It’s been awhile since I last blogged, so it feels only appropriate that I use this as an opportunity to try and wrap up all of my happenings in this past year.
2025 simultaneously felt like the slowest and fastest year of my life. I think back to the beginning of the year when I was dealing with stress from wedding planning, took a trip to somewhere cold - Colorado, and a trip somewhere warm - Arizona. The winter months and lack of sunlight made the work days feel longer. The start of the year also featured the creation of Lost in Thought! At the time, it was simply an idea; a goal to build an app. At the time, I had no idea how much time and effort it would take me to bring the app to life and fully launch it on the app store.
The Spring and Summer mostly consisted of finalizing wedding plans. Ensuring all the vendors and last minute operations were finalized. Bachelor and bachelorette parties were held along with multiple trips back and forth to Michigan until we finally made it to the big day. August felt like a month-long celebration starting with a marriage and ending with a honeymoon. I remember saying at the reception that I wish time could slow down. That was 6 months ago and the thought still rings true.
The rest of the year brought plenty more adventures. We attended a friend’s wedding, officially launched Lost in Thought on the app store, and spent plenty of time enjoying the city of Chicago until the holidays came. November and December brought constant food, fun, and festivities, which seemed to consume all our days. Where did the time go? Soon we were ringing in 2026.
With so much going on, it was no small feat to organize all my thoughts this past year. The couple week stretch encompassing the end of the year and the start of the next tends to be one of my favorite times. I try to use this lull in the busyness of life to reflect and take stock of where I’m at. After a lot of time reflecting, I came up with a handful of themes that apply to this past year, as well as some general thoughts on the world around me.
The first conclusion, and arguably most important, is that 2025 was the best year of my life to date. I married my best friend, I launched an app with the intent to help people, I slowed down to better appreciate the world around me. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t spend the majority of my days fighting depression. I recognize how fortunate I am to be able to say this and that for others, the sentiment may not be the same. I’m incredibly thankful to have experienced such an amazing year. What I’d like to do next, is further express my thoughts and feelings from this year around these aforementioned highlights.
Marriage is probably the best place to start. While I’ve already expressed the joy it brought me, you might be surprised to know that I wasn’t always the biggest fan of the idea. I questioned why the government needed to formally acknowledge my love for my person. Is what I have to offer on its own not enough? Also, as most people are already aware, a lot of marriages end in divorce. Is that something I would be comfortable going through if, for some awful reason, that were to happen? Eventually my mindset changed and I realized that none of that really matters if it means I get to make the person most important to me happy. I forgot all of the reasons why I shouldn’t and started thinking why would I not? I’m not sure I can fully articulate what changed or why this mindset shift happened, but I’m guessing if you’ve gotten married or truly love someone, you know that it doesn’t have to perfectly make sense. So, in August 2025 I became the happiest I have ever been. It’s really surreal to be able to pinpoint an exact moment where you feel the happiest you’ve ever felt in your whole existence. It’s almost an out of body experience, where all you feel is pure joy and time stands still for a moment. That’s what getting married felt like to me and I’ll probably thank my wife everyday, for the rest of my life for making me the happiest man in the world.
Had I not gotten married this year, launching Lost in Thought might have been an easy first place, but I’m not here to complain. This time last year, Lost in Thought was nothing more than an idea. It didn’t even have a name yet! A handful of names were thrown around, but Lost in Thought was the one that ended up sticking for obvious reasons. It’s crazy what you can accomplish with some hard work and dedication. And when I say some, I mean a lot. There were many points throughout the year where I could have given up and called it stupid. I mean, how many journal apps already exist out there? But when your ultimate goal is to help people, you start to second guess yourself less and less. Even as I sit here today, I don't know what all will come of this, but I do believe that if I keep consistently building away and creating features people like and can use, the rest will figure itself out. Maybe Lost in Thought doesn’t even exist as an app one day, but rather a place that offers physical things that can help people with their mental health, or maybe a community blooms for people to come together and lean on each other. Every scenario is a win in my book. The goal is simple: help people improve their mental health so that there can be less pain and suffering in the world. I know it might seem vague and probably a bit ambitious, but I’m okay with that.
