24 Life Lessons I Learned in 2024

2024 has been a rollercoaster for me. After spending two years in quarantine back in 2020, I’m still adjusting to this new world—new colleagues, a new workplace—it’s all so overwhelming. Everything feels dramatic, and everyone seems so different. Sometimes, I feel like I’m the only one struggling to catch up, painfully aware of how far behind I am. It’s like battling imposter syndrome as a grown-up. 

A friend once told me, “You look so happy; it seems like everything’s going great for you.” But let’s be real—who actually shares the ugly parts on social media? There were times when it felt like my entire world was crumbling, and I even caught myself wishing everyone else had a life as messy as mine. I ended up in a circle of people I never imagined being around, and it took months to find my footing. I met someone, went through a heartbreak, and I’ll never forget the days when I sat at my office desk, feeling like my life was falling apart, unable to stop crying. 

But amidst the chaos, I was fortunate to meet some incredible friends—people who brought me hope and reminded me that life is so much more than its struggles. Their kindness and connection were like a light cutting through a tough year. They taught me that it’s okay to take my time figuring out how this adult world works and reminded me of the countless blessings Allah has granted us to enjoy, instead of fixating on things beyond our control. They gave me the space to process my emotions and the courage to face the next day. What seemed like small gestures to them made a world of difference to someone like me who was struggling. I also learned to turn to Allah without hesitation—seeking His forgiveness, His help, and His guidance to keep me on the right path. Books became a source of comfort too, offering practical life tips that I’m trying to apply so I can make the most of my 20s instead of letting them slip by. 

So, here’s a list of life lessons I’ve carefully curated in my journal—insights I’ve gained throughout the year. And as the days go by, the list continues to grow.

Personal Growth & Self-Development 

1. Never rely on humans; they are flawed, and you’ll end up disappointed. 
2. Find solace within yourself—that’s what draws people to you. 
3. Be active and explore your life. It’s never too late to try something new. 
4. Sticking to your comfort zone won’t help you grow. True progress comes from embracing challenges and overcoming discomfort. 
5. One time Focused deep work without distraction >> multi-tasking
6. Failure is a normal part of life. It doesn’t define you—it’s part of the journey to becoming a better version of yourself.

Health & Wellness 

1. Replace junk food with healthier snacks. 
2. Sad to report that jogging is incredibly beneficial in your late twenties. It helps regulate your mood, provides mental clarity, and boosts stamina. 
3. Always start your day with plain water—before reaching for coffee or anything sugary.

Relationships 

1. Don’t let fear stop you from expressing love; it’s the key to forming deep, meaningful connections. 
2. After expressing your love, don’t be afraid to step back if the relationship doesn’t align with your values. Don’t force what isn’t meant to be. 
3. When your heart aches, pray for Allah to replace the pain with greater blessings. As mentioned in one hadith: Whoever gives up something for the sake of Allah, He will replace it with something better. 
4. Don’t take things personally. When people speak negatively to you, they’re often projecting their own insecurities. 
5. Don’t get defensive when people offer unsolicited advice. They may mean well, or they might just want to feel superior. Either way, say, “Thanks for your concern,” and move on. 

Productivity 

1. Make a bucket list every year and try new things. It’s a great way to feel accomplished, boost confidence, and enjoy the process. 
2. Finish what you start. When you feel like giving up, remember: it’s better to fail trying than to regret not doing anything. People with grit always see things through. 

Spiritual

1. Make your good deeds visible. Spread kindness until it becomes the norm. 
2. Bad people and tough situations will come your way. Instead of wasting energy on anger, focus on your well-being. Hardships are tests from Allah and opportunities for rewards. Take them as lessons, reflect, and move forward. 
3. إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا holds true when you recognize blessings rather than focusing only on difficulties. Gratitude leads to more blessings, as Allah promises: لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
4. Shift from a victim mindset to being proactive, as Allah admonishes weak resignation, as mentioned in the Quran verse 4:97
   

   They reply: "We were weak and oppressed on earth". The Angels ask: “Was not the earth of Allah vast enough for you to emigrate therein?"

