Looking Back On 2024 & Looking Forward To 2025

This is my seventh year writing end-of-the-year reflections! It’s something I look forward to and dislike at the same time. Let me explain.

I like writing this post because it feels good to pause and take in all the big and small moments that happened. Moments of happiness, sadness, success, failure, learning, and growth—all of it matters. They continue to shape the person I am.

However, I dislike writing this post because of this “pressure” I feel to show that the past 365 days included glamourous achievements, which are then used as a benchmark of a successful or unsuccessful year. Let’s throw this notion out the window 😀

With that said, let’s dive into the good, the bad, and the average of 2024:

Table of Contents

The Good

Getting enough sleep: The biggest win of the year because sleep is so important for long-term health. It’s taken a whole year, but I did it. It wasn’t easy for me, a notorious night owl, who falls prey to late-night TV and doom-scrolling very easily haha. I forced myself to slowly shift bedtime earlier and make strategic changes to my daytime routine (no coffee after 1-2pm!). I woke up one day and realized that 5-6 hours of sleep used to be enough for me, it’s not anymore. It was a bit of a smack in the face because I had to accept that I am getting “older” and needed more rest. #Team7HoursOfSleep 😀
Enjoying parenting! This is one of my biggest joys of 2024. Now that my kids are older (7 and 4) and more independent, we can do so much more together, we communicate and negotiate, we can travel, and a lot of things like meal times, naps, and tantrums become a lot less and easier to deal with. Their personalities are unique and blossoming and it’s amazing to witness that. They have unique interests and I love cheering them on in whatever they choose to do (it changes every few months but that doesn’t matter). The cheerleader mom era has begun! I like that there’s an element of friendship in our relationship now. We do fun things like plan random sushi lunches while running errands or hang out in a cafe because I need my caffeine hit 😀 The other thing that has brought me so much joy is seeing their sibling relationship grow and deepen. They’re best friends (for now) and always have each other’s backs. It’s just cute and makes my heart feel warm and fuzzy.
Sticking to Pilates workouts: 52 weeks of Pilates. I never thought I would do anything like it. I’m happy I dived in without letting anxiety and fear get the better of me (as it often does when it comes to fitness-related things!). I think the key is to find friends to take risks with because then it’s not so scary and more fun to experience killer pain from the core-burning exercises together. I remained consistent with the weekly Pilates classes and even pushed to twice a week about 6 months ago. It’s been an incredible journey so far. Pilates has made me hyper-aware of my body, muscles, and breathing. I feel strong from the inside, which I never felt before. Pilates has given me the confidence to push myself physically (more on that below) and a great community of women who lift me each week. I cherish the 60 minutes on the mat and treat it like a medicine that will help me feel my best, so I rarely miss a class. There’s no focus or discussion on weight loss. Just becoming stronger.
Starting strength workouts and pushing myself physically: I felt ready to be challenged more physically towards the end of the year. I wanted to build muscle because many people have told me it’s the key to long-term health. So, a friend and I tried strength training with a trainer once a week. I almost gave up after the first session because I found it hard and didn’t like how much the trainer was pushing me. Again, having a friend going through this with me stopped me from giving up. We held each other accountable for showing up. It’s been two months and I train twice a week with light weights. One session with the trainer and once on my own. The results so far: I have a lot more energy, feel less moody/stressed, and lighter on my feet. I can see some muscle definition building, which has never happened before. Getting stronger was a big goal for 2024 and I’m proud of myself for how far I’ve come.
Upskilling for my career: I am proud to have dedicated as much time as possible to upskilling for my area of work (freelance marketing and content creation). Video editing, learning more about AI, and technical SEO are a few of the things I dabbled in. Little ripples eventually turn into big waves — I kept reminding myself to not feel defeated or lesser than my peers.
Traveling: What a wonderful year of travel. I am so grateful for each trip and the blessing of seeing some of my loved ones, not once, but twice or more this past year. The highlights were Mallorca, Taipei (amazing for a girls trip!), Jaipur and showing my kids Boston and Boston University where I studied!
Spending time with family and friends: One of the highlights of 2024 (and every year to be honest!). At this stage in my life, it’s what matters — quality time with family and friends — and I’ll always prioritize the opportunities to be present for their big and small moments if I can.

