25 lessons I learnt in 2025!

We reflect on a year that stretched us and taught us to trade balance for focus, fear for a compass, and perfection for progress. 

25 lessons unfold through stories on boundaries, time, presence, and the quiet power of small daily wins.

• vulnerability as a doorway to connection
• self-care and saying no as a lifeline
• obsession over balance to build momentum
• acceptance that not everyone will get you
• pivoting when plans fail and making meaning
• protecting time like currency
• listening to body signals with respect
• compounding small daily habits
• rejecting comparison and choosing silence
• gratitude to reframe the ordinary
• fear pointing toward growth
• influence yourself, not others
• money buying time but not contentment
• giving creativity space to arrive
• curating energizing relationships
• learning through failure and forgiving self
• leading with curiosity and questions
• owning your story with authenticity
• living boundaries as love in action
• everyday kindness with ripple effects
• celebrating progress, not just outcomes
• practicing presence as the ultimate wealth

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage For Reflection
• 1:48 Vulnerability And Self-Care
• 5:17 Obsession, Belonging, And Pivoting
• 9:00 Time, Body Wisdom, And Habits
• 12:20 Comparison, Silence, And Gratitude
• 15:15 Fear As Compass And What Money Buys
• 18:00 Creativity, Energy, And Failure
• 21:00 Self-Forgiveness And Curiosity
• 23:10 Stories, Boundaries, And Kindness
• 25:00 Progress, Presence, And Year Wrap

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

If you're done overthinking and ready to step into your power, you are exactly where you need to be. Welcome back to the Salvel Podcast with Meetupali. And who am I? I'm your host. I run this podcast with a lot of heart. And this is my safe space to talk, feel, and just be who I truly am and do what I truly love, which is speak. In other words, I am a storyteller, a dreamer, a woman who's uh lived through the kind of storms that change you forever. Motherhood, healing, reinvention, and just everything in between. And this podcast isn't about perfection, it's about real talk, raw growth, and remembering who the hell you are underneath it all. So buckle up because we are diving deep. We are getting honest. We are not holding back here. And what? It's almost the end of the year. It's the end of October. Winter's here. I see Christmas decor and Christmas lights everywhere. Wow, but boy, that has been such an year. It like to me, it felt so long and yet also feels like it passed energy fee. I don't know. It's a contradiction. 2025 has been an intense, uh beautiful, challenging, and full of surprises and some shocks on the way. And as the year comes to an end, I wanted to just sit down and reflect and take a moment to share 25 lessons that I learned this year. And these are the truths that hit me hard. Um, but also some of them comforted me and helped me heal and grow and really unlock and level up in life in essentially in a variety of ways at different points in time. So, yeah, pour yourself a hot cup of tea, coffee, just find a cozy spot and let's reflect together. Starting with number one on my list, which is vulnerability. Now, vulnerability is strength. We've all read it, we've all heard of it until you actually feel it or you experience it, right? I realized this year that showing fear, doubt, or sadness doesn't make me weak. It just makes me human. These are the labels that we put on different feelings and emotions, and they are not necessarily good or bad. When I admitted my struggles to friends, I found connection instead of judgment. So vulnerability creates trust and it opens doors to authentic conversations that perfection or like your pursuit of being a confident, perfect person never could. So please, as you listen to this, think about it and let your guard down. I know, I know it gets scary, and you're very afraid of the judgment and comments and some raised eyebrows that come your way, but believe me, it's also freeing. Number two on the list is you cannot pour from an empty cup. I spent months saying yes to everything and everyone and thinking, like in my mind, that it was love and loyalty, but it really drained me. It exhausted me to a point where I became bitter, resentful, and just not happy. And then I learned that saying no isn't selfish. I have been always a person who's been saying more no's than yeses, and it's not always the good thing, but but I feel like if I'm saying yes to a lot of things and those things don't align with what I want to do or what I don't want to do, I just feel like I'm saying a no to myself. And every time I'm saying a yes to anything, I just want to check in with me before to see if if it's a resounding yes, and if not, then it's a no. Learning that saying no isn't selfish, it's necessary to survive and really thrive. And self-care isn't a luxury, it's a lifeline, it's a necessity in my opinion. So please ask yourself if you don't fill your own cup first, how are you going to truly serve others? Like if your mental health has suffered, would