2025: WTF (With a Smile and a Tear in My Eye)

Barbara Isber
Jan 13
3 min read

If I had to describe 2025 in one word, it would be:WTF — with a smile… and a tear in my eye.

If it were a weather pattern?Definitely Melbourne weather.Four seasons in one day. Sunshine, storms, calm, chaos — sometimes before lunch.

When I think of 2025, I don’t feel just one thing.It’s relief mixed with guilt. Gratitude mixed with anxiety. Courage mixed with “what on earth happens next?”

There was a lot of guilty relief this year — the kind where you survive something hard, feel thankful you made it through… and then immediately worry about what’s coming next.

What 2025 Took — and What It Gave

2025 didn’t take my strength.

It took my fear.

Not all of it — but enough.

I learned sales skills this year. And I know that sounds practical and boring, but for me it was transformative.Learning how to communicate, how to ask, how to stand behind my work without apologising — that changed something deep in me.

What I didn’t expect was the confidence that came with it.

The Good (The Stuff That Actually Matters)

Some days in 2025 were genuinely scary — especially on a family level.Life got chaotic. Unpredictable. Heavy.

But I kept getting up.

Every day I got up felt like a small rebellion against giving up.

I also did a few things that might not look impressive on paper, but mattered deeply to me:

I launched my artist YouTube channels
I built my website (almost finished — ADHD brain did its best and I’m proud of it)
And… I went on my first camping trip ever

Guys.I loved it. Like… loooved it.Turns out nature + simplicity + quiet = me.

The moments I felt most myself this year were simple:Every single time I played music.

No thinking. No proving. Just being.

The Hard Stuff (Let’s Be Real)

One of the hardest decisions I made in 2025 was choosing to start my music career — and actively work on unlearning my limiting beliefs around it. and still going on for 2026 ... a long history of self doubt regarding making music my main career and my product design skills as supportive career.

That wasn’t romantic or easy.

Trying to find jobs.Trying to sell my services.Trying to explain my value — even when I knew my skills were needed — was draining in every possible way.

It felt uncomfortable. Vulnerable. Weird.

But it taught me something important:

This is how people actually thrive — by communicating, by showing up, by supporting each other.

Being lost and stuck are kind of my default curiosity settings — but I reframed them as exploration.

I’m not behind.I’m just on time.

(That said… applying for jobs and finding new clients?Yeah. That didn’t really work out .... YET!😂)

Identity Shifts (The Quiet Ones)

One belief changed completely in 2025:I genuinely thought I wouldn’t make it to the end of the year.

But here I am.

Time to start my music career properly.Time to connect with creatives.Time to build community and support — not just deliver work.

I still love product design. I still respect it. I’ll always contribute where it makes sense.

But something shifted this year.

The closer my work is to art, the more alive I feel.

One of the biggest lessons that shifted my thinking is this:

Safety is not a product of stability.Safety is a feeling we choose to adopt — or ignore, no matter how scary our reality feels...And it’s always there, waiting for us.. to give as a hug and a kiss on the forehead...

I stopped tolerating self-doubt — mine or anyone else’s.There’s always room for improvement.There’s no room for putting myself down.

What 2025 Taught Me (The Real Lessons)

Time:Everything passes. Dreams have no expiry date.

Money:Money isn’t hard work. It’s self-acceptance. It’s love.Wealth is an internal state before it’s a number.

Energy:You manifest what you repeat to yourself — especially your inner thoughts.Not toxic positivity. Not pretending.The universe doesn’t care what you say — it cares how you feel when you say it.

And the biggest truth I understand now, that I didn’t a year ago?