Annual Reflection 2025

This is my second time writing an annual reflection. Last year, I called it an annual review, but I've thought about it for a while and decided to call it an annual reflection from now on.

The word reflection comes from the Latin word reflectere, which meant to "bend back," describing how light bounces back at you, creating an image you see in a mirror. Later on, that idea of "bending back" came to mean thinking about past experiences and ideas. During a reflection session, you pause. Your thoughts bend inward. You're looking back on something in your past, the same way a mirror shows something back to your eyes.

That to me sounds more human than calling it a "review", which originally meant "to see something again" and was used in formal inspection of military forces. I know it's nerdy, but I find it more true to how the process actually went down.

Looking back at what I experienced in 2025, there were some intense moments, but also quiet ones. I had a slow start at the beginning of the year, but between March and September, those were my best months. And much like in 2024, I also dialed down towards the end of the year.

I wanted the year to revolve around the intentions I made, and focus was my Word of the Year. When I chose that word, what I had in mind was: doing meaningful projects, connecting with interesting people, removing unnecessary noise (both digitally and physically), and learning useful skills. For the most part, I feel like I came around those things, even though it wasn't performed at 100% all the time, which is humanly impossible.

There's also a note I carried into 2025 that became a reminder for whenever I set a goal:

Remember that you're not your goals. If you hit a goal, reward yourself. If you don't, it's okay. You're playing the infinite game.

For me, goals aren't the end game—the vision is. Goals are a good way to keep the momentum going because they are shorter, whereas a vision doesn't have a finish line. And doing my monthly reflections keeps me grounded, because I get to notice my thought patterns throughout the year and rethink my approach if there's a need for it.

Like last year, I will, in this essay, share my highlights from 2025, reflect on some goals I set, and briefly talk about how I want to approach 2026.

Highlights of 2025

• Books read: 12
• Favorite fiction book: Before the Coffee Gets Cold
• Favorite nonfiction book: The Heart of Design
• Essays written (short + long): 14
• Favorite essay: Timeless Principles of Prophetic Leadership
• Major build: Jamaah.tools went live
• 5K run personal record: 24:56
• Became a father for the second time
• Started an internship

Reflecting on 2025 goals

Reading

Reading was one of my favorite things to do in 2025. I went from reading 8 books in 2024 to 12 in 2025, and also read more fiction than I usually do. I did it for two reasons. The first being that reading fiction builds empathy and understanding in a way nonfiction sometimes doesn't. Nonfiction has its place, but it isn't as memorable.

I made a change to how I set goals for my reading in 2025. Instead of having a fixed number of books I need to read, I would write down each time I finished a book. That made reading more enjoyable for me with no pressure.

Also, most of my readings happened on my Kindle, which is such a fantastic tool. Though I'm a big supporter for physical books, just having the ability to read when it's broad daylight and pitch dark at night, and the text is still readable, is awesome.

My favorite fiction book in 2025 was Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. It's about a café where people can travel back in time, but there are rules to be met. In each story in the book, there's a recurring theme of wanting to say something left unsaid, missing someone, or getting a better understanding of what happened in the past. I've read three books in the series so far, and might come back to it sometime in the future.

My favorite nonfiction book of that year was The Heart of Design by Peter Gould. At its core, it's about creativity, entrepreneurship, and spirituality from an Islamic perspective. And as a Muslim and a creative person, it felt like that kind of book I've wanted to exist for a long time. The tools in the book are really applicable, and I've already used some of its content in projects.

There have also been other books that have shaped how I think, but I haven't finished them yet. One of them is Hold On to Your Kids by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté, a book about parenting, which is interesting to me as a parent of two little girls. And the other one is The Barakah Effect by Mohammed Faris that sets a contrast between the hustle culture with its focus on the self, performance, and constant grind, while Barakah Culture's focus is on God and cultivating a life that balances ambition and contentment.

Besides books, there was an essay that stuck with me by Lawrence Yao about envy. He mentioned something that I found interesting about how we usually don't envy people whose success is far from our reality. But envy can sneak in toward people who you feel just slightly ahead of you.

Health

One of the main themes of 2025 was focusing on building my health through lifestyle changes instead of only relying on medication. I have a rare autoimmune condition, which began 3 years ago. Now I'm in a stage where I'm getting treatment every half a year, blood tests from time to time, and check-ins with doctors. I also have a yearly checkup for my hearing and balance, and in 2025, I saw a small improvement, which felt like a win.