you be even enjoying with your family? I have had some hard days where I would sit with my family and like not even be present in the moment with them planning or anticipating what's gonna come, how do I deal with this and that and prepare better until one day something within me shifted and I decided, no, this is not how am I not this is not how I'm going to be living and spending the rest of my life, just either in the past or in the future. And I decided to be more present with my son, with my uh partner, with my family, just be in the moment with them and not plan the next thing and what would happen if this happens, and you know, all the what-ifs and all the imaginary scenarios that your mind's your that your mind creates. So living in the moment and really just focusing, working on my healing and inner work, just improving my mental health has really, really helped me. If your mental health has gone down the drain, of course you're not going to be very happy with your family and you won't enjoy a lot. And there were times where you would lash out on them for for for things that they have not done or for things that or for things which are insignificant. Pouring is like literally inverting a cup and thinking there will be water when there isn't any. So you got to understand that you have to serve yourself first in order to pour and serve others. Number three is obsessions beat balance. Now, the thing is, I used to chase balance, career, family, hobbies, fitness, social life all at once, and all of this left me stretched thin. And this year I just embraced obsession for one single thing that I was very passionate about, and I just gave into it. Like, even though the results are very massive or significant, but I feel like I've come a long, long way in that one area of my life because focus, when accelerated focus comes in play, it creates momentum. So obsession isn't about ignoring all the other aspects of your life, but it's just making one thing as your number one priority and going at it every single day, no matter the will or the discipline isn't coming through on hard days, but you still choose that. So it essentially is committing deeply to what really truly matters to you, what is important to you, and you go for it every single day. Yeah. And number four on this list is not everybody will get you. Now I think this is the universal fact. I realize that I don't need anyone's approval and I don't need to be validated. A doctor doesn't really need to validate my feelings for them to be true or for him or her to understand the pain, right? Likewise, some people just won't understand your dreams, your quirks, your choices, and that's okay. Please focus on those who get you, who cheer for you, who uplift you, who bring up the best in you, and who challenge you in the right way. And energy is very precious. We are in 2025. Come on, we we cannot waste our energy on people who just don't get it. Please spend your energy wisely. Number five on this list is plans fail, and pivoting is part. How many times have you experienced the change of plans? And with the change of plans comes some sort of a frustration or anxiety or nervousness of I plan my life this way and somehow it didn't work. So, for example, you are to go from point A to point B and you face an obstacle, would you give up going to point B or would you still find a middle ground and somehow take it and then work your way up to point B? So yeah, I had big plans this year that didn't go as I would have expected them to, that didn't unfold as expected. I cried, rage, and then pivoted. So the magic wasn't in sticking rigidly to a plan. As long as you're intentional about your approach, what you approach becomes far less important than how you approach it. So it was learning in disguise. It was about learning to adapt, improvise along the way, not worry too much or lose your ground because things didn't go as you expected them to. And another important one is making new opportunities out of setback. Whatever your whatever you think has been like a defeat, a point of failure, all of those things do have opportunities and possibilities which can grow and come out of them if you only think about it hard enough. And life isn't a straight line, it's a dance. Right? So try and look at all the areas of your life where you really want to work and you feel like you've been heavily disadvantaged in those areas for any reasons. Improvise and adapt, make those opportunities and lessons out of setback. Now, number six on the list is that time is the ultimate currency. I started noticing when what I was spending my hours on scrolling, work, family, sleep, self-improvement. I mean majorly. Every minute is precious, and I began protecting my time, like my money, like investing it in projects and passion and people who truly really mattered. So it is so important to spend our time wisely and give in and do things that we love and enjoy doing and is meaningful and creative to us. And there is no universal rule to this simply because different people enjoy and love doing different things. What may be important to me may not be important or