Financial  

1. Hold off on impulsive shopping urges. Invest in one high-quality item instead of buying cheap, low-quality things that are often unethically made. This supports a minimalist, sustainable lifestyle. 
2. You don’t need fancy coffee every morning. The caffeine at the office pantry works just fine. Save that money for something worthwhile.
3. Don’t hold back when it comes to investing in your dreams and future goals—it’s always worth it! Want to level up your skills? Go ahead and buy that course. Thinking about getting a coach? Hire one. Setting aside a small part of your salary each month and spending it on things that bring you closer to achieving your dreams is far better than giving in to unnecessary shopping urges.

These are the 24 life lessons I’ve learned in 2024, and I’m deeply grateful to Allah for giving me the chance to experience and grow from them. May He bless us all with even more blessings and rizq in 2025. What are the lessons you’ve learned this year?

Teaching and Learning

Ever since my student days, I was always the go-to person for helping my peers with their studies. I thought I was a natural teacher - I explained things clearly and had all the patience in the world. This year, volunteering was at the top of my bucket list, so when I saw an ad on social media for tutoring, I was thrilled. Tutoring felt like second nature to me, and I’d been wanting to give back in this way for a long time.​

So, I began my teaching volunteer program. But I quickly learned that teaching is a whole different ballgame. That first month was pure chaos. I struggled to simplify my explanations to match the kids' level of understanding. Every student had different needs, and I had to adapt my teaching methods accordingly. And then there’s the challenge of keeping kids focused. They get distracted so easily, tire out after just a few questions, and constantly ask to go to the bathroom. To top it off, other students would interrupt our lessons, and I had to handle those who liked to talk back. The most disheartening part? Seeing my students struggle with their tests despite all my efforts. It felt like my words were falling on deaf ears, and I began questioning why I was even there. That’s when it hit me - teaching is not for everyone, especially someone with a temper - like me. The respect I have for teachers has skyrocketed. 

Did all of this get me down? Absolutely. My motivation took a nosedive. I no longer looked forward to teaching; it seemed like none of the students were grasping anything. Preparing lessons felt like a chore, and creating assessments became a headache.

I questioned whether backing out was the right choice, but what is growth without its share of pain. It’s through these challenges that we truly develop. My supervisor always reminds us at the end of our session: teaching is also a form of learning, and ​ I've learned a great deal about patience and adaptability. I started incorporating more interactive activities to keep the kids engaged. Seeing them respond positively to these new methods was such a highlight. My students began to participate more actively, which was incredibly rewarding.​ 

Recently, new volunteers joined, including two who are now co-tutors with me, which is a great help to me. Seeing them go through the same challenges I faced just a month ago has really made me think about my own journey. It’s a nice reminder of how much I’ve grown. I’ve also noticed how effortlessly I’ve bonded with my students over time, so much so that the progress felt almost invisible. It’s pretty cool to see how far I’ve come. 

This three-month journey has really taught me patience and how to connect with people outside my usual circle. I can’t wait to keep making a difference, one lesson at a time!

Beyond Instant Gratification: Embracing Life's Natural Flow

Here is a little reminder: as humans, we're wired to crave instant gratification—it's just how we're built. We want quick results, things we can see, touch, and feel that give us an immediate dopamine boost. But life, doesn't always operate on fast-forward. It's more about the journey, the process. 

Instead of rushing through everything, it's about embracing each moment and not stressing about what's next or worrying if things aren't happening as quickly as we'd like. I believe there's a bigger plan for each of us—what Allah has destined. Keep your purpose clear in your mind, work hard toward your goals, but also be open to whatever path unfolds. Let's focus on finding and living our life's true purpose.