But running became my biggest health project. I also play football once a week, but whenever it's cancelled, I'd replace it with a run. Most weeks, I ran two to three times, sometimes four, and my aim was to get to at least 5k each time, even though I started below that in the beginning. I took it seriously as I was preparing for a running event in September, and I ended up setting a new personal record of 24 minutes and 45 seconds. The downside is that after the event, my running momentum slowly died out, especially as winter was approaching.

Diet-wise, my best periods were when I focused on both what I ate and when I ate. Cutting back on sugar and getting better at eating vegetables made a huge difference. Combined with running, that was when I lost the most weight and got back to where I was before marriage (never thought it would be possible).

But when I lost my running momentum, I tried to keep moving in other ways during winter. Like using a mini treadmill we bought or a fitness game on the Nintendo Switch. Moving forward, I can't wait for summer so I can run more again. It's not really the cold itself that stops me, it's the snow and ice. Because of my balance, paired with occasional vision problems, I don't want to risk hurting myself.

Other than that, I'm intending to stretch more and drink more water, and actually make those trackable, while dropping habits I'm not keeping up with anymore, like cold showers and breathing exercises.

Personal Development

What I always like to do at the beginning of a year is add structure to my life. So I started 2025 by doing a reflection of 2024, setting intentions, designing a vision board, and reorganizing my Tana workspace by using Tiago Forte's PARA method. By doing that, it gave me a sense of order and freed up some of the mental load I had. It also gave me a clearer overview of different parts of my life in one place. Whenever my mind feels scattered, structure brings clarity to me.

Even though my Word of the Year was focus, I still wasted a lot of time escaping into series and games, especially in the last part of the year. Thankfully, it didn't last too long, and my interest in gaming faded over time. Fortunately, that helped me regain focus again. But I noticed that in my October reflection (that's when I gamed a lot), I hadn't written down a single interesting thing that month. No essays, no videos, no books, nothing.

At the same time, it reminded me that it's not always easy to be productive, and I don't think we should try to be productive all the time. The main thing, though, is not letting it ruin the responsibilities that actually matter.

There were two videos, from Dan Koe and Jared Henderson, earlier that year, that had an impact on me. And funnily enough, both were about reading, but with different takes. In Dan's video, he talked about how books aren't meant to hand you bullet-point action steps. They're meant to change how you behave and help you explore things you didn't know before. Chasing the "quick steps" can easily become a form of distraction dressed up as productivity.

The second video with Jared Henderson was about how reading trains our ability to focus (I'm amazed how almost everything ties back to my WotY.) We live in an age where the internet is designed to steal our attention. Constant scrolling costs no effort. With books, on the other hand, you have to give your attention, and that requires effort.

Those two ideas together changed how I approached reading throughout the year. To train my focus, but also explore exciting things I had yet to discover. Reading has been one of the biggest factors in my growth.

Work & Career

Work and career were one of the heavier themes for me in 2025, mostly because my autoimmune condition is still something I have to factor into everything. I haven't been able to work a full-time job, and that reality can be frustrating. At times, it felt like my life was on pause, not because I lacked ambition, but because I can't handle the same pace as before.

What happened instead was that I started an internship towards the end of the year. What's different about this internship is that it isn't just about gaining work experience, but figuring out what I'm functionally capable of in a work setting. It's a gradual process. And I'm doing it in collaboration with the municipality I live in. I'm starting slow, and if things go well, my working hours increase over time. If it doesn't, it stays as it is. The point is to be honest about my limitations and learn what actually works for me now, not what life used to look like before.

In the beginning, the tasks were small and practical, and were mostly about design and communication. But the bigger value was showing up and getting back into rhythm. Outside of the internship, I also got back to doing paid work again through a small design project. It's not a big one. But it mattered because it reminded me that I can still create value and get paid for it while rebuilding myself.

Going into the new year, I want to keep moving forward with the same mindset of making steady progress, setting realistic expectations, admitting limitations, and building toward stability without pretending that my health isn't part of the equation. It ain't gonna be easy, but it's worth trying.