The third thing I called out in my 2025 highlights was just slowing down and appreciating the world around me. This actually refers to a handful of things. At the beginning of the year I knew I was stressed and struggled with brain fog. Social media and the news were a constant dumpster fire. It felt like two extremes; the world going to shit (take your pick: politics, Ai, the economy, etc.) or some influencer with a fairy tale life that seemed too good to be true. I hoped I could do something to change this.
After spitballing some ideas with my therapist, I arrived at simply spending more time with me. What this meant was putting the phone away and being alone with my thoughts more often. Taking stock of my thoughts, feelings, observations. At first, this wasn’t easy. As I’m sure you can relate, there was a constant temptation to look at my phone. After some time, I found what worked for me. The easiest habit, and my personal favorite, was going for more walks. I’m very lucky to live close enough to a lakefront that I can walk to easily, so I would do this quite often. It’s extremely peaceful, and eventually I found myself going for these lake walks in the morning before work with no headphones or background noise, and my phone set to do not disturb. Doing this for 20-30 minutes almost every day helped me not only sort through my thoughts, but also help ease into the day. I noticed the things around me like the architecture of the buildings, the sounds from all around, the colors of flowers. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this often led to more focus time later in the day. It became easier to put my phone on do not disturb and work on the app or just spend time with my wife with no distractions. In general, I found this very beneficial for my well-being and will look forward to building on it even more in the future. Hear your thoughts, recognize them, and build on it. Also, less time on the phone = improved well-being.
The last thing I noted was having the privilege of not spending so many days fighting depression. I’ve touched on some pretty big highlights so far in this post, but this is a huge win for me. For the majority of my life, I have struggled with depression. Most days I would find myself feeling extremely sad, struggling to get through the day, having terrible sleep, and a whole lot more I don’t need to get into. This constant struggle would snowball, leading to a lot of days, weeks, and months not always being the best. It’s crazy to look back and realize that I started therapy around 7 years ago. I’m happy to say that for the first time in as long as I can remember, that wasn’t the case this year. All the highlights I mentioned have surely led me to this accomplishment, and it feels important to acknowledge it. I feel hopeful that if I can crawl out of some dark places after a long time, so can someone else. This sentiment ultimately ties back to Lost in Thought. I want to build something that can support others on their own journey to feeling okay.
While everything I mentioned above is mostly positive, I think it’s also important to acknowledge 2025 was not perfect. The year brought its fair share of trials and negative emotions, as any year does. There were moments of stress around finances, juggling planning and logistics for the wedding, a million roadblocks during the app development process, and all this on top of everyday life struggles. Pile on the economy getting worse (I still can’t believe I pay over $5 for eggs), people everywhere losing freedoms, shootings, sickness, inhumane treatment of people, Ai slop, natural disasters, and the diminishing hope of ever owning a house if you’re under 30 years old. It’s not all roses. That being said, I maintain the belief that there are still enough good people out there in the world to make these things better. There will be pain, sacrifice, conflict, and a whole lot more mess as we move into 2026, but I am hopeful.
If you made it to this point, I commend you. I appreciate anyone who has spent their own time reading about mine. If I could recommend one thing, it would be to take some time to have a really good sitdown with yourself. Reflect on this past year if you have not done so already. Think about how the year went - the good and the bad parts. After that, think about what you want your 2026 to be. If you have aspirations, start setting the path to achieve your goals. It won’t be overnight, but with consistency and the right effort, you can find yourself in 2027 looking back in awe at how much you accomplished. Also don’t forget to be social! Talk to people, smile at strangers, make eye contact, build real connections. You’d be surprised at how much of a difference it makes. Most importantly, be a good person. I believe in you.