2025: Q1 of the 21st Century

As the year comes to a close, I've found some time from the daily rush to sit down, zoom out and take a bird's eye view. I've found limited time to write over the year. However, the year-end blog, alongside the Fantasy Premier League blog, are 2 themes I've managed to keep writing about. Given that 2025 marks the end of a quarter of the 21st century, a longer-term perspective was warranted. 

Recap: Q1 of the 21st Century

I was too young when the world entered the 21st century. I just remember watching Titanic on TV, cuddled between my parents, under a warm blanket on the couch. 2005 was another pivotal year for my family. My parents bought a home in their dream neighbourhood. 

Fast forward to a decade later. It's 2010. The forgettable year-end holiday season marked a memorable year. I finished high school, learned how to drive a car, and entered university. Fifteen years on, this was still one of the pivotal years of my life. Fast forward to 2015, the next big moment came along - I moved to Budapest, Hungary. 

I would have to wait for another 5 years for the next life-changing moment. The year 2020 will be marked in the history books for the COVID pandemic that shook the world. For me, it will go down as the year I met someone special. This single incident triggered a series of events. A move to London, UK, a memorable trip to Mexico, and 5 years later, another life-altering event, a wedding.

Pivotal moments are like elections - they happen once every 5 years, and the decision triggers a series of events over the next 5 years. Another way to understand this - the options you face are the consequence of the decisions you made 5 years ago. In a way, the 5-year-younger version of you made the decision that built your today, and the options you face today. 

Secondly, the most emotionally stressful New Year's Eve marked the beginning of the pivotal years. As we entered 2005, my parents worried about the family's finances, wondering whether they would manage to afford the new home alongside the family expenses. I remember the anxiety over my upcoming high-school and university entrance exams as the year 2010 started. 

10 years ago, I felt a lack of direction as we entered 2015. It felt like the world around me was moving while I was resting. My friends were all setting sail on their respective paths after university. I, on the other hand, felt like I was living the life of a 32-year-old a decade earlier. In the most unexpected ways, the opportunity to study in Hungary came to me. 

I entered 2020 in Spain, travelling across Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona over the holidays. There were news reports about COVID in China already, but nobody expected it to change the world as it did. An interaction in 2020, one that wouldn't have happened in a normal world, ended up shaping the next 5 years of my life. 

Fast forward to 5 years later, 2025 began with the anxiety of figuring out a long list of things. I found myself back in southern Spain, looking at the busy year ahead, and telling myself to keep a short bucket list, as time would be a rare commodity. 

Looking back at 2025, Time and Gold turned out to be the most precious commodities. Time flew by quickly, and so did the price of Gold (nearly 70% YTD as I write this), as the world faces several uncertainties. Amid all this, we promised to stand by each other through thick and thin. It seems wholesome looking back, but it was purely unintentional. In a way that's almost representative of our lives this year, we marked this moment with Gold rings and a pair of matching watches. 

Gold is a safe-haven asset during times of uncertainty. Paradoxically, it is the element of choice when people choose to bring stability into their personal lives. Similarly, time is the most limited commodity any of us has. Committing to stand by someone for the next two-thirds of your life is one of the most important decisions humans make. Marking it with a "timeless" jewel, in a finite life, probably defies logic on an equal note.

2025: A short summary

Given I've dwelled on this century, 2025 feels like a drop in the ocean of time. Beyond the change in my marital status, there were two additional events this year.

The first was a change of my tennis racket. I spent much of 2025 adjusting to the new Yonex tennis racket. This has to be one of the longest and most difficult transitions I've made in my life (and I have moved countries twice!). It led to injuries and pains, which eventually forced me to come to terms with my health - the things I've been doing wrong and things I need to fix. I've seen a nutritionist and a physiotherapist to put me on the right track. This was a reckoning I needed. I learned to accept my limitations and not be afraid to seek help when in need. 

The second memorable event of this year was a trip to Mauritius. Reading up and learning about the country's colonial history and its connections with India was touching in many ways. Add to this the amazing hospitality of the locals, Mauritian rum and the food. I highly recommend taking a trip there. 

2026 or 2050?

Given the significant year that just passed, I'm tempted to make grand plans for the next 25 years. Truth be told, even the Sheikhs in the Middle East have rarely been able to stick to such long-term ambitions. ChatGPT isn't sentient yet to see things that far off either. So I'll stick to planning for 2026. Here are my 3 hopes for the new year. Two of them are unfinished ones from my past years.

1. To manage my better - to focus on spending it with the people I really value, see places I really wish to go to, and to treat myself with things that truly bring me joy
2. To try again for a British driver's license. I failed twice in 2024, and this year was too busy to even make an attempt. Here's hoping 2026 will be the year I get it. 
3. Learn something new - 2025 didn't leave me with much bandwidth. Hence, I had to put challenging my brain in new ways on the back burner. Here's hoping this year will give me some time to do it.