Reflecting on the past year

Vjaylakshman K • December 31, 2025

Hello Everyone! Happy New Year :)

Had a chat with a friend today, He told me that "Years seem to pass by faster the older you become" and he is so right, life passes by so fast since we are always so busy with one thing or the other. This year felt like that too! The year of 2025 has been quite the year of years. I did so many things I haven't done before, learned many things I hadn't known before, went through so many emotions, so many trials and struggles. Just wanted to write a blog reflecting on how my year went :)

Highlights of my year

• I earned my first wage! It was because I opted to volunteer for an event where I helped in logistics. It was just 800 rupees (around 10$) for helping out for a day. Still you understand the value of money more when you earn it after sweating and working hard.
• I organized my first ever event! It was a Hackathon, I initially didn't opt to organise it but I joined in since my friend got involved, ended up having to do most of the work since my friend got way too busy than he expected to be(which is fine!). It was such a chore managing user registration, finance, arrangements for seating, arrangements for refreshments, PoC(Point of Contact) with the judges. I even took care of literally arranging the tables myself haha. It was so much work but I earned so much experience and insight on how an event is organised.
• I went on a trip to a Hill Station for the first time in my life, It was the Munar Hill Station. I've never been to such a cold place and a breathtaking one as well, every turn and curve had a scenery that felt way too surreal and dreamlike.

• I joined a book club and re-started my reading habit, feeling really happy and content about that. The club is amazing and the books they come up with are unique sometimes amazing and sometimes so funny how bad books could be. Love the bunch there!
• For the first time felt loved by a friend group, yes I sound cliche but I am glad I found (more) people who love and cherish me. Love them from the bottom of my heart.
• Did my first ever on site internship as an AI Engineer at Greatify, learnt so much about both AI and office culture. Very grateful for the opportunity and I was able to have a chat with the founder who is so amazing. The people who guided me there were supportive too :D
• Gave my first ever actual interview, imagine the nervous me in a proper office attire, shirts tugged in, office shoes, nervous about how it would all go. I got to experience them all firsthand.
• Got not one but two offers for employment and joined SurveySparrow as a DevOps Engineer Intern and got my first ever salary as an intern 🥹, I was so happy and proud of myself for coming this far, after all those preparation, late night sessions, I finally made it into a company that makes me feel valued and is helping me nurture myself and become the best version of myself! The people are amazing here too <3
• A kitty sat on my lap :D

Lessons I learned

I am going to keep it short, I don't want to sound like an influencer from Instagram.

Progress does not happen overnight, it's efforts that you put and the tenacity that slowly cascades into the tree that bears the fruit. There had been days where I had started questioning myself and my abilities after trying to apply for the Nth job and not getting even a rejection mail back. But life rewards you as long as you keep putting in the work and doing your best to let your work be known.

Always cherish the people who matters to you, show them love actively, don't be shy, be honest and blunt. You live only once and this moment only once, don't hesitate to spread the love and be caring with them.

It is okay to be not harsh with yourself, sometimes you just need some headspace to breathe and let yourself feel a bit relaxed and rejuvenate yourself.

Accept what you have done and what you were, it is okay, you don't need to actively shun yourself for who you were, all that matters is you accept your past and live for the person you are now :)

Final Thoughts

I am grateful for whatever happened this year, and to everyone who made this year wonderful and amazing for me. It is very crazy to just look back and see what one year could do to a person's life. I am excited to see what the next year has in store for me hoping to strike off some of the things in my bucket list the upcoming year.

And to you, the reader, I hope that the upcoming year may give you all the courage, happiness, strength and things that you wished for, Thanks for reading and once again happy new year :)

"Living my life to the best of my ability. Channeling energy to my thoughts, attain symmetry"