Thoughts and reflecting on 2025

reflecting on 2025

It is that time of year when people have already or are still reflecting about what went well, what did not and was 2025 a "good year" or not.

If I was thinking in quite a binary way, then I would say 2025 was awful as I had to commence court proceedings to get 50/50 shared custody of my daughter. Since July, I have been buried in documents, meetings, a court hearing with another on the way in January. It has been hugely stressful, very expensive with no end in sight and very upsetting.

In times of crisis, there are opportunities and one skill I may have developed over the last 2.5 years, is the ability to recognise the chance to grow. In Japanese, the word crisis has meanings of danger and opportunity.

So thinking about this in a holistic way, 2025 has had some amazing moments. In psychology, the failure to integrate both positive and negative qualities into a cohesive whole, and instead seeing things only in extremes (all good or all bad), is called splitting or dichotomous thinking (also known as black-and-white thinking). This is considered a cognitive distortion or a defense mechanism and is generally seen as an unhelpful or a rigid way of thinking.

So, rather than share and spill my entire personal review, I have picked out a nice part that I would encourage anybody reading to think on, as it is likely to remind you of the lot of good stuff what was in a challenging/demanding/exhausting year. It is unlikely it was all bad....

For the full and excellent review, go to the Modern Wisdom podcast, where I stole the questions below.

Best Meal: the pizza we had in Pompeii after the Bocelli concert - it was 1am and we had this delicious meal with a few bottles of wine. It was truly memorable after one of the best experiences of my life so far.

Coolest New Experience: playing Marco Simone golf course

Favourite Weekend: The Ryder Cup weekend

Favourite New City: Napoli - what a place. It is not trying to be all shiny and its chaotic but stunning. I loved the energy it has

Favourite New Emotion: Self-compassion, its been 51 years of trying to get there!

Favourite New Walk: I like the walking along the canals of Aylesbury as it is a walk I can do daily

Favourite Tour: Grotte di Stiffe in Abruzzo (underground river, waterfalls)

Favourite Day: 28th June. The entire day, with Bocelli in the evening was one of the best days of my life

Most Intense Week: the lead-up to first court appearance on 14th October to get equal custody of Raffi. No doubt these feeling resurface at the end of January again but am feeling strong enough to cope

Favourite Artist of 2025: Freya Ridings and she was epic at Somerset House in the summer

Favourite Song: Nessun Dorma - the encore at Bocelli and brought me back to the memories of the 1990 World Cup.

Favourite Quote: "Adversity introduces a man to himself." - Albert Einstein

What does 2026 hold? A lot of things that I do not know but I am going to use my agency to create more sprinklings of joy. I will control the parts I can, submit to those I cannot and enjoy the ride as best I can. Let's see where that takes things.

Create the best 2026 you can.