Year 2024 in review

2025 is here and it finally feels like I’m slowly returning home to myself. 

According to my yearly tradition, my annual review should have come out before the past year ended, but better late than never. 

This annual review is more for myself before I begin the new year on a full-fledged note than for anybody else. 

I’ve been sitting down to write after a long while, but there had always been a longing to come back and an urge to sit down and write. Except I couldn’t and I would keep procrastinating. 

This past year I struggled a lot with consistency. So many years of being in discipline and focus seemed to have gone down the drains and I lost it. And I let myself lose it. But then, I did live and I did learn. 

This year is my 5th year of sharing my annual review on this blog, and like every year I do it by answering three questions. 

• What went well last year?
• What didn’t go well last year?
• What did I learn this year? 

So let me begin.. 

What went well last year? 

Instead of writing about what went well last year, I want to write a big list of things for which I am thankful for. They are: 

1. Friendship

The best thing I am thankful for last year is friendship. 

My romantic relationship might not have worked out, but I couldn’t be more grateful for my girlfriends and sisters who have been there for me through thick and thin. 

Because of them, I love to be a girl. 

Because of them, I am thankful to be born as a woman, for if I hadn’t, I would have missed out on such female friendships and sisterhood which I think now, is superior to any other relationship. 

How they can leave everything and just be there for you is something else. 

How they listen to your every story without judgement, how they uncover your ‘why’ behind every action is no less than a therapist, and how they know you by heart better than anyone else. Nothing tops it. 

Every friendship quote resonates with them. They truly are our real soulmates. 

Also, this past year I grew closer to my already best friend- Alija. 

We talked almost every day and chatted for countless hours. No matter if it’s 1 pm or 1 am, our texts and calls are always so interesting and full of laughter.

How much can two girls vibe? They should meet me and Ali. Lol

We spent countless hours on FaceTime and video calls with my two best friends. 

There were times when we would talk for 5 hours a day on video call. All of us had something to say, and all of us were there for each other. 

I just focused on living and laughing this past year. And I don’t think time wasted laughing with your friends and growing your bond is time wasted at all.

Every girl needs a listener, and for me this year, they were my friends and sisters. 

2. Luck 

I have always felt myself to be a lucky girl.

It’s the reason why I had written posts on this as well previously like, How to get the lucky girl syndrome, lucky girl affirmations etc. 

But this year it was even more evident for the luck that has been bestowed upon me by the Universe. 

Some of the lucky events that happened this year that made me think that God is still looking after me 

1. A thief snatched my bag and ran away from the train while I was returning from a solo trip taking away my two phones, purse, cards, and AirPods leaving me stranded on the train.
   
   However, the next morning, without me doing anything, a police officer called and let me know that they caught the thief and found all my belongings. Even after losing all my things from an unknown station in another state, I got them all back. What were the chances?
   
2. When I was going through a tough phase after my breakup and I was living alone, Peggy (another sister’s friend) asked if she could stay with me as my roommate. I quickly agreed and having her around helped so much as an emotional support. 
   
3. Went on a solo trip to Spiti without thinking much. There I met some kindest people at a place called Kalpa unexpectedly who ended up being good friends of mine.
   
   They took the Spiti trip with me, and I mostly travelled with them in their car. Because of them, the solo trip was smooth.
   
   Later coming to know from others after reaching there, a solo trip to Spiti would have been really difficult. 
   
4. My pets are lucky too for they always find someone to look after them while I am away.
   
   I no longer keep them in a cat creche after my previous pet died, and I am so thankful that my friend Dikcha always kindly agrees to look after them while I am not there.
   
   She petsits them at my place and even her mum comes along to stay at my place and they happily look after my cats. And if Dikcha is not there, now I have Peggy too. So I am thankful that God always arranges something or the other for my cats too. 
   
   
5. Same with my dog back at home. As our home is in the process of being built and my mom is living a bit far away, she iesn’t able to look after my dog, Missy who can’t stay alone all day.
   
   And so back at home, we have ‘maam’ (Granny in Nepali). She is our neighbour granny and loves Missy as much as or even more than we do. Missy happily stays with Maam while my mum does all the to and fro. We consider ourselves lucky to have found such kind people who love us and seek to help us in times of need.
   
