The year 2025 has brought many new things to me, marking a new beginning in my life with high expectations from life itself. However, before beginning this post, I would like to ask you something: how does it feel to see some of your long-lost wishes coming true after a decade of waiting?

Till you think about your answer, I would like to take you to my showreel 2025.

This year began with a positive note by bringing us the news that we were finally shifting to Kolkata, the city of joy, after a wait of three years. Though I was undergoing a tumultuous phase because I was feeling sad to leave our old home behind, where we had ample trees and flowers and birds, and I was sure that I would never meet such melodious cacophony to welcome a new day in my life. Well, I was partially right because here in our Kolkata home, we don’t hear much of those birdsongs. This is something I knew very well, and thus, I have been trying to cope with the longing to listen to the birdsongs in the morning hour.

The other thing that I am terribly missing in our new home is the vast courtyard in our previous homes. Earlier, wherever we had lived, we always had a vast courtyard alongside the Tulasi Mancha. But here, we don’t have either of them. However, I miss my quiet me-time hours during the evening walk in the courtyard, when I listened to music, strolled in the courtyard, heard the whisper of the breeze and the silent song of nature, and conversed with the stars and the moon in the sky. That was my favorite self-care activity of the day, and my favorite time to spend with myself. Well, I don’t have those hours now, but I have developed a habit of reading my favorite book from 9 PM to 10 PM, and that’s how I spend my me-time now.

Besides shifting to a new city, the other thing that happened in my life and brought me happiness is finishing two pending writing projects and publishing them as my third and fourth books. My third book, Little Things, Big Things, took me three years to finish the work which included extensive research and experiments with my findings. My fourth book, Katha – One Hundred Tales of Life, is a passionate project of mine, as it is my first work of fiction, which comprises 100 microfictions and flash fictions.

Another nice thing that happened to me in 2025 was my return to my mother tongue. It was long since I read a Bengali book and wrote something in Bengali. But from 2024, I started bringing myself close to my language, Bengali, and this year, my aim was fulfilled. I read lots of Bengali books (almost 10, that’s quite a number for me), and wrote a lot in Bengali. Two of my Bengali poems got published in a Bengali magazine, and a Bengali micro-fiction got published in another. Seeing my name printed in Bengali, this happiness is something to be expressed beyond words.

I had rejections in my submissions, but there was also acceptance. So, in a nutshell, I had satisfying writing experiences in 2025, and this year gifted me some beautiful memories to cherish forever.

Apart from writing and reading, I also had a musical year in 2025. I learned, sang many new songs, and performed in public after a decade. So, in writing, reading, and singing fronts, I had a fulfilling year in 2025.

Here I want to pause for a moment and share something that might upset you a bit. But from a harsh experience in 2024, I have learned that talking about your negatives is equally important as talking about your positives. So, if you are wondering that I had lots of achievements and successful plans in 2025, there is also something that made me scared of my depressed thoughts, and introduced me to the hollow, dark, and empty – everything that is enough to extinguish the fire that keeps the light burning.

However, like always, I am proud of myself for overcoming that short yet profound phase of despair and making something nicer out of those deadliest ponderings.

And thus, here comes this question: What are the changes I have been planning for 2026?

There are many changes that I have been planning since July 2025. I am now in my early thirties, and something keeps chasing me every moment I question myself about the purpose in my life. Out of desperation and confusion, one day, I asked AI if it was a nice idea to have a new purpose in my early thirties. As expected, it replied to me with some affirmative, encouraging, and inspiring answers that shed light on my question with a new perspective.

That night, I wrote to myself:

“You are allowed to give yourself a new purpose to start afresh, every day. Your purpose is aligned to your higher self, and thus, until you reach the goal, the universe waits for you to connect the dots and write your story.”

Today, tomorrow, and always, I will walk towards my purpose in life, following my heart’s call. It’s time to remind myself of the promise that I had made to myself at the first moment in my journey of metamorphosis, that too, exactly one decade ago:

“Remember why you started.”

Life comes a full circle at a point where you meet yourself, as if you see your reflection in a mirror. I wish, at that moment, I would tell myself that I have gathered all the broken pieces of me and made someone whom I had always dreamt of becoming – a woman who is the epitome of grace, wisdom, and power.

I know, somewhere in the universe, a star is listening to my prayers and writing my story, unfolding its magic and miracles, one chapter at a time.

(This post is a part of ‘Real and Rhythm Blog Hop’ hosted by Manali Desai and Sukaina Majeed under #EveryConversationMatters blog hop series.)