year in review

I look back on this year as heavy and often off-course—an unfinished PhD, money stress, burnout from giving too much, and habits that kept tripping me up. I didn’t meet most of the goals I set, and that was painful to face. But the year also pushed me to strip things down: I stepped away from work that drained me, let go of a lot of what I owned, got my finances under control, and leaned into music and study as daily lifelines. There’s bitterness in how much energy and time slipped away, but also something steady that held—being there for people I love, writing and composing, facing conflict more honestly, and slowly reacting less to the noise. I end the year without a win to celebrate, but with a clearer sense of what matters and the resolve to keep going, lighter and more hopeful than before.