It’s hard to believe that 2025 is coming to a close. Genuinely this year felt like it flew by, kind of like a blink and you’ll miss it type thing. With this particular post I really just want to share my thoughts and my experiences about this year you know like things I’ve learned, things I fell short on, positive and negative experiences, the whole shebang really.

Honestly, the start of the year didn’t have too much to talk about. We celebrated my friends birthday in January, I worked, spent time with friends and family, and that’s really it. Really what I got out of that was just how important it is to keep up relationships, other than just romantic ones. When you grow up and have more responsibilities it’s way too easy to forget about social aspects of your life. So yeah while nothing really big happened its a part of the year I miss, because I had more time to spend with people I deeply care about. February, was more of the same this time we celebrated a few family members birthdays; I had to miss a few because of work, but still about the same.

March Is where it started to get interesting. I had my 25th birthday. I worked on the actual day, but got the next day off to spend with friends and some coworkers, this was pre promotion. It was a lot of fun, I had a little too much fun, but it was a much needed stress relief at the time. That night just had a lot of laughs, drinks, and some hazy memories. The most impactful one was after I got home I had texted an ex. We began to talk, I found out she was married, had a family, and had moved on. We stayed in contact for a bit, but the reason why it was so impactful is because I had finally gotten closure on a huge chapter in my life. I was extremely grateful for that. I had learned to move on. I learned that I didn’t have to have my happiness dependent on someone else. So what started as a drunken mistake actually turned out to be a turning point in the development I had this year. In April we lost our home, that was tough particularly on my parents. They were stressing out on where we gonna live, what we were gonna do if we don’t find a place, and if we did how are we gonna pay for it. In the end it worked out we were able to get a place and my brother and I help out a lot with the rent so it’s easier for them. My parents have taught me so much resilience. I saw it all the time growing up, but now that I am older it made me respect them so much more.

In June/July I got a promotion at work. This provided me with some tough challenges. Not only was I recognized by my bosses, but now I was an example to my team. I had to become a leader. When I started out I honestly didn’t know if they made the right choice, I was unconfident, I had major imposter syndrome, and work was now starting to take a bigger toll on me. But then as days and weeks were going by I started to notice something. I was getting a little better every day. Some days were more difficult than others and I had other days where it seemed that I went back a few steps before I started to move forward again, but there was a noticeable difference. My team and I had already had a good working relationship, and that was my super power. I was able to talk to them and hear them out, I was able to make differences in their working lives, that felt really good. I was proud and still am proud to be a leader to my team. It was very difficult at times, but I persevered. Months went by at that point and all I was doing was working and going to the bar. My social life was regulated to what time I was getting off of work and who was I drinking with that night. In November one of my closest work friends left, and that sucked. He moved to live with his girlfriend in another state. Although I was extremely happy for them I miss him. We only worked together for about a year and a half, but it was so crazy how we got to be so close so fast. November/December was a BUSY time at work. I started to feel the burn out. I was tired everyday. Imposter syndrome was hitting again because some days were just brutal. But the team always made it fun. We’d joke around, we’d talk about the holidays coming up, had lore dumps sometimes, it really helped to brighten the mood. I had a trip to San Diego with two of my bestfriends and that was a much needed break. Seriously my two best friends in the world. I don’t know what I’d do with out them. This year we saw each other a good amount a times, but San Diego was a great time. We went to a few tiki bars, ate some good food, stayed at a shitty hotel, it was everything I wanted it to be and more.

One of the biggest highlights of the year though is that for the first time in a while I had a date. I went really well. We had it at my job because they called me in for a short shift, but she agreed to meet me after. We ate, drank a bit, and had a really nice time. I don’t know where it could go, but we do have a second one coming up in the new year so who knows. Since work has really been coming first as is apparent from the above paragraphs, I decided I needed to treat myself a bit. So for the first time in a few years I bought myself a new guitar. It was probably my single biggest purchase of the year. My dad had told me that he was proud of me for that. He even mentioned that because I’ve been working so hard that it was nice to see me doing something for myself. I don’t think my mom is happy about the guitar itself, but I know that she’s happy that I did something to make myself happy.

Well there you go, that was the year in a nutshell. I had a lot of missteps, but also a lot of good happened too. That seems like the stereotypical thing to say, but it’s true. We are who we are because of the things we endure and how we survive them or thrive through them. In this upcoming year 2026(God that doesn’t feel real), I’d like to do more, but that post will have to wait for a new day. Until then thank you for reading my blog this year to those of you that have, hope you continue to read it in the new year.