even, you know, worthy of consideration for you. So find your own and be precious with your time. Number seven on this list is your body knows. Yeah, it knows. It is smart and intelligent enough and it talks to you. So all the fatigue, tension, cravings, they're all messengers really. I learned to pause and listen rather than push through blindly. Like my body is trying to communicate with me, I must listen to it. And the body often knows what your mind hasn't really figured out yet. Ignoring it comes with consequences. So please be smart with those um uh decisions and realization. And listening intuitively opening opens doors to energy, health, and intuition. I'm not asking you to have health anxiety, maybe like me, and just analyze every small aspect of every desire or symptom that your body is giving you. Don't do that, it's toxic. And maybe we need another podcast episode on it. But what I'm saying is that please be attentive and careful to what your body is telling you and do not ignore it. Number eight is small, consistent winds matter. This year tried to chase big leaves, but the small winds quietly accumulated, often at the point of me completely ignoring them unintentionally, but they matter. Drinking water daily, journaling for five minutes, having green tea, uh taking your multivitamins and supplements or your protein powder, or just making sure that you have fruits and veggies every single day. Maybe reading a page every day before bed, all of these more little tiny actions compound. And the fact of the matter is that big results often appear as tiny daily habits tagged over time one on top of the other. If you feel that this year you haven't made a radical shift, like you've completely overhauled your life, even if you don't feel like you have had any significant victory, all of these small, tiny little actions and efforts you took are a victory in themselves, and it's time that you celebrate them. Number nine is compassion is a big trap. Please do not fall into it. I know it's tough, especially because we live in a digital world full of reels and stories and all the different kinds of social media accounts and influencers. Scrolling through perfect social media lives left me really anxious, about it, inadequate, and frustrated. I realized that everyone is fighting battles that I can't see. Like, do you even know about my battles? No, you don't. I only choose to put what I want to put out in the world to you, to someone who's listening to it. But you do not know the entirety of what I have gone through and what I'm currently into. So nobody knows about battles really. It's about the good stuff that we want to put it out here. So compassion without you even realizing steals your joy and focus. Instead, start measuring your growth against your own self and not someone else's highlight reads. Please stop comparing your 20s to someone else's. Stop comparing yourself to the influencer, to your neighbor, or to your colleague who performed well at work, or to your friend who was able to pursue dream career. All of that comes with a cost, and underneath everything is some struggle, some failure, some rejections, some deep dark moments that we all experience as humans. So compassion is such a waste of time, and so is envy as an emotion. It's very okay to feel influenced in a way which inspires you, motivate you to do the best. Maybe you think someone else doing something, you say to yourself, okay, if if she or he can do it, maybe I can do it too. Maybe I could target it, maybe I can run a 5k or a 10k this year or early next year. But just being envy of them or being jealous is such a wasteful thing to do. And it only drains you your energy and makes you negative. Nothing good comes out of it at all. Number 10 is silence is underrated. I carved out time for silence, walks, journaling, just sitting, not talking, not being on social media. It revealed thoughts and emotions about myself that I didn't know existed. In a world full of noise, silence is a superpower. Please try it. And it will bring so much clarity, so much peace to you that you will be amazed if only you give yourself maybe five to ten minutes of silence every single day. Yeah, try it. Let your mind breathe without distractions for a few minutes every day. It's therapeutic. Then we come and lean into the power of gratitude. Gratitude shifts perspective. And I started daily gratitude practice. Like I have been a person who's always felt very grateful about all big and little things in her life. And I never failed to notice beauty in small things, but I still made it a resolve to be more grateful. So I think to myself, every day, three things that I am grateful for. So some days it's easy, very easy, like my son, like his beautiful face, like the perfect shape of my morning tea. And some days it feels like force, yet over time, when you keep doing it over and over and over, you start to see that the stress fades away, or your patience is growing, and life just feeling more richer, more meaningful, and fulfilling to you. So gratitude is the lens that transforms the mundane into the meaningful. It just shifts every single