The Solo Boat Trip

On litmus tests, Schrödinger's hope, and the art of leaving warmth behind without burning yourself.

31 Dec 2025
Retrospective
4 min read

There's something about being a little too unkind to a year. When you're seeing it off, or perhaps seeing it away, there is this unexampled confluence of certainty that you'll remember it, coupled with the crushing uncertainty that you might not be the same person when you look back.

It'll all be irrevocably etched in the pages of the past; a character and a world you once had the fortuity to live as, and through.

The "Thing"

I've figured that if an event divides your timeline into "Before It," "During It," and "After It," the sheer frequency with which you think about "It" acts as a litmus test for damage.[1]I am aware this is barely a scientific metric, but bear with me.

Entry #402
I feel that 2023 has become almost notoriously synonymous with having "THE Thing" for me.
Note: Nuance is dead

It was the year for turnarounds; where the merry-go-round isn't all that merry. It was a year where I’d make a grave mistake that graves a part of me that may or may not make it to the sequel.

The Emergency Room

My friend "Hope", who's usually so poppy and annoying, got into an accident. She’s currently in the metaphysical emergency room, thriving on life support. She lays on the white bed; the fence between life and death.

Patient Status
ID: SCHRO-001
Patient Name
Hope
Current Condition
Comatose / Thriving
Clinical Notes

Patient attempted to touch grass but encountered a runtime error. Currently oscillating between "It's so over" and "We're so back."

The Equation

If I had to sum it up: "When it comes to 2023, college life (or lack thereof) has added to it, just as much my mental health (or lack thereof) seems to have taken away."

Hypothesis

It's this riveting tug between the two... It's almost as if they're at inversely corresponding degrees; the loudness is cancelled out by the conspicuous and coequal quiet.

tl;dr: nuance left the group chat

But isn't that all too convoluted? I could simply say that it's been wonderful and inarticulably gratifying to have had the ticket to live through this month.[2]Gratitude practice is my new personality.

Wholesome

"And more than that, the fortuity of having had this inimitably special girl who’s embellished my experience and added so much life to my days here."

I hope you know that you're really and truly valued here.(we ball)

The Solo Boat Trip

So, 2023 eh? I'd be lying if I said I haven't been trying to conjure up a bevy of words that would perfectly render a distilled mental impression of what this year has been. It's a recurring pattern now.

  • 01.I actively try to "come up" with words.
  • 02.I conveniently fail.
  • 03.I tell the truth whilst trying not to sugarcoat anything.
  • 04.I virtually succeed.

I just happen to buy myself tickets to this solo boat trip, and find myself stranded in the middle of an ocean of words; completely unbeknownst to when or how I'm gonna wash up on a shore. And then I start swimming.

On Warmth and Embers

If 2022 was about finding warmth, 2023 is about learning to let go of that warmth in more abstract ways than physical or (senti)mental.

Lesson #1
"It's you, trying not to burn yourself, holding onto the embers of everything around you that kept you warm."

I guess, a lot of what warmth means to me has to do with the elements of familiarity... with places, corners, and sights that one develops memories of all kinds.

You're always a sigh, or a blink of an eye away from inducing a nostalgia attack.[3]Side effects include gazing out windows and listening to sad indie music.

It's never not bittersweet.(It is what it is)