My birthday reflection Nov 2025

As the final hours of this year close before my birthday, I’m reminded of a question my bestie asked:

*What did 2025 teach you?*

2025 was the year I grew in understanding, loss, and wisdom.

At the start of the year, I wanted to enrol in a postgraduate programme in educational management — a kind of self-validation.

Then tragedy struck.

My two cats of seven years, Blackie and Thor, passed away.

The devastation hit me harder than I imagined, and it took weeks before I stabilised.

I realised I didn’t have the bandwidth for study and instead pivoted to sewing… dancing… and bouldering.

Dancing expanded my social world.

Sewing helped me conquer my fear of the machine.

Bouldering got me fit, shifted the trajectory of my 2025 socially, and taught me more about myself than any other year.

With my family:

I learned to hold boundaries with calmness.

To keep my peace without over-functioning.

Not to close the gap when someone withdrew.

To walk away from chaos without guilt.

With my bouldering partner:

I learned to stop performing strength and allow vulnerability.

To hold space with steadiness.

What acceptance without performance feels like.

That emotional connection doesn’t require shrinking myself.

That boundaries create connection, not loss.

How love feels when it’s recognition, not possession.

And that I have a self worth protecting.

**Myself:**

Most importantly, I learned to trust myself —

to hold my own anchor and remain steady even when others won’t.

I’m stepping into my new year with a clearer sense of who I am:

stronger, softer, wiser.

**Happy Birthday, Diahann.

Today is your day.**

This year, you came home to yourself.

24•11•25 🎂

Edited: 29/11/25.