11 Things I Thank My 2025-self For (pt.1)

Knowing that this will completely be my personal space makes me feel excited and intimate :)

My 2025

1.
A spiritual moment —
Breathwork workshop

I first tried breathwork in early 2025, and again later that year. Both times brought some level of awakening.

“The masters of life are those who know how to breathe.”

Friend, I’ll tell you this is true.

I got so many important messages while I was breathing. Simply by breathing. Yet not so simple as well.

One would rather get an electric shock than sit with their own thoughts in a room alone.

This is a famous experiment illustrating how terrifying people feel to sit with themselves. Even though I’ve practiced meditation for years, when my mind gets busy, I sometimes throw it into overdrive, even when I know it’s the wrong direction.

Long story short, honey and pals, if you are reading, try breathing. It’s an amazing exercise to bring you closer to yourself.

2.
45-minute breathwork sessions before bed and after waking up

Continuing my previous point, I was highly inspired by my breathing experience and brought it to my daily life.

I have a timer on my night stand. Whenever I’m in bed, I hit start and then start breathing. You might wonder,

“Aren’t we already breathing, otherwise we’d be dead already?”

Yeah you are 100% right. But little have us done the mindful breathing and technical breathing. Those nuances can make HUGE different.

I pair the exercise with journaling. I write down whatever I feel or hear in my dear diaries.

3.
NO PHONE
in my bedroom

I’m quite surprised that I’ve been having this habit for more than a year (kudos to me!!)

At first I encountered some issues -

• I was not able to do guided meditations or even play meditation music because the source is on my phone
  

• I was not able to use my phone as an alarm clock as the phone was outside of my room (and I didn’t want to go so far to get it)
  
  

Then I found the solutions —

• I learned to do meditation/breathing without music
  

• I bought a traditional sunlight-simulating clock (I LOVE IT!!!

Now when I sometimes want to use my phone in my bed, I’d feel something is off.

4.
I bought my first conference ticket for personal growth

2025 was the first year I spent serious money on an educational event: Mindvalley University, a 1–2 week conference on leadership, AI, social media, and spirituality.

I’ve come to believe that people who prioritize growth never hesitate to invest in education when they can.

Education and self-growth is one thing that I learned not to compromise after I made that decision, as the elevation of my spirits is so not measurable by the material.

I had a subconscious belief that experiences like this weren’t “worth” it, because you couldn’t physically own them. But I’ve learned the truth:

These tickets are shortcuts to connect with the right people — people who also crave growth.

5.
Keeping
standards high — Apartment hunting

Apartment hunting was a major theme in 2025. It took me five months to find my current place.

I got rejected from a few apartments I thought were “the one,” but each new option was somehow better than the last. And the place I finally landed in? It matched everything on my dream list, or even better.

This journey has taught me some important lessons:

• Feel and be honest with yourself, about the things you want.

• Rejections are protections, and let the God decide what is best for you.
  You never know in your 3D senses what’s greater to come.

• TRUST.

Side story:

While I was apartment hunting, I walked around my current apartment while I was “feeling” the neighborhood. I saw this building and said to myself:

“Wow…. If I could live here, that would be the dream…”

I was curious who lived here.

1 or 2 weeks later, my housing agent told me there was listing in that exact building. And that building now is my home :)

Know your WHY, and let the universe figure out the HOW.

6.
Saying goodbyes. Building closures.

This is a big one that dedicated to my growth.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I used to feel quite pained to say goodbyes to people I liked. I could cry like a baby, or like it’s the end of the world.

I have no trouble telling them I care about them and that it’s hard to say goodbye, with tears streaming down my face.
(I should give myself more credit for being so genuine…? :P)

Now I feel I’m getting better at saying goodbyes?

Another situation is saying goodbye and closing the loop for those stories that no longer serve me.

I find writing the letters to the people I don’t understand and burn the paper with fire is quite helpful. (I learned this trick from ChatGPT)

In practical exercise I’m quite afraid of fire during the ritual to be honest, but it makes me feel a lot better when my feelings are also burned with the fire.

Biggest lesson learned:

You don’t need another person’s participation to create closure.

7.
Got a Kindle.

Oh my god. I love my Kindle.

I got it in Dec 2025, right before my year end isolation trip. It happened to be my Christmas and New Year gift. (“Happened” in a sense that you know I’m a spontaneous person who doesn’t plan for special holidays. :P)

Before Kindle, I had a Kobo Libra 2 serving me for years, until one day I didn’t love it anymore. It became slow, and I found the physical buttons quite redundant.

Additionally and surprisingly, I didn’t find it pretty anymore.

This was a big shock to me as I used to only like white e-readers, but now I only find Kindle pretty. I can say my beauty standards have been heavily influenced by the western world??

Anyway, since I got my Kindle, my reading speed has drastically increased. Now I doubt I can switch back to physical books anytime soon even if I somehow have a few books on my bookshelf waiting to be opened. 😳

(Shout to readers: GO GET ONE YOU’LL NOT REGRET!!!)

I'll split 11 points into two articles as I'm feeling exhausted because of the physical pain. See you in the next one!