In 2025, I realized something interesting about myself. My interests never actually changed! I just locked them away. Most of them weren’t exactly “cool” anyway —except Pokémon, which somehow escaped and went mainstream.

Over the past few years, I started feeling… boring. If it wasn’t work, what did I really talk about? The gym, exercise, and fitness. Fine, but what else? What was I actually interested in? What was I willing to spend my extremely limited free time on?

That question bothered me more than I expected. It made me realize that if I didn’t understand myself beyond work and routine, I was limiting my ability to connect with people on a more personal level.

The breakthrough came unexpectedly one evening after work while browsing an old hard drive. I found a folder filled with music and videos from high school, around 18 years ago, and started watching them. Almost instantly, the feelings rushed back. The kid in me was ecstatic.

I remembered coming home from school with my closest friend. The school bell rang at 1:35 PM. We’d hop into the car, probably nap on the way, and head to my friend’s place. We’d order an American Favorite pan-crust pizza from Pizza Hut—that is pizza to me, and I will not be taking feedback on this. Only after moving to Europe did I learn that it’s more “bread with toppings” than pizza, but that’s beside the point.

We’d boot up the Wii and launch Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The rest of the evening disappeared into games, pizza, Nicovideo videos, and Japanese animations, with no sense of time and zero guilt about it.

Watching those old files brought all of those feelings flooding back. And that’s when it clicked: I hadn’t changed. I had just buried those interests under everything else I thought mattered more—studying, working, networking, building a career. By the time I was done with those, I was too exhausted to do anything else. The pressure from others on “what good looks like” also did not help as I felt guilty spending time on “unproductive” topics.

Life in Jakarta didn’t help either. Long commutes, long hours, and at one point, 70-hour workweeks. Newsflash: that was killing me. But now? I live in Copenhagen with roughly 20 minutes commute, and decent hours!

I’m grateful for what I learned during that time, but I’m equally grateful to have left that phase behind. Additionally, I’m less burnt out with life, so I can actually realize, pause, and reflect on myself.

So in 2026, one of my key resolutions is simple – reconnect with myself. To make space for curiosity again. To explore interests without needing them to be productive or impressive. I know there’s a few from my childhood I am thinking to re-explore! And to build friendships around shared joy, not shared exhaustion.

This reconnection feels less like looking backward, and more like finally showing up as a fuller version of myself. Maybe by the end of this year, I’ll have a better answer to “Who am I?” than I do now. And honestly, that feels like a goal worth investing in.