Random rants on reading

I've grown a passion for reading and fallen in love with them, which made me realize a few things. To begin with, being a reader does not make me a superior person. I first got into reading to find a space to confide in, a world to escape and to heal. But as I read, I became more and more fascinated to learn others' perspectives, to understand their view influenced from their life experience, which differs from mine, it's like acquainting new friends from all over the world. Friends, however, in real life, take time to get to learn about each other. 

Biography was the first genre that got me into reading as it led me from one book to another. Through Becoming, as a black student from Chicago, Michelle opened up her awkwardness to mix with other white students in Princeton and was very conscious of her skin color before. Know My Name opened my eyes in so many ways; a victim of sexual assault shared her journey to fight for justice in court and the dark side of sexual assault victim that has never occurred to us. No matter how strong someone appears to be and how loud her voice is, the trauma will find her all through her life, constantly. 

I have always admired how the writer constructs her sentences in such an eloquent way. Just as Mahathir taught her daughter that observing how people write books is was the best way to learn the language. Although every so often, I missed it and skimmed the book rather quickly and noted on the vital point only so I could finish the book faster and excitedly grab another book. Writers who write expressible words never cease to amaze me. Explaining every simple thing in complexity, yet relatable because nothing is plain in this complicated world, take Virginia Woolf as an example. Honestly, it wasn't easy, explaining one evening preparing for a party in 300 pages, was it? You get to feel more and closer to the characters through their expansive vocabulary. They always find the right words to express their thoughts clearly, which I aspire to be. 

The more I spend my time reading and listening to others' thoughts and views, I learn to humble myself. There are also a few times the authors' views contradicted mine, and it wasn't easy to stay unbiased throughout the book. People who read books also tend to have references and reasons behind their opinions instead of following and parroting what they heard blindly to please the majority. They are also more open-minded go beyond their own comfort zone and explore other's cultures instead of staying in the one-minded community, take Tariq Ramadhan and Omar Said Ghobbash, for instance. It opened my mind, broke my stereotypes; things that I could never imagine to occur to me before. Just as Tara Westover has difficulty pronouncing holocaust in her class and upsets her professor and classmates, she was horrified and shocked to realize her ignorance once she researched the word. Precisely how I felt as I read more books. Why, why I didn't start reading earlier. I feel I was left behind and have a lot to catch up on after many years being kept under the shells. 

Suppose there's one thing I could've done differently looking back, I wish I had invested more of my youth with books by, reading more beneficial resources, being a librarian instead of prefect, spending my school time in the library instead of yelling at students for being late. It just feels personally closer to the adult me.

The stigma of fiction

Last December, I went for a 3D2N staycation with my friends in KL, and I took that chance to stop by Bookxcess REXKL with a reading buddy of mine. We have similar preferences for books and shared a lot about books we read when we were students. While browsing the shelves, we caught up with each other, and I realized our preferences had changed over the past two years. Both of us. We both read self-help genre and prefer non-fiction over fiction, nerd, I know. As I still love self-help, I started to explore more classical fiction, and my friend has more interest in history. I then picked Great Expectations and Frankenstein, curious to learn more about two big-name writers in the world of classics. My friend peeked into my books, and maybe she was pretty shocked at how much my preferences had changed since she had last met me, said “merepek jelah (what a gibberish)” I was kind of offended, so I replied, “They’re classics!” thinking they’re on the next level of typical fiction.  

Suddenly, I am reminded of a similar situation in Kinokuniya with the other friend of mine. 

I spot this book at the clearance section; it’s classic fiction, obscure, RM 3, thought that I had nothing to lose. I picked McTeague. My friend wondered at my book choice and said, “pepelik je kau ni (such an odd choice),” holding The Offline Dating Method at RM 15.  

I don’t blame them, and I don’t want to judge them. In fact, I respect my friends a lot as they read much more than I do. But most of all, I used to have the same stigma as them. I was one of the readers who looked down on fiction too. I used to call novel “buku gedik-gedik (childish).” My thoughts of fiction were that it is cliche, gibberish, stupid, a waste of time, and adds no value.  