   And numerous other small incidents that I’ve forgotten to keep count of, but always so very grateful when it happens. 

It reaffirms my belief that the Universe always has my back and I am always taken care of. I just need to believe it more. 

3. Rebuilding our home

Thankful that last year we started to rebuild our old home in the way I and my mother had always imagined it to be. It will be ready by this year March 2025. 

4. New connections 

I am thankful for all the new people I met and all the bonds that got stronger last year. 

Another bond that I got close to last year was with Peggy, a sister who has now started living with me here in Kolkata. 

I came to know her on December 25th 2023 through another sister, Nongkit as they both were friends.

This last year I shared life with her closely. 

I started living and sharing space with someone else after more than 3 years of living alone, and still, we’ve never had any misunderstandings and our bond is wonderful.

I am so grateful for this sisterhood with her. 

It’s amazing how in one year so many new people come into your life and hold such prominence. 

It makes me think about how true it is that you haven’t met so many people yet whom you are going to love, cherish and hold for the rest of your life. 

Apart from Peggy, I am also so thankful for so many other new bonds I made. 

1. Friends of friends and sisters.

2. The people I met in Kalpa at a chance encounter. Their names were Vishesh Ji, Anil Ji and Sweety Ji.

I was with them for 4 days and they were the kindest people I met so far on a solo trip. By the time I left them on the last day at Kaza, I had tears rolled up in my eyes.

They all gave me small parting gifts and they still video call me from time to time. Their kindness and simplicity touched my heart. 

3. Friends made on my other solo trip.

4. Dated someone briefly and we’re still in good terms.

5. Met a little sister just recently in December. They were Nongkit’s cousins again. (Just realized how many wonderful people I’ve met through her!)

They had come for a visit to Kolkata and they all stayed at my place for a day. The little girl’s nickname was Maiiya and she had my and Peggy’s heart. 

Though I couldn’t spend as much time with her, the little time we did, I just loved her and made me wish if I could have a girl child too. And if I did, I would want mine to be just like her. 

6. Met my friend’s friends in Delhi in December when I went to visit her after a random plan became successful. Made momo together and had a wonderful evening with them.

These were all the wonderful people I met in 2024.

Looking forward to what 2025 has in store.

5. Travel 

2024 I travelled to Mumbai in January. 

Met my two friends in Kalimpong in March. 

Spiti Valley, Shimla, Manali in June. 

Dzukou Valley, Kohima and another place called Khonoma in Nagaland in October. 

Had a chance to visit Meghalaya briefly in November, and there I went to Krangshuri Falls and swam under the waterfall. It was an incredible experience and can’t wait to swim under a waterfall again. 

Can’t wait to travel more this year. 

6. Abundance

Grateful for the abundance that is still flowing into my life. 

Even though I didn’t focus on my blog very well, or I could say, almost at all this year, still grateful that it didn’t give up on me and readers continue to read my blog and send me sweet heartfelt emails and comments.

Even though less than all my previous years, just for the record, my blog still had 9,70,228 page views and made $20,897 in revenue. 

What didn’t go well last year? 

1. Consistency and determination

Last year I struggled with consistency and my determination dwindled. 

Because of this, the important areas of my life that truly fulfil me- Reading, Writing and Prayer got sacrificed. 

I am also not very proud of how I took care of myself last year.

Without the daily nourishment of my morning routine that feeds my mind and body, negative habits crept in and I gave in to it. 

The emotional toll of something so invisible as heartbreak is hard to put down in words. 

If I have to be truthful, for some time, I wanted to suffer and be lost. I let myself suffer and not try even to feel nice. 

I couldn’t think straight or feel stable for a long time, and because of this, my writing suffered, for I can only write from a clear and joyful state of mind. 

My blog suffered, and the newsletter that I sent out every Monday suffered. 

I felt guilty for not being able to show up for my readers who would send me email replies every week. 

I would feel like an imposter if i tried to write.

“What would I write, what encouraging thing would I say when I am in need of encouragement myself, when I am myself struggling with invisible things?”

This had been my thought and I felt that I wouldn’t be genuine if I wrote something positive.

But now I feel I should have just written about the things I was going through and my struggles even, for they are all part of a universal human experience. 

I am now ready to write them even if I am in the midst of it. 

