To say that 2024 has been a revelation is an understatement. It has been the strangest year of huge, world-changing events juxtaposed with quiet, personal reflections and moments.

The continuation of what began in Gaza in October 2023 with no end in sight has been the final nail in the coffin of what began, for me, at the age of 11, following the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq by the USA. To say that I fully believe and accept that the entire international order of ‘human rights’ and ‘law and order’ has ended, is without question. For those of us who come from backgrounds that have long felt, and continue to experience, the side effects of brutal colonisation, it is a strange place we occupy. I, for one, find it incredibly disconcerting to be surrounded by a majority of people for whom the world seems to start and finish at their front door. Being emotionally connected to people who live thousands of miles away, and yet, are dearer to me than those who live around me physically is a concept that I suspect, the majority of British (read White British) people, will never fathom.

At the end of each year I try to reflect on what my goals were for the year and what I have achieved. I started doing this a few years ago, and it’s been very helpful (courtesy of vision boards and goal setting), to stay on track for the year. Many of my goals this year were material and I am pleased to say that I have been able to acheive them. There are still overarching, larger goals to accomplish, particularly around spiritual and religious growth which I didn’t manage to achieve but they will form part of my goals for 2025 instead.

Working on the inner self is much, much more difficult than ticking off ‘buying X',’ or ‘travelling to Y,’ but I imagine it will be infinitely more rewarding. Whilst I do have a few smaller material goals, I sense already that my orientation in 2025 will be far more spiritually focused insha’Allah, and I hope that it inspires, motivates and guides me to a far greater degree of inner harmony.

I don’t know about you but I find that I am very visually motivated. Using vision boards has been a gamechanger for me - the only tips I would suggest are to keep it simple and focus in on a few core goals. Don’t overwhelm yourself with trying to do 50 new things. Perhaps choose 5 things that you would seriously love to accomplish and find at least one image or word (Pinterest is amazing for this), which speaks to you about that goal. Revisit the vision board every few months throughout the year. It’s possible you may not achieve everything you wanted, but at least you will have started building good foundations for the following year when you can tick it off.

I have used Pinterest for my vision boards - I tend to keep mine marked 'private’ as they are really only for me. But you could make yours public if that helps you. And try to be broad and aspirational in your goals - some will be easier to achieve than others, but 1-2 goals which will stretch and push you out of your comfort zone is no bad thing. By thinking broadly, I mean to think about your holistic self. Do you want a physical/health goal? Something material you would like to buy, develop or make? What about a life goal - maybe academic, or moving into your first property? How about relationships? If you’re not in a relationship and would like to be, how can you work on yourself and put yourself out there to meet people? Or maybe you’d prefer the opposite and to focus on your personal development? Are you religious and do you have religious goals or a spiritual focus you would like to adopt? Stay as openminded as possible and it should get your creativity flowing.

On an entirely different note, despite having been born and raised in the UK and having lived here my entire life, I am really not sure if I want to spend the rest of my life in this country. One of the benefits of having travelled more in the last few years is that the exposure to new people and communities and ways of life, has inspired me to think beyond the shores of the UK. I am not sure where exactly I will end up or when, or even how, to be quite honest, yet I am convinced that at some point I will do so. And whilst there is a strong pull factor, there is also a strong push factor - the anti-Muslim race riots in the summer of 2024 were enough to show me something that I had always known existed albeit not quite so viscerally.

In any event, as many changes and new things as I experienced in 2024, I imagine 2025 will only have further surprises and revelations in store.