my happiness log for 2025
synopsis
I try to write this post every year along with a post of my yearly failures (2023). I am really bad at looking back at things that went well. So, here are the things that brought joy to me, things that made me happier, and some things I got better at. I've added details to some of these items in the footnotes if you're curious to know more.
wins & highlights (in no particular order)
- running1
- 1st marathon
- 1st trail run race
- I got better at the half marathon!
- spending more time with my parents2
- co-authored (with Denis!) my first photo essay for booker magazine
- camping with friends
- my first solo camping setup
- getting involved with community continued to be the most rewarding.
- I started a skramz directory with a bunch of online music nerds: au.skramz.directory
- Documenting some local gigs via video and photos (aiming to move these to archive.org eventually)
- my first music festival (dark mofo).
- my first proper birding endeavour (Capertee Birding Festival)
- i was less hyper-aware of how others thought of me (or less than last year, anyway).
- i went to so many more things solo without feeling super self-conscious: dining out, bars, gigs, plays, movies. A huge improvement from last year.
- This started with a solo trip to the Warrumgunbles in early 2025. I wrote about it a bit here
- i made new friends (mostly via gigs) and and even if hanging out casually
- i saw some very moving, powerful, and beautiful local theatre productions that fundamentally made me a better person. I might have to make a list highlighting some of the best things I saw this year.
- spent less time on social media3
- throwing house parties made me so happy
- being more honest in my opinions and feelings was a huge win for me this year.
- it's nice to be agreeable, but pandering/patronising benefits no one. I learnt this from another friend who mentioned it to me. Bless those who speak their minds and provide good, constructive feedback. I will aim to emulate this (where appropriate)
reflections
It's funny - looking back at the year, the common theme for things that made me happy (or even stoked) to be alive and present were all things that felt like adventures and journeys - big and small. The more challenging the better.
Another common theme was variety in both media, experiences, and creative projects. By focusing on a lot of different things in the year, it felt better when it concluded. It can be frantic at times but I promise, it kept me going when monotony set in. It became a way to break ruts.
I felt this was more about the journey/training vs. the actual achievement. I learnt a lot about myself in the process, too. I would highly recommend it, no matter the distance.↩
This was an important aspiration for this year and I think I did better than last year. We did lots of dinners, I cooked for them once and invited them over, organised dad's 60th, and in general I like to think we actually made new long-lasting memories this year. I think next year, I want to travel with them more :)↩
Honestly, this has felt the most freeing. I end up doing more things just for myself and if something needs to be recorded or documented, I end up journalling/blogging/photographing it instead. Seeing meta/google/microsoft's overreach this year makes me so hopeful and grateful for the slow/smallweb.↩