On the Last Day of 2025: What Must I Let Go of, and What Must I Embrace?

Snow falls silently outside as the last night of 2025 grows deeper. On the desk, only a diary and a dwindling candle keep Jian company. On this night, which feels unusually long, are there unresolved stories from your own past weighing on your heart?

Regret lingers on her fingertips as they brush across the page. 'If only I had done better... if only I hadn't said that.' The harsh verdicts you've passed on yourself can feel crushingly heavy. We often act as a harsher judge to ourselves than to anyone else.

Dwelling on past mistakes is like locking yourself inside a closed box. It’s time to let go of the moments that are already over. They were never meant to be shackles holding you back, but rather the soil from which you've grown.

Just then, a fresh winter wind slips through a crack in the window, making the candle flame dance. It's like a trumpet call, awakening you to rise. The very air in the quiet room shifts. Can you hear a signal for change stirring within you, too?

Jian exhales deeply and rises from her chair. As she straightens her body, the shadows of the last year fall from her shoulders to the floor. This is more than a simple stretch. It is a rite of resurrection—a ceremony of forgiving your past self to embrace the person you are becoming.

She closes the diary with a gentle snap. 'You've done enough. Now, farewell.' She blows out the candle flame. Darkness falls, but it isn't an ending. It is the quiet preparation for a new light.

She opens the window. The cold morning air and the first light of 2026 greet her face. The past has been judged; you have been set free. Now, with a lighter heart, embrace this new beginning, just like the rising sun.