Before you judge my family and friends, I promise you they did exactly what I needed this year!

Some background first…

I started 2024 with a view to self-discovery, leading to self-development and new challenges and opportunities. I took a sabbatical, signed up for an MBA which was due to start in July of 2024 and also began to prepare for an IT certification.

A chance encounter over a cup of coffee led me instead to the opportunity of a lifetime. The sabbatical I had planned turned into a role in an airline startup in another country, which kicked off on 1st of June 2024. My last year’s post was all about this – finding a new normal in a new country, fiercely protecting the most important relationship in my life all while building the IT Operations for a full service carrier and pursuing an MBA.

As 2025 kicked off, the pace and scale of both my work and my academic commitments only accelerated and got more demanding than ever. My family and friends got it before I did. They did the one thing that would rid me of any guilt – they wrote me off for the year.

My husband said – I will take care of myself, you focus on your work and your studies, we are in two different cities this year for a reason.

My friends said – Give us a heads up when and where, we will be there! Otherwise, we will give you the space to do what you need to do this year, just go do it!

My family, both the one I was born in, and the one I married into simply took a step back and encouraged me to put on horse blinkers, happy for just the two goals I had set my sights on to be in my line of vision this year.

Everyone wrote my side of the deal off, but they stayed in my periphery, supporting, listening and generally just being there when I needed them.

My colleagues, knowing my class and assignment commitments on weekends gave up on planning any dinners or social engagements involving me on weekends. They even covered me if there was anything during my class hours that needed support and attention.

My batchmates became the one group who knew exactly how I was feeling. Almost all of us were juggling and managing multiple demands on our time while trying to meet all the course targets and deadlines and generally stay afloat. We supported each other through it all.

I also completed half a century on this planet towards the end of the year. My husband hesitantly approached the topic of “doing something” to commemorate the occasion. Hesitant, because he knew I had an exam the next day and would typically be reluctant to give myself permission to party a day before. I decided by then I had paid my dues and then some all of this year, and a break was overdue. The “doing something” which I took to mean a dinner for two turned into an amazing event with family and friends turning up to surprise me and wish me well.

With this band of supporters rallied around me all around the year, I have never felt more blessed, grateful and fortunate in my life than I have this year.

You might wonder, sensing the breakneck pace at which my life was progressing in 2025 as to why I felt the picture of a snail would be appropriate for this edition of my musings.

For the second year in a row, I could not write my blog anniversary post in September as I’ve always done for seven years. Last year my blog turned nine years old, and I was relieved to see despite everything I took on, I was able to pen three posts, all close to my heart for completely different reasons.

As part of my anniversary post tradition, I browsed through my friend Yosi’s page – Yos Photography and stopped swiping as soon as I reached this amazing photo. Very aptly Yosi had titled it “Don’t limit your challenges, challenge your limits”. That just about sums up the year for me!

Here’s to looking forward to close a few chapters, and open some new ones this year – always challenging my limits as the pages of my life write themselves.