thing. Please try and do that. Fear. Haha, a word we detest at all costs, at least I do. Fear isn't the enemy, it's a compass. Every time I felt fear this year, it pointed me to growth. It pointed me to something magical. Even though in that moment it felt like my life is falling apart, but it really, really helped. Fearful decisions often led to my own biggest breakthroughs, the ones that I was most fearful for. Avoiding fear feels safe but snack stagnant. And at what cost, right? Lean into it. Ask yourself, what am I afraid of? And what would happen if I did it anyway? As they say, the most amazing things in life are on the other side of your fear. So you don't need to be afraid of feeling the fear. What you need to be afraid of is the inaction or what you won't do when you feel fearful, or how you react, your anxiety, and how you panic is what needs to be worked on. And fear isn't your enemy, it's a compass that's meant to guide you and anchor you towards your own growth. Number 13 is that you cannot change everyone. Really, as I talked through this, you cannot change anyone but yourself. I wasted energy trying to convince others to see things my way. It only really led to frustration. And then I learned to focus on my own growth and influence rather than forcing change trying to control others in any way. So people change when they're ready, not when you push them. So stop doing that. But it's a great deal of disservice when you try and change your friends, family. Money isn't happiness. The sayer reminded me that money gives you freedom but not contentment. Happiness really comes from your from your path when you're aligned with that purpose, connection, and self-alignment. I still budget and plan, but I chase experiences, growth, and joy first. So if something is gonna give me joy, I might as well purchase it. And I've used money to work and give me the advantage that I always want in life. If you can hire someone to do something that you don't want to do, a waste of time, great, good for you. Go do it. And I did it too. So please outsource something that you think you possibly can. And in the process, buy yourself more time. Buy yourself more peace, time that you want to meaningfully spend with your family. Maybe you have an extra hour in the day that you can spend with your children, with your partner, or for taking a class that you've been eyeing to do since very, very long, but you simply did not have time, or for hitting the gym, or for rebonding, reconnecting with friends, building up that social connection. So use money to your advantage. Money is power and it will give you a lot of freedom. Creativity needs space. I felt like every time I forced myself to think about a creative idea or a pursuit or a blog post or just anything, even about this episode, um I feel like I shut it down infinitely. Creativity isn't scheduled, it's invited. So great ideas come to me when I'm walking, or like just when I'm sitting and daydreaming, or just long showers. They became my think tank this year. I give myself, my mind, and my body, much needed rest and disconnection that they need. And the best ideas come to me when I give myself some empty space. Please try that. Now, the next on this list is about energy, and I'm such an energy person. I do know and realize that your circle shapes your energy. People who drain your energy and leave you feeling exhausted and second guessing and doubting yourself and your worth. Please, for the love of God, look you don't need them. You don't need that kind of negativity and drama in your life. Please consciously surround yourself with people who are supportive, inspiring, and then watch your energy shift. So I only associate with people who are the kind of people who will uplift me, who are the kind of friends and friends and family members who support me because energy is contagious, and I did that on purpose. I feel like this has been always me. Like it's not something pertinent just to this year, but like I I have learned to let go of toxic people simply because they were costing me a lot of my peace and mental energy, and I don't want to give anybody that po me. So yeah, you're better off them. Failures are your messy teachers. I failed in uh relationships, personal goals, sometimes health. And it hurt. It hurt the living hell out of me. But I learned more and more and more from failure than from any amount of success. Failures hit you, open you up in cracks, and that's when the light enters you. So mistakes showed me my blind spots, revealed resilience, my quiet strength and courage, and just taught me a lot of humility and love all over again. So embrace them. It's the raw material for growth. Failures are so much more important. I promise you, when you learn to look at failures this way, you won't try and run away from them. They will become your friend who will guide you and crack you open in ways where you allow light to enter. Self-forgiveness is essential. Holding on to guilt and regret only held me back. I learned to forgive myself for mistakes, procrastination, not knowing any better, missteps. Self-forgiveness doesn't erase the