My Blog’s 2025 Year-In-Review

Hi, everyone! Happy February! Wishing you a belated Happy New Year! I’ve been working on putting together my blog’s annual Year-In-Review for 2025.

While compiling it, one aspect that’s been staring me in the face… is that I didn’t blog nearly as much as I wanted to.

Not because I stopped caring.
Not because I ran out of stories.
And definitely not because nothing happened.

In reality, 2025 was one of those years where everything happened, just most of it was always behind the scenes.

Between moving to a new residence, starting a new fully remote job in an industry I have never worked in before, and launching my new business: Mindset for Success, my time and energy have been spread thin in ways that I’m still learning how to balance.

Add to that the rapidly shifting landscape of AI, content creation, search, and content discovery and suddenly you’re not just creating stories anymore… you’re trying to understand how stories even get found in the first place. I talked a lot about this before in one of my major recap posts during 2025, but it’s a topic I’m still trying to understand: how exactly do readers interact with blogs in 2025/2026. I don’t have all the answers yet. But I’m actively exploring them.

So instead of my traditional “here are all the posts I published in 2025” Year-In-Review recap, this year-in-review post is more of a life snapshot — a look at what 2025 was actually like, where my focus went, and a glimpse into the experiences that quietly shaped what’s coming next on the blog.

Many of these moments will likely become full stories on my blog. For now, consider this a preview of chapters still being written. 😉❤️

January

Celebrating New Year’s Eve at Bubba Gump Shrimp in Times Square 🎉

I wrapped up 2024 and rang in 2025 in New York City’s Time Square for the SECOND time with a live view of the famous ball drop! Only this time while attending Bubba Gump Shrimp’s NYE Party as a solo traveler.

My 365 Project: One Polaroid Photo Every Day for a Year 📸

I also reflected on completing my 2024 “365 Project: 1 Polaroid Photo Every Day”, a creative daily photography challenge I’m still incredibly proud of for finishing!

January became a month of inward focus — spending time dating, reassessing what I wanted in a partner, and beginning the search for a new place to live.

February

February brought a heavy loss. One of my mentors — someone I was very close to — passed away. Navigating that grief, while also processing what it meant for my future without his guidance, was a big emotional adjustment.

On a brighter note, I started touring apartments, celebrated my sister’s birthday in NYC, and spent my Valentine’s Day with someone I had been dating for a month or two (even if we ultimately realized our political ideologies were… not aligned. 😅) That didn’t work out, but it was fun while it lasted.

My sister celebrated her birthday at a club in NYC called ARTSPACE at PUBLIC Hotel and I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun dancing to a DJ’s music all night long.

My friend Chrissy—who you may recognize from our hot air balloon adventure—scored a highly coveted reservation at Mawn in Philadelphia. It was delicious!

March

March was pure chaos.

I decided it was time to relocate, and with that decision, I was forced to leave my job since they were not open to allowing me to work remotely. That sucked a bit since I was actually pretty happy with the work I was doing and I really liked the people I worked with a lot. However, I also have touted the benefits of remote work for my entire adult life as this was the first job I’ve had that ever showed a preference against remote work. In the end, I was left with no choice but to resign, relocate, and find a new job.

I applied to countless apartments. I somehow found one that checked every box. So I moved. And eventually I landed a new fully remote job at a Fortune 100 company.

And that all happened in the same month. It was exciting, terrifying, exhausting, and necessary.

April

April was about stabilizing and setting up.

I was deep in training at my new job while slowly furnishing my apartment piece-by-piece.

I also recommitted to gym training and began using my building’s fitness center — a big shift from the home-based, travel-friendly workouts I had relied on previously.

May

May included my first trip to St. Louis, Missouri, a limo winery day in Pennsylvania for a friend’s birthday, and seeing the Lilo & Stitch live-action movie in 3D — which turned into a fully Hawaiian-themed day.

I’ve also been building a YouTube/Podcasting studio so I can begin to create more video-first content.

In the midst of all that, I hosted my very first family holiday at my apartment: Cinco de Mayo.

A small moment that felt like a big milestone.

June

NYC Pride 2025 Recap 🌈

NYC Pride also returned in full force, and it was every bit as joyful as it always is.

Pigeon Fest Recap: NYC’s First-Ever Pigeon Festival on the High Line 🕊️

I also attended Pigeon Fest — a wonderfully niche, joyfully weird celebration that felt extremely on-brand for me and my lifelong love of birds.

July

I hosted game night/housewarming parties for friends at my apartment and finally felt settled into my new space.

Things had calmed down enough by this point that I was able to slowly start catching up on my blog again.

I also spent time with my Bentley boy! 🐶

August

I reunited with my old college roommate in NYC, someone I miss a lot.

I got to spent time enjoying the outdoors with my friends, like during this day trip to go to a cidery.

I also completely geeked out on all things K-Pop Demon Hunters! Me and my friend went to a Sing Along movie viewing in Times Square and made a whole K-Pop Day out of it! We got Korean food, Korean snacks, and Korean drinks all after visiting New York City’s Koreatown.

August was quieter — in the best way.
Lots of being present.
Lots of soaking up summer before it slipped away.

September

September became a birthday month in honor of turning 30.

It kicked off with a family trip to Aruba.

Later in the month:

• A K-pop Demon Hunters-themed drag show at 3 Dollar Bill
• John Summit’s Experts Only EDM festival at Randall’s Island
• My actual birthday at the grand re-opening of Marquee

The month wrapped with a bird-themed 30th birthday party thrown by my family — truly everything I could have asked for.

October

October leaned spooky.

I did a 3D immersive Squid Game VR experience at Sandbox with two close friends.

My sister Tiff and I to a haunted house in Palmerton, PA (after signing a waiver that felt… concerning).
And spent time exploring Sora, an AI-only social platform that was fascinating, strange, and chaotic.

I was also featured on an episode of a masked dating show on social media — which was a fun, unexpected experience.

When things calmed down, I shared a post about the deeply serene encounter I had with the largest Buddha statue in the Western Hemisphere.

The Largest Buddha Statue in the Western Hemisphere 🪷

Pennsylvania Rail Bike Review: A Peaceful Autumn Ride Through the Poconos 🛤️

I also shared my review of the Pennsylvania Rail Bike, an experience that blended slow travel, nature, and simple joy in a way I really loved.

November

I went to Florida with a friend for a Universal Studios vacation, hitting every park — including Volcano Bay and Epic Universe for the first time.

Joy was fully activated.

I also did a speaking gig that felt very full-circle for my journey into motivational work and Mindset for Success. I’ll save this for another update.

December

December was the beginning of an unexpected creative shift.

After seeing Avatar: Fire & Ash, I started experimenting with AI-generated video content on social media — and some of it went viral!

I spent much of the month learning new tools, testing workflows, and thinking deeply about how AI fits into creativity, ethics, sustainability, and the future of storytelling.

Alongside all of that: a lot of time went into preparing for the holidays, family time, and being present.

In another post, I’ll talk about this New Year’s Eve! It was epic!

In Closing

2025 was a year of laying groundwork.

Not always visible.
Not always pretty.
But deeply necessary.

I’m stepping into the next chapter with a clearer sense of who I am, what I want to create, and how I want The Rocky Safari to evolve in a world that’s changing faster than any of us can fully keep up with.

Thank you for staying with me through the quieter seasons.

More stories are coming.
More adventures are coming.
More honesty is coming.

One post at a time.