Personal Projects

I was doing different personal projects in 2025. One of my biggest wins was finishing and publishing my long essay on the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). It's something I first thought about writing back in 2022, and for a long time, I wasn't sure I would actually complete it. Getting it done felt like that I can finish long things when I commit time to them.

The other big project was jamaah(dot)tools, a website database that makes it easier for Muslims to find meaningful, faith-centered tools and websites. It was a passion project that took me several months to build. It started as simple sketches in my notebook, then turned into wireframes and visual design in Figma, and eventually into development.

I used to code years ago, so this project brought me back into that world. I refreshed old skills, but also learned new things like Astro, Tailwind CSS, and Alpine.js. I did hit a lot of walls during the process, took some breaks, and came back a few times over the months. I used Baserow to store the database and Netlify (before Vercel) to publish it live on a domain. My plan moving forward is to get more people to see it, add more tools, and improve it over time instead of treating it like a one-off build.

I also wrote two other essays that year. One was about a deep dive into my Tana workspace and what's inside it. I use Tana for everything—from knowledge management, projects, to content creation, habit tracking, and more. The other essay was a personal memoir about how running has shaped me over the years.

Relationships

Relationships in 2025 were shaped mostly by family. I became a father for the second time in Midsummer, and that alone changed the rhythm for the rest of the year. More of my time and energy went into home and everyday responsibilities.

I also spent more time around family during Ramadan and Eid, and it goes to show that relationships are built in the small moments. When you're exhausted, when kids are running around, and even when the day doesn't go exactly how you imagined it. It sure is chaotic in the moment, but in hindsight, it'll be those kinds of moments that will be the most memorable.

This year also made me more aware of how much planning matters. I like to say that I'm a detailed planner, but I'm not. So, going into the new year, I want to be better at planning quality time with loved ones and friends.

Faith & Spirituality

My Islamic spiritual practices and aspirations in 2025 came in waves. When I was consistent, I felt it in everything I did. My mood was better, my days felt clearer, and I had more inner calm and patience. When I wasn't consistent, it affected how spiritually grounded I felt overall.

Ramadan in 2025 was a strong anchor for me. I built a simple system to stay on track with the core practices and things I want to accomplish during the month and beyond. It helped having a structure, especially with other responsibilities.

Outside of Ramadan, my main focus was figuring out what makes consistency realistic for me. I often feel I'm not doing enough, and that I also expect a lot from myself. But I also have to be honest with myself. I don't have the same energy and time I used to have when I was younger. So I comfort myself with the saying of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), "...the most beloved deed to Allah is the most regular and constant even if it were little."

Going into the new year, I'm intending to keep it simple, especially with Ramadan 2026 around the corner as I'm writing this essay. I want to build consistency through one small action I can actually maintain beyond the blessed month.

My approach for 2026

Moving into 2026, I've decided to stick with the same Word of the Year: Focus. As we were nearing the end of 2025, I kept thinking about what my new word should be to hone in on my intentions. But the more I sat with it, the more it made sense to carry the same one into the new year.

The reason is that I wasn't as focused as I wanted to be throughout 2025. Though I did fine, I want to give it another shot. There's a quote from Henry David Thoreau that I made into my phone screensaver alongside the word focus:

What are we busy about? is my favorite part of the quote. It's easy to look like you're doing something and project an image of being "busy". For me, choosing to be focused means contributing meaningfully and satisfactorily to the areas of my life I care about, such as spirituality, family, health, and work.

What I like about choosing a WotY is how it works on the mind. Initially, I thought doing it would be a waste of time. But when you consciously prime your mind to think in a certain way, you'll notice that subconsciously, you're moving in that direction.

But that doesn't mean that it'll always go as planned. Some seasons will be slower, and that's not automatically a problem as long as I'm aware of it, and the biggest reason for why I do monthly reflections.

One thing I'm still not great at is measuring my goals properly. It's a weakness I have that I admit. Though I'm telling myself that I should do it, everything in me is working against it. And maybe that's a sign for me that I should do it differently. That's something I'll have to see in the future.

And beyond all of that, there's something I'm craving from my soul: doing more creative work, in particular for me, designing and writing. I'm doing too little of it. I just don't want to chase one goal after another, and constantly trying to optimize everything. I want to make space for the kind of work that fuels me and keeps me sane.