A reflection on 2025

Last Wednesday (17th of December 2025),

we gathered with our research group for a small pre Christmas celebration.

We shared a meal, laughed, caught up, and most importantly, slowed down together.

We presented a beautiful overview of our highlights of 2025.

I will link to her slide deck here, because it captures so much of what we achieved as a group.

Listening to it, I was struck by how rarely we take the time to truly look back.

The academic rat race moves fast.

Deadlines follow deadlines,

and before we know it,

another year has passed without us properly acknowledging what we have built.

That day reminded me how important it is to pause.

Not to evaluate or optimise,

but simply to notice and to feel proud.

After the highlights, we did a short reflection exercise.

I laid out several Dixit cards on the table and invited everyone to choose one that resonated with what 2025 had meant to them personally.

Some people love these kinds of exercises, others feel less comfortable with them.

Still, what emerged were thoughtful,

honest conversations that went beyond projects and metrics.

This card was mine.

When I look at it now, it captures my year remarkably well.

A winding staircase, wrapped around a pillar, rising upward.

You cannot see where it ends. You only see the next steps.

For me, 2025 was the year I realised that it is okay to explore my own path quietly.

Step by step.

Without announcing it.

Without knowing exactly where it leads.

It was a year in which I moved closer to my own sense of purpose.

Using my talents in a way that feels aligned with who I am and what I value.

I slowly let go of the idea that I have to constantly conform to external expectations.

More publications.

More funding.

More output.

I am learning that I am also allowed to ask myself what I want my life to look like,

even if the answers are not always straightforward or easy to explain.

That shift shows up in small, almost invisible ways.

Being gentler with myself.

Listening more deeply.

Being more grounded and present in conversations.

Allowing more space for connection.

It also shows up in choices that may seem unnecessary or even irrational at first glance.

One of those choices was starting my podcast, The World of Liesbet.

At the beginning of the year, I had no clear plan.

I did not know where it would go.

I was very aware that the world was not waiting for it.

Still, something in me said yes.

I enjoy making it.

And slowly,

through the conversations it creates,

new paths are opening.

New ideas.

New connections.

New directions that feel right,

even if I cannot yet see the full picture.

Like the staircase on the card, this path is not linear.

You do not start with a clear view of the top.

You simply take the next step, trusting that the movement itself matters.

Looking back,

I am grateful for a year that taught me that progress does not always have to be loud or fast to be real.

I am curious.

If you were to choose an image that captures your 2025, what would it be?