lesson, it frees you, liberates you, empowers you to move forward and not become bitter, only and isolated in the process. Number 19 on this list is that curiosity opens doors. Look at kids. I look at my lovely little wonderful one-year-old, and every time I every time I bring him a new joy or like there's a new light that we put up in the living room, or just anything random, new, maybe even a new type of wear. The way he sees, the way he looks at everything, just brings so much joy to me because of sheer curiosity ha he has. And I feel like it's time that we rekindle our own curiosity. Because as life happens, at least it happened for me. As I grew older or became an adult, I just let go of my curiosity. And now instead of judging or assuming, I lean into asking questions and exploring ideas and learning from perspective and not caring about someone who will think that I'm dumb because I asked such a stupid or night question. It's okay. I remember not asking many questions in a meeting at work because okay, what will people think of me? But now I'm like, if I really don't know anything, I'm very much okay asking. Curiosity builds bridges, creates opportunities, and just made me feel alive. And I've learned to ask more and assume less. Then on this list is the power of stories. Life is a story, and stories are meant to be told. And your story is uniquely you. It's about you, and it matters, and you're worthy of sharing it. I stopped trying to fit my journey into someone else's mold this year. Compassion faded and authenticity emerged. Your struggles, wins, quarks, they're alone yours. Your own narrative. It has the superpower. Please use it wisely. Letting go perfection. Oh my god, this is a big one. Perfection. And I don't feel like I've fully overcome it. And do you really ever fully overcome it? But perfection paralyzed me for months. I realized done is better than perfect. And taking imperfect action open doors that waiting for perfect never will. Progress beats perfection every single time. Boundaries is equal to love. Sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out. I learned that saying no, setting limits and protecting my energy is not cruel. It's loving. It's love for myself and ultimately for others too. And boundaries aren't walls, they are windows. They are the framework for healthy connection. So please do not shy away from setting strong boundaries without guilt. And the wonderful thing about boundaries is that you don't really say about boundaries, you actually live them in action every single time. It's a value that you live and it shows in your everyday actions, behaviors, and interactions. So do not worry or do not be afraid of setting strong boundaries just because you think it might upset few people. Please go ahead and set the boundaries and show yourself some love. Kindness matters, especially to strangers. This year I made conscious efforts to be kind. Doing that reminded me that empathy is the glue that holds humanity together. Small gestures, maybe a smile, a note, holding the door for the stranger had triple effects I couldn't see. So please be kind. The world needs more of it. Celebrate progress, not just results. Instead of waiting for that big win, I started noticing tiny victories. Finishing up a project, getting all the items off my tutor like list checked off, getting everything on my tutor list checked off. A good conversation showing up when I didn't want to. Calling in for help. All of these are small wins, and these are the fuels that keep you going. So learn to celebrate not only the big wins, but the small little tiny victories that you often overlook. Then the last on this list is presence is everything. Presence is energy, presence is your part. The past is done, the future isn't here yet. And all your imaginations and scenarios are just in your mind, they are not in your reality. Life happens in this moment, right now, and that's all we have, really. Think about it. Tomorrow isn't promised to any one of us. This breath, this heartbeat. I learned to do pause, notice, and really be here right now. Presence turns ordinary moments into extraordinary memories. So yeah, learn to be present. And every time you are, or your mind is forcing you to go either in the past or in the future, you know who has the bar? You bring your brain, your mind back in now. Because this is the only moment you have. Great. Those were 25 lessons that I learned in 2025. In fact, 25 lessons amongst many others I learned in 2025. Some were joyful, some really painful, and all in all transformative. Now I invite you to share with me what lessons did you learn this year. Write them down, reflect, and please carry the wisdom forward. Thanks for sitting with me today. That makes us better humans in 2026. And let's be grateful for everything that we have. I hope that you have a restful, joyful end to this year. And I hope all your dreams come true. Thank you for staying with me on today's episode of the Self Help Podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you did, please don't forget to follow, leave a review for me, share it, and until next time, bye bye.