Letter from the First Light of 2025

On books, beginnings, and building what's next.

I have learned to stop saying yes when I don't mean it—to live as authentically as I know how. To allow the tips of my fingers to skirt the darkness, as long as I remember to keep my eyes fixed on the light. And as one door opens and another closes, I will move forward with the knowledge that unlike so many others, I have another year ahead of me—another shot at making it all the way around the sun, and a chance to get it right this time 'round.

— Lang Leav

Writing to you on January 1st feels different. There's something about standing at the beginning, armed with what you've learned, ready to build something new, with the whole year waiting to happen again.

This year, I’m carrying forward the lessons I have found between pages, places & people.

1. Six cities became temporary homes this past year: Bangalore, Mysore, Ooty, Delhi, Jaipur & Kolkata

2. 26 books found me exactly when I needed them (more on this below)

3. Countless conversations with strangers who became friends.

Around my birthday, when I was writing my yearly reflection. I had a desire to do something different. Something more challenging. 2024 was about different cities, 2025 will be about different projects. I'm ready to pause my nomadic ways, not because wandering isn't beautiful, simply because I've come to recognize the novelty in commitment. There's a certain courage in deciding to build a nest, in choosing to root oneself in one place and seeing what grows.

When you travel there’s a lingering question that people ask, “Where are you coming from and where are you going?” Every time someone asked this question to me in a non inquisitive way, I always got reminded of the memoir “Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert.

She wrote about how people in Bali would always ask, “Where are you coming from and where are you going?” Their questions seemed a little invasive to her but it was their way of of being certain that the person had a life before this and they know where this life is going.

New year gives you that same middle ground, a reset button, a chance to look back and look forward together.

As I write this in the first light of 2025, I am going to repeat my wishes that I say out loud every year for all the dreamers and doers out there:

My wish for you and my wish for myself:

Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or life.

Take chances!

On that note I have a few announcements to make:

1. This newsletter has been moved to Substack.

2. I am starting a second newsletter. If you like playing chess, this might interest you.

Announcing Chess Chapters

The idea of Chess Chapters is to explore the beautiful game of chess. One move at a time.

The first issue of Chess Chapters is coming this Friday and the next Friday… and the next Friday…. Friday… Friday… Friday… Remember Friday

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Now onto the great stuff….

Let me walk you through some of the books I read this past year, maybe you’ll find something that calls to you for 2025:

On Personal Growth and Persistence

1. The Courage to Be Happy by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga. I can’t describe how happy I was when i got to know, ‘The courage to be disliked’ has a second book. And that too so good and brain mogging.

2. Grit by Angela Duckworth gave me an insight into what healed parenting looks like. I wrote about it in this thread.

3. Mastery by Robert Greene. I reread it. And some parts of it really affirmed my conviction. Especially about John Keats and his desire to write. It felt like a call to focus on what truly matters.

4. Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson. I read it out of curiosity. It’s interesting… to say the least.

5. The Alter Effect by Todd Herman. This book has too good of a writing for a non-fiction, I was totally hooked by the idea and the stories in it. I wrote a thread on Mr. Bean, inspired by this book.

On Writing and Creativity

1. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Another book about writing that I read, so someone would just tell me to write.

2. Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit by Steven Pressfield. One thing I have to say, Steven legit bullies you into doing good work and sometimes that’s exactly what you need to get out of your head.

3. The War of Art and Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield. These books cut through excuses like a scalpel and remind you that you owe it to yourself to show up every single day.

4. My Story Can Beat Up Your Story by Jeffrey Schechter. Found this book serendipitously in a backpacker hostel. It shifted the way I think about narrative structure and storytelling — pure gold for anyone dabbling in scriptwriting.

5. Storynomics by Robert McKee. A deep dive into storytelling with business in mind. I appreciated how McKee applies age-old narrative techniques to branding and marketing without losing the art of it.

6. The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert. So much good writing stems from discipline & perseverance.

On Business and Productivity

1. My exploration of business and brand-building through Oversubscribed by Daniel Priestley and Obsessed by Emily Heyward led to three successful campaigns.

2. Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte. More than the knowledge management system the book talks about, I like how the writing is a page turner. On further research I got to know how Tiago tested every idea on different groups of people to see what people find interesting before writing it into the book.

On Philosophy and Spirit

1. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse is a very calming book. It stays with you long after you have read it.

2. Ashtavakra Gita. I will be honest here, I don’t understand a word in it. But this book has been super valuable in making me sleep on time. I might be wrong but the core idea at some points resonates with Siddhartha.

3. Zen: The Art of Simple Living by Shunmyō Masuno. It’s like soothing cup of tea for the soul. Another book that helped me sleep.

4. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf spoke to my growing need for rooted space

Fiction and Poetry

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. It’s a children’s book that I got for my sister but read it myself.

2. Beartown by Fredrik Backman. The book tested my patience with its slow pacing and told me what not to do as a writer. But the emotional depth of the characters redeemed the experience somewhat.

3. Love & Misadventure and Sea of Strangers by Lang Leav. Her poetries are beautiful.

4. Ghost in the Wires by Kevin D. Mitnick. It’s a true story about a hacker who outsmarts the system but reads like a fiction.

That’s a wrap. I will see you next week with well thought out essays.

Much love,
Akanksha🌻