Manan's notes

2025 in Review

This year I:

  • got engaged
  • started a new job
  • became much closer to my close friends
  • strengthened my relationship with my partner
  • bought a new bike (and had it stolen in five months)
  • started dancing salsa (and realized I didn't love it)
  • started playing Spikeball regularly (and stopped in a few months)
  • read 40 books
  • visited Mexico City twice in a month (and got food poisoning the second time)
  • visited Italy for two weeks
  • became absolutely obsessed with football (and won my fantasy football championship)
  • finally built a healthy sleep routine (cc I don't sleep because I'm afraid of my thoughts)
  • had my favorite year of Outside Lands ever!
  • hiked the Double Cross Trail
  • finally visited Angel Island
  • started journaling consistently (thanks to Lightpage) for the first time
  • finally stopped tinkering with (or caring much about) my notetaking / productivity system

This year, I was the groundhog on a clear day who saw his shadow and scampered back into his burrow (for the whole year, not just six weeks). I didn't push myself out of my comfort zone much this year, nor did I go out of my way to meet new people and make new friends. And for the first time in my life, I was mostly satisfied with this! [0]

Going into 2026, I'd like to:

  • travel more than I did in 2025
  • meet more new people than I did in 2025
  • be a better partner/brother/son
  • be a better both casual and close friend
    • post semi-regularly on Instagram (to create wedges of serendipity between myself and my friends)
    • host more events (and create the spaces that I'd be excited to participate in)
  • exercise well and sleep well
  • plan my wedding!
  • better mark the passage of time for myself — be able to pinpoint (and reflect on) how my qualia has evolved over the course of the year

Cheers!

[0]: When I say satisfied, I mean satisfied in the day-to-day, not necessarily satisfied on a higher-order, more self-reflective level.