What I Have Learned in 2025

31 Dec, 2025

To render my millions of thoughts and realisations into simple and well-crafted lessons I have learned over the past year is always a difficult task. I find that writing down my actual thoughts is nearly impossible, as my hands translate what I mean in a slightly different way than how I heard it in my head.

My thoughts are never simple and ever-branching, snagging on long-deserted thoughts from years ago like overgrown shrubs. Writing seems to prune the wilderness of ideas down to the most essential components. It lists all the ruminations and wanderings in order, one letter at a time: t-h-o-u-g-h-t-s.

But I love the extra offshoots and gaps of the shrubs of my writing. Much like translated work from language A (the one you are not familiar with) to language B (the one you are fluent in), I understand the intentions written before me and accept the fact that what I see on paper is, in theory and in all the ways that count, formally correct, but I cannot dislodge the suspicion that there is an irreducible part missing. Even as I compare the writing of two languages I speak fluently, I still see an afterimage of the original that the translation did not perfectly replicate. Even now, as I write, I read over my writing to see if it makes sense, placing readability over instinct.

Nevertheless, we must keep trying—trying to understand what we do not yet know, and what we must still do before fully understanding. So here is my best English translation of the lessons I have learned for my brain cells in 2025.

1. You may learn things through books, social media, and conversations, but there will always be a moment when you finally know—usually through firsthand experience—what you thought you already knew. It is a great feeling, and one worth striving for.

“We are not homeless beings suspended between two worlds, parts of but only partly belonging to nature, with a longing for something else. No—we are home.” --> This is the next thing I want to know by experience.

2. There is no such thing as no more questions.
3. Reading is never a waste of time, regardless of subject matter—unless you are not actively engaging with the text.
4. Walking away does not always mean giving up or giving in. (Note to self for 2026: work on stopping the habit of thinking about life as a battle in the first place.)
5. Waiting is also a choice. You do not have to jump into every option.
6. The red bean doughnuts at Tous les Jours are amazing.
7. Cottage cheese is actually really good if you know how to pair it well (e.g., tomato and balsamic glaze, pepperoncini chips).
8. Always keep room to be bewildered.
9. Always write ideas down the moment you have them. When you do it later, they will have changed.
10. Always have a pen and paper around. You will always have something to write about; you just have to push yourself to make something out of nothing.
11. Always—ALWAYS—write a contract before working with a broke and greedy producer with no creativity of their own who wants your ideas to pass off as theirs.
12. Loneliness is something I will always try to understand and nurture. Nobody can truly help you through this journey, and that is okay. It hurts, but it is the only way I want to get through it.
13. I am kinder than I think. I am bitchier than I think.
14. I am truly my mother’s child. It is scary.
15. The belief that worth comes from productivity is the result of fascist programming.
16. Sensory squeeze toys are great for focus.
17. Turn off half your brain when working as a host in a Korean restaurant.
18. Always make time for art.
19. A little bit of Bravo can help calm the anxious soul.
20. Zeno’s paradox.