end of the puzzle

As the year slowly comes to an end, naturally we think of the months that have passed and the memories and experiences created along the way. I'm happy to see the end of 2025 but I'm also very appreciative of the things that have happened. Here's my very honest breakdown of 2025.

Mental Health:

As my previous posts show, there was a serious decline in my mental health. I’d say I was at my worst ten years ago and the first half of this year reached that kind of peak - yes, I say peak and not an all time low. Now that I look back at it, I view it with positivity. Therapy taught me how to control a lot of things that I’ve always struggled with. 

I've always been curious about therapy but never had the balls to go ahead with it. I grew up with that old school mentality that it is failure and admittance of defeat if you have therapy and it’s better to just get on with it. This year I reached a point where I had no control and I wasn't in a position where I could just go with the flow and see what happens. 

In the past, I had no bills, no job, and was young and single. Now, I have bills, a job and a husband and not alone in this journey anymore. I had to take control and that's why I turned to therapy. Thankfully it gave me the skill set to be able to deal with the smaller and larger stresses in life, but most importantly to avoid having another panic attack for the second time in ten years. So far so good and I want to continue that into the new year!

"We've even joked that we hit a record this year with the amount of times we've met up"

Family/Friends:

My husband and I recently discussed our similar childhoods when it didn't matter if it was the weekday our parents would still take us to visit family and friends, even if we had school the next day, and weekends were always spent with the whole family together. No one does that anymore, no one seems to have time and we're all too tired to do anything. When I look back at this year, I’ve definitely made a change with family/friend visits and finally getting my driving license has given me the chance to go visit them, whereas in the past I was always limited. 

A good friend of mine and I have made a conscious effort together to meet up more often - it doesn't help that we live on the opposite sides of London and we were fed up with this getting in the way. We've even joked that we hit a record this year with the amount of times we've met up. Okay, fair enough, I’ve not seen family and friends as much as I would’ve liked to but I know it’s a big difference compared to other times.

Home:

I mentioned in a previous post that my house has been one of my biggest stresses and that it's not a safe haven when it should be. I can finally say we’ve accomplished some of the jobs on my list and although it's not perfect and there's still a long way to go, it’s a step in the right direction. It may have taken us as long as reaching the end of the year to tick things off but I've now started to come home and actually feel a bit of peace. 

"2025 has truly been a huge puzzle, the type where you can’t even find the first piece to start off"

Job:

I’m still not happy where I am but I’m able to accept things now. I’ve got better at keeping work at work when I walk out the building instead of bringing those stresses home. Most importantly, if it’s too hard for me to leave it at work I vocalise it to my husband so he knows where I’m at mentally when I get home. Vocalising my feelings has been one of the biggest hurdles to get over as it’s not something I’m used to doing on a personal level, but funnily enough at work I can be very vocal about things and I realised that was the doorway to allowing stresses in.

My job isn’t anything amazing, it literally just brings in the money. I’m not going to sit here and make my life seem like it’s magical, it’s a menial job with no progression and I realised stressing over it should never happen, especially if it means bringing those stresses home.

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Initially I had no excitement for Christmas. I didn’t want to put any decorations up, nothing! With just over 3 weeks left of the year, I can finally say my mood is picking up. There are some scary things in the pipeline for the beginning of 2026 but they’re good nerves! My mum arrives back from Cyprus in the next couple days and the timing is apt. I feel ready to get the decorations out and start decorating the house when she’s home. 

2025 has truly been a huge puzzle, the type where you can’t even find the first piece to start off but the arrival of Christmas feels like I’m somehow now connecting the last piece and I’m hoping the positivity stays as we transition into the New Year as this is the best I’ve felt during the festive season for a while.

Rhéa x