My “Aha” Moments in 2025

2025 has been a rough ride, but I’ll keep on rocking.

01 Getting Started Is the Key

One thing I committed myself to this year is simply to start. Understanding that I don’t need to achieve “big, scary goals” or “perfect results” right away is what gets me moving in the first place.

Putting on my running shoes was how I started going to the gym, not obsessing over results, but simply activating and trusting that results would follow. Turning the first page was how I started reading more books, instead of falling down the rabbit hole of endless social media consumption. Buying that first train ticket to a meetup was how I started meeting interesting people in local communities. Maybe one day I can build something to give back.

02 What Really Matters Is Living the Life

This year, I lost my furry child, Clive, who had seen 15 years of sunrises. He traveled across continents with us and never stopped showing love. Once again, I felt the pain of life and death, but he brought us so much joy and support along the way that it feels worth experiencing the pain.

We also lost our loving grandma, aged 94. She lived through wars and peaceful times alike. I remember her telling us how she traveled to Paris and Switzerland in her teens while I held her hand. I wish I had asked more questions before she began forgetting things. She still showed humor and positivity right to the very end, and even chose The Birdie Song for her funeral, bringing us silliness and laughter one last time. Truly the spirit of a Yorkshire woman.

I’m deeply grateful to have had them in my life, even if we are only passengers in each other’s journeys.

I also had a big fuck up, I still don’t know how, but I managed to lose the ruby on my engagement ring that my husband put on my ring finger years ago, he was incredibly calm and told me it’s ok, it’s just an accident. I’m also very grateful that I’ve not lost my best friend and love of my life, and that’s what truly matters.

03 “You Are What You Do Every Day”

After experiencing multiple people leaving my life at different stages, I’ve started to question what really matters. Despite all the dreams I chase and all the heart and soul I put into my work, I wonder: when I’m lying on my deathbed, what will I think was truly important? What will make me feel my time was well spent?

How should I spend my time in this life? What do I bring to the world I live in? What kind of person will I eventually become when my life ends?

There’s a line from a podcast (Fighting Against the Status Quo with filmmaker Jon M. Chu) that hit me hard: “You are what you do every day.” I should start doing things that matter, slowly but steadily, from today.

04 Make Changes, Starting With Myself

I’ve had many wake-up moments that made me realize big systems are not designed to be grateful or considerate. Hence the existence of Rage Against the Machine. Yet I’ve always tried to look at the bright side, naive enough to believe that because systems are built by people, those good people are the driving force. That belief has led to disappointment, without fail.

We may be nobodies in this world, but we are the leading stars of our own lives. What decisions and changes we make, could be life changing. Instead of hoping the surrounding to change, I can choose to change myself.

Stay curious and open-minded. Knowledge is your best friend, something no one can take away from you. 

Don’t wait. Do what you can. Start today. 

Negative thoughts don’t solve problems. Stay grounded, and solutions will come.

05 Passion Is Where Life Is

Seeing so many gigs this year, especially Leeds Festival, was one of the highlights. It reminded me of that wired teenage girl again, full of passion for music and life, believing that music and art are food for the soul and can bring people together with love.

I have also started going to workshops and revising my arts that I made long time ago, I feel there’s part of me have been ignored for a very long time, what have I forgotten is that creativity comes from hands-on craft and real life experiences and joy, instead of reading all the reports of data or insights, nothing is more genuine than living in it.

06 Fuck It, That’s the Spirit

Be open, and sometimes relentless. It can take you to some interesting places. The overwhelming discussion of “Is creativity dead?” doesn’t help solving anything, just start making things, the statement is irrelevant.