It’s not that I did not try. I tried and failed. Tried and failed. So I let myself lose and allowed myself to go off track. 

Coming back again from time to time made me even more anxious thinking about the vast amount of time I had wasted. 

It overwhelmed me thinking about the things I truly wanted to do and so I ended up abandoning it altogether because it made me too nervous. 

Now I’m trying again. But this time, I feel much more relaxed, stable and at ease than I’ve felt in a long time.

I am so thankful that a new year has come because it made me feel that now I can start again from a clean slate. 

2. Relationship

2024 was the year I had thought in my head that I would marry the love of my life, but it instead became the year we broke up. 

The reasons are more clear now and I believe we both have equally been at fault. 

After my relationship with him ended, I should have been in a good relationship with myself instead, but it did not happen that way. 

I held myself together for so long and then I let myself lose it.

Now I am slowly coming back to myself.

But this past year did teach me wonderful things (that I shall cover in the next section) and my relationship with everyone else- my mother, my loved ones, my friends, sisters, and colleagues were as wonderful and fulfilling as ever. 

What I learned and taking forward this year

1. Self-improvement is impermanent. Happiness is impermanent. Even if you have worked on your personal growth and happiness for years, ultimately it is still impermanent if you don’t nurture it daily. 
   
2. A truly kind person is someone who is kind even when angry. 
   
3. True Love is a two-person decision to make it work. 
   
4. The Ego thrives in the lesser self and it diminishes when you return to being your truest self. 
   
5. Maintain energy hygiene by not being too active on social media, maintaining your screen time, going to bed early, learning to say no and not spending energy on things that seem forceful. 
   
6. Satisfaction is more important than fun. 
   
7. True growth is when you double down on your faith, self-care and self-improvement especially when things go rough rather than falling into past patterns. 
   
   
8. Don’t cling to an Idea of happiness. Just be happy now. 
   
9. Pat yourself on the back more often 
   
10. True enjoyment comes from a day well lived. 

Books I read

I had planned to read more books, but I read only 13.

1. You can heal your life by Louis hay
2. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield 
3. The Gift by Edith Eger
4. Wild by Cheryl Stray
5. Start with Why by Simon Sink 
6. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle 
7. Put your ass where your heart wants to be by Steven Pressfield 
8. Inwards by Young Pueblo 
9. Landour Days by Ruskin Bond
10. Maktub by Paolo Coelho 
11. Gold Collection by Ruskin Bond 
12. My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolts Taylor
13. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Movies and Series I loved last year:

Didn’t watch much, but these were the few I loved:

1. Nottinghill 
2. Me Before You 
3. Panchayat 
4. The Holiday 

Other highlights from 2024 

1. Spayed my two cats Elsa and Ariel, and they recovered soon very well. Pray for their continued good health and joyfulness every day 
2. Loved how my dog Missy and my two cats have bonded with each other. 
3. Learned how to wrap a momo finally this year. 
4. Learned how to do basic makeup, and I finally have a make-up bag! 
5. Hosted house parties. 
6. Did a full-fledged photo shoot during the summer
7. Painted much at some point. 
8. My newsletter did very well till the time I was writing. 
9. Met my brother’s dog Jimbo and lost him. 
10. Ate a lot of good food and cakes. 
11. Took two solo trips. Opened up more as a person. 
12. Felt like one with nature and deeply meditative just looking at the vast mountains of Spiti. Still remember the incredible feeling I felt. Best so far.
13. Went for picnics. 
14. Corrected some 200 answer scripts in Bengali with a little bit of help from kind ones.
15. Went to a concert (Prateek Kuhad’s)
16. Upgraded my style a bit. 
17. Joined gym. 
18. Broke down many times.
19. Laughed a lot.
20. Still have a lot of love and faith in my heart.
    

I am looking forward to this new year eager to treat and take care of each day as if like a baby.

Yes, that is my intention for 2025- to have more intentional days and be more kind and empathetic as a person, as Dalai lama says, “Be kind whenever possible. It’s always possible”.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. I wish you a Happy and Intentional New Year.

May we make the most of this year.

Past Reviews:

• My 2023 Annual Review
• My 2022 Annual review
• My 2021 Annual Review
• My 2020 Annual Review