attention, and emotions are part of a billion-dollar Attention Economy.

So I started moving away from Big Tech, little by little. I switched from a Pixel to a brick phone. I switched from Windows to Linux (dual-boot because work requires Windows). I switched from Chrome to Vivaldi, from Google’s search engine to Qwant, from Gmail to Proton Mail, and from Google Photos to Ente.

I also switched from Substack to Bear Blog, and I couldn’t be happier about that move! The folks on Bear are my kind of people.

other stuff

I live in America so I’ve been financially preparing myself for a recession to hit any day now. I started using the YNAB app which has worked wonders for my financial life, and the folks from YNAB are my kind of people.

I also got some minorly bad health news this year, so I started to aggressively address my physical health by exercising regularly and eating healthier and more intentionally. This has also worked wonders for my physical well-being.

Overall, 2025 has been a year of growth, reflection, and self-discovery! A solid chapter in my book.

I have several goals for 2026 which are too detailed to share here, but I’m looking forward to the new year and seeing what’s in store.