The Reading List was the first to change my mind. I fancy the idea of a list of books to live by, and each list is unique to every person, it feels very personal to me. But when I checked out the list, I was a bit disappointed with Sara Nisha’s choices of books. All of them are fiction. I was already read a lot of fiction by then, but it was sort of my guilty pleasure. I wasn’t really proud of what I read. But as I went through the book, I was fascinated with the comforts fiction brings to a person. It gave me a new perspective to reflect on.  

Fiction may not be as enriching, but we learn things differently from fiction than from non-fiction books. We’re living in such an overwhelming time, and bombarding ourselves with too much information is not helping, let alone misinformation; in fact, it messed up our minds. What we need is fewer facts but rich in knowledge and wisdom. Non-fiction gives us information, while fiction develops our ability to think.  

We’re all living in an age where there is too much information, less knowledge, and less wisdom and we need to find something that we’re familiar with to confide in. Something that we can relate to and pay attention to something seemingly abstract and elusive such as emotions. For that, we need stories and storytelling. -Elif Shafak, How to stay sane in an age of division. 

I love to connect with the characters, put myself in their shoes, and imagine the “what ifs” situation. In Sense and Sensibility, I find myself half of Elinor’s senses and half of Marianne’s sensibility but at the worst side of both. I didn’t understand Jane Eyre’s decision to reunite with Mr. Rochester, but in the end, I learned that Jane Eyre doesn’t care about what others think of her and only thinks what’s true for herself. In fact, I envy her self-confidence. The Vampire Diaries is about balancing the good and evil in a person.*sorry, but I can't get over this series

Reading fiction is never a fritter away time. Tale can have a significant social impact. While reading a novel, we’re transporting ourselves into the writer’s head, seeing the world through a character’s eyes, providing comforts to ourselves, and the most engageable medium with our real-life to reflect on. My favorite part about reading is whenever the writer cited wisdom from other writers without downgrading them. It feels like, in the end, we are all in one community.  

Fiction may have endless potential to bring value to your life, but not all fable is valuable, and not all non-fiction books are valuable either, and vice versa. In the end, we are the judge of what we read and what we believe. Be less judging, more understanding. Spread love and happiness

My letter to myself on my 25th birthday

It's a week late, but it's okay since I celebrate my birthday the whole month anyway.

Dear Ain,

I read your letter from 2019, and I still remember the feeling when you wrote that letter. You had been on quite a journey the past year. I remember you cried for hours till tears dried, and your throat hurt, and when you woke up from your sleep, you continued crying. And you just sat there beside your bed, just in a daze at that stormy situation surrounding you.

I've seen you have everything you wanted. I've also seen you losing it all, perhaps in a cruel way. You learned who's really there for you when you're at your worst. I know life has been challenging for you for the past year. Honestly, Ain, not really proud of how you handled it back then, but I know I'm no better. So, Ain, thank you for staying alive. I've seen you plunged into a state of despair, but Ain, thank you for hanging on to that bit of faith.

I just want to tell you the worst has passed, and I'm doing better now. Stop worrying too much. You deserve to be smiling after all the things you've been through. You deserve all the good things in your life. I hope you realize that you're pretty much privileged compared to other people out there without denying all the hardship you've gone through because you know it too, that it could've been worse. I don't even want to imagine it. I wish you to stop resenting people around you. Forgive them for your own sake. So that you can be free and go on living your life. It won't be easy, it will feel unjust, but do you want to live as a victim forever?  

Ain of 2021 has been living her life to the fullest. Ain of 2021 has found her place just as she imagined one year ago. Ain of 2021 won't lose track of what's crucial and worth making time for. All thanks to you for not giving up, for always telling Ain of 2020 you loved her regardless of everything, and that she's worth it. So, stop worrying, you can now be happy as much as you want.

Happy Birthday,

Me.