Year of reading

2025 was the Year of Discomfort for me. I found myself getting too comfortable with various facets of life. I wasn’t pursuing or sticking with things that made me uncomfortable. I think, and have been told, this comes with age. It’s the same sort of discomfort you feel when you try to take a cold shower on the advice of The Whole Internet. It seems unnecessary. But being uncomfortable is actually good for you. When you venture deeper into the fractals of life, you’re going to feel some discomfort. It’s important to stray from the center.

Looking back at the post I made exactly a year ago, I’m proud of the things I stuck with. It wasn’t everything that’s on the list, but a good amount. I even added a few that felt outside my personality. Before I talk about the theme for 2026, I want to share how 2025 went.

Split Keyboards

I began the year by learning how to use a split keyboard. Mostly for ergonomics, but also because of the cool factor. This was one I intentionally didn’t stick with. I managed to get pretty quick at typing with a split keyboard, but I realized that the context switching between my laptop keyboard and my split keyboard slowed me down more than I’d like, so I stopped.

Vim

I also learned Vim — one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Learning Vim is incredibly uncomfortable. But after two to three months of consistency, I couldn’t imagine navigating around text on a computer in any other way. It’s a bit unsettling to think that every time I wanted to move my cursor around my code, I used to pick up my right hand and either move it down to the arrow keys or worse, reach for my mouse. If you’re a programmer, please go learn Vim.

Typing Accuracy

Continuing with the keyboard theme, I dramatically increased my typing speed and accuracy, yet another thing that was quite uncomfortable. I wasn’t a slow typer, but I wasn’t that fast either. Since the beginning of 2025, I’ve done several typing tests every week. Mostly, the focus has been accuracy, but I will switch gears and focus on speed every once in a while.

I can consistently type entire paragraphs at around 110 words per minute with 100% accuracy. A year ago, I couldn’t even reach 100 words per minute, let alone exceed it with 100% accuracy. This progress took around 7,000 typing tests to achieve.

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The above three were part of a sub-theme I was pursuing where I wanted to master my tools. I spend most of my day on a computer (perhaps you can relate). The keyboard that sits between my monitor and me is my primary tool. It’s my samurai sword. My chef’s knife. So, it made sense to put in a significant amount of time to master it.

Kickboxing

I’ll start by saying that I failed at sticking with Jiu Jitsu. I took four classes and a bump to the back of the head was enough for me to call it quits. Maybe I’ll pick it back up one day, but I’m terrified of concussions so that will need to wait.

Now, as for kickboxing, I think I’m in love. I took my first class in the first week of January and haven’t stopped since. Working your way up the belt ladder is an endless journey, but the path is a joyful one. I’m mostly focused on improving my skills and cardio. The belt will come to me when it’s ready.

Gym

This was the most consistent year I’ve had in the gym. Despite all the travel and a few bouts with a cold or the flu, I went at least twice a week, every week. I did a proper cut for once — where I went from 195lb to 165lb and achieved the best shape of my life. I’ve hit my protein intake goal pretty much every day of the year.

This, I should note, is uncomfortable. I often didn’t want to do it, but that was the whole point of the theme for this year. I didn’t want to, but I did it anyway.

Alcohol

On the last day of February, I had a really fun night out with friends. What followed was 3 really not-fun days. Working on a startup is hard enough, but it’s nearly impossible when you can’t even think because of a hangover. I decided to stop for two weeks. Those two weeks turned into a month. Then I talked to my friend who was doing a sobriety challenge for the whole year and decided to join him.

Ten months later, and I haven’t been tempted to drink even once. At the one year mark, I will reintroduce alcohol in my life, but it will likely be one or two drinks a month.

That was all 2025. For 2026, the theme will be Year of Reading. I’m surprised that I haven’t had this one as a theme before, so I’m excited to dedicate a whole year to reading anything and everything I can. Books, New Yorker articles, poems, essays — all of it.

If you’re interested in seeing what I’m reading, follow/befriend me on Goodreads!

2026 - Year of reading

2025 - Year of discomfort

2024 - Year of dedicated focus

2023 - Year of leap of faith

2022 - Year of travel