
Notes From the New World 2025 PERSONAL Year In Review: Emotional Whiplash, Creative Possession and Learning to Stay Put and Grow TF Up
Grab your tissues and your matcha - we're doing a full 2025 emotional autopsy.
Today I'm taking you through my personal year in review: space-cowgirl birthday parties, devastating loss, AI-induced mental glitches, and finally learning how to stop abandoning myself in relationships.
This was one of the most plot twist-filled years I've ever had - like WTF happened?!
Themes from the episode:
- The Cape Town summer that was pure lightning in a bottle - and why watching my entire friend group simultaneously couple up while I navigated complex relational issues sent me into an existential spiral about missing invisible boats.
- Setting the container and having THE scary conversation - how I stopped swallowing feelings to avoid looking "too sensitive," ugly-cried through total honesty, and learned that vulnerability won't actually kill you (even when your nervous system disagrees).
- When my friends passed in a rafting accident and grief rewired everything - and how loss demolishes your understanding of what actually matters.
- The AI creativity binge that nearly broke my brain - what happens when you're alone with no friends, no language skills, and only ChatGPT validating your 47th brand iteration until everything you're obsessed with feels boring and nothing matters anymore (scary AF)
- Maturity as staying put instead of booking another escape flight - why I'm extending in Lima, joining local studios, and forcing myself to deal with shit instead of using travel as emotional avoidance (growth! so sexy!).
My 2025 was an invitation to stop performing identities that don't fit me anymore, start saying what I mean, befriending my demons, and contemplating my 200 year plan. Let's spiral together :)
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