Pause
As we close the year, I reflect on what it taught me. 2025 taught me to read actions over intentions, patterns over apologies, presence over performance. It reminded me that we can love deeply but still choose distance. That we can forgive without reopening the door. That protecting our peace is not selfish, it is survival. It also taught me that not everything that collapses is a loss. Some things fall apart because they were never meant to hold the weight of our becoming. I learnt that delays can be divine, redirections can be blessings, and endings can be quiet forms of liberation.
The year was a strong reminder that care is not only about how we hold others, it is also about how gently, how honestly, we hold ourselves. I learnt that self-care is not luxurious; it is deeply political for women. It is the act of reclaiming time, energy and identity. Care means resting without guilt, asking for help without apology, and tending to our dreams with the same devotion we offer to everyone else.
I learnt that people reveal themselves in layers, not declarations. The ones who show up quietly are more dependable than those who make loud promises. Kindness is a decision, not a personality trait. And everyone – no matter how accomplished, confident or admired – carries their own unseen bruises and barriers.
And as the country continues to struggle amidst the uncertainties of political and economic stalemate, I learnt that every difficult situation holds a lesson wrapped in discomfort teaching us about clarity, patience and discernment. This is especially true of leadership which must remember that uncertainty is not the enemy; our fear of it is. And only when we stop resisting change, life rearranges itself toward possibilities.
This has been a year of lessons, thresholds, letting go and assimilating. I pray that we move into the next year not lighter but clearer; not unscarred but unbroken; not defined by struggle but illuminated by how we continue to rise.
