As I sat by my cluttered desk, I saw my table calendar and realised just a few days were left to say goodbye to 2025 and welcome the new year. And in those few moments of realisation, I recalled all my failures, my unfinished tasks and all the things I thought I would fix “soon”, but never really did. And to tell you the truth, this happens every year.

Just when December starts, most people are sharing their highlig­hts online, talking about growth, achievements, their lives, their dreams and goals for the coming year.

But what people don’t talk about ‘loudly’ are the things that they couldn’t do… again this year, perhaps. Deep down there is a pain, there is a nudge that ‘you didn’t do it!’ This hurts and becomes a source of stress.

So I sit here with my thoughts unwrapping and thinking about everything that didn’t go as I planned. The funny thing is, they’re not always big, dramatic mistakes. Most of them are small… not replying to messages on time; leaving assignments till the last minute, quitting something just because it got uncomfortable and saying “I’ll start tomorrow,” so many times that tomorrow quietly turned into months, and things I wanted to own but I couldn’t. These seemingly small things don’t look serious, but they pile up inside our heads.

All these unfinished tasks hurt strangely… they keep reminding what you wanted to be, but somehow couldn’t. It makes one feel like they lacked discipline or focus, or maybe courage.

I’ve realised that the end of the year isn’t really about time ending. Time doesn’t care. It keeps moving anyway. What changes is our ‘awareness’. Suddenly, we realise the passage of time and look back. Suddenly, we compare. We count. We judge. And become critique ourselves more than we even deserve to be held against everything.

Sadly, we don’t give importance to our small wins. If something doesn’t become a big success, we act like it doesn’t count. But what we should remember is that we tried. Because starting matters. Even stopping matters, it tells us something about ourselves — maybe we didn’t quit out of laziness, maybe it just wasn’t the right thing for us, or maybe we were tired, stressed or dealing with other personal stuff having an indirect effect on our progress.

This year taught me that the road to growth is wavy and often has empty spaces to be filled. Following the line is the key, whether it’s wavy or full of blanks.

I also remembered the moments I stayed silent. Times I wanted to speak, but didn’t. Chances I let go of because I was afraid of looking silly or failing in front of others. Sometimes I wonder how different things might have been if I had spoken anyway.

We put too much pressure on one year, as if 12 months decide our entire worth. Do you press a ‘reset’ button every January 1st? No, because real life is not like that. You are not a new person on January 1st. You wake up as the same person, just with a little more experience and a little more practicality to work within a checklist if you have made one again. This time, all you need is bring changes in your small, everyday choices.

While making big promises gives us courage and others a chance to look forward to them, maybe it’s time to be a little more honest with ourselves and admit what didn’t work for us or that we failed at.

So I think those who label their year as good or bad need to be honest with themselves and accept that some days go well, some go badly. That’s what we have to learn from — from the stressful days, the days that made you cry… but also from the moments that made you smile and laugh out loud.

So even if you haven’t finished a long list of things on time this year, or maybe you didn’t become the person you imagined at the start of the year, credit this year for helping you understand yourself a little more.

You don’t really know what the next year holds. But you’re walking into it more aware. And for now, that’s enough.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 27th, 2025