The Bad

Family members facing health issues and realizing that health is everything: It has been a challenging year emotionally and mentally with back-to-back health issues popping up for my loved ones including Milo! While these are private matters, I will share that everyone is doing well. Here are some lessons learned from my experiences. Good health is everything. I cannot say it enough. You can’t take it for granted. Not even for a moment. Nothing is guaranteed. You have to take care of your body. It’s your responsibility and no one else’s. Show up for yourself when it comes to eating well and staying fit.

Also, if something feels wrong, don’t ignore it. Get it checked out. Advocate for yourself. Try not to think of the worst-case scenario until you have all the information. Get second, third, and even fourth opinions. As someone who was supporting loved ones facing health issues, I also realized how important it is to take care of myself, even when I don’t have the energy or time for it so that I can show up and be strong for someone else. I made sure I slept and ate well. I stuck to my movement routine, even just a walk. I called my friends when I needed a release and told them what I needed. TLDR: Don’t take health for granted. Take care of yourself, so you can take care of your loved ones.
Inconsistency with the blog and content creation: It was tough to stay consistent with the blog and content creation in 2024. I learned that I can’t just create content whenever I feel like it, if I do, it feels forced and fake. I do my best work when I am relaxed and have time and space to ideate and create. Maybe an occupational hazard of choosing a creative career? When things get stressful or something creeps up in my personal life that takes my attention and energy, I find it difficult to be creative. But that shouldn’t be an excuse. Going forward I want to put better systems in place, which allows creating content more consistently even if I am strapped for time and space.

The Average

Feeling older: I can “see” my 40th birthday. It’s next year. Okay, like laaaater next year, but next year nonetheless! I’m not old, but my body is “older” and taking care of it has started to feel like a part-time job now.

If I don’t sleep properly one night, I pay for it for a few days. Before a nap would instantly fix my sleep deprivation, this is no longer the case.

Stretching before and after workouts, or else I’m in pain. In the same vein, the weight DOES NOT budge. It takes so much more effort than before to maintain!

I can’t process wine like before. I get hangovers every single time I have it and this is sad because I love wine. Something about the tannins? Pivoting to low-calorie / “low chance of getting a hangover drink” like gin soda or tequila soda has helped.

I wake up to dry and textured skin if I don’t drink enough water.
Setting boundaries: I have spent a lot of time in 2024 learning how to set boundaries. By nature, I am very generous with my time and energy for even the smallest things like replying to WhatsApp messages right away or if someone needs something from me, I always feel like it’s urgent and I drop whatever I’m doing and focus on that. They never told me it was urgent, but my brain is wired to think that way. So. I’ve had to do some unlearning and rewiring of the brain to be more strict with how, where, and who I am giving my time and energy to.

Now that I’ve reflected and written the post, it’s clear that being healthy and taking care of myself was the focus of 2024 for me. I didn’t plan on it, but sometimes things happen when you need it the most. Good health (physical and mental) truly is everything and I wish that for you and your loved ones as we kick off 2025. Wishing you a happy, healthy, and successful new year!

More fun highlights from the year

Going to see Coldplay live in Bangkok solo
Attending my first k-pop concerts ever (Doyoung (NCT) & Stray Kidz)
Girls trip to Taipei and birthday celebrations in Hong Kong
Doing a 28-day Wall Pilates challenge
Trying pottery for the first time
Family holidays to USA & Spain (Mallorca has my heart) + kids attending their first wedding (it was Korean-Indian, which was amazing).
Paint & Pour nights at Art & Soul – The Studio, Bangkok
Multiple reunions with my college besties
Celebrating festivals (Christmas, Loy Krathong & Diwali) and creating traditions
Spending the holidays with dear friends visiting from all over