Hello, 2025.

Hello, one week has passed since the new year started. How has it been for you?

As 2025 begins, I’ve taken a moment to reflect on a year of milestones and lessons. It has been quite a whirlwind back in 2024, and I realized I hadn't taken a moment to just breathe. In a blink of an eye, we've launched a total of 12 books - 6 storybooks and 6 playbooks, ran multiple play & learn events that were more than my fingers could count (basically something was happening almost every month), collaborated with many new partners, and sold more than 2,500 books before the year came to an end!

All these are small but great milestones to celebrate for Daphne and I, considering that we are really just a two-man team and started everything from nothing, holding on to this seed of a dream that we had - to make a small but hopefully positive impact to the education of young children. And the words of encouragement from family, friends and customers have really touched our hearts, made us feel happy beyond words and spurred us to continue pushing through the tough days of working with little sleep or having less time for ourselves.

But that said, it also became a reflective moment for me as I struggled to find the right balance between working for my passion and caring for the home, ideation taking up the space in my head and being fully present with the people I love. And then, wait, how about time for myself? I believe this is something that many (or every) parents can relate to?

I guess what I'm trying to say is, no parent is really ever alone in this quiet perseverance to ensure everything in family, work & home life is in its place. And perhaps, we will never ever reach the state of perfect balance. But here is something we teach our children that can also be used in our own journey - what we can't change in terms of circumstances, we can change in terms of mindset.

I'm hoping that in 2025, we can find the right balance for every season.
There will be moments when we have to give our all to our dreams and passions,
there will be moments when we can choose to turn it off and focus on enjoying the present with our loved ones,
there will also be moments when we should take a step back to rest and take good care of ourselves - mentally, emotionally and physically.

We all need these different moments in our lives. The balance might change depending on the needs of each season, and perhaps it's time to give ourselves the grace to say that that's perfectly okay.

I often talk about how the purpose of education is more than just to grow in knowledge and skillsets, but to support our children in living a healthy, fulfilling and purposeful life. And such a life we parents should try to lead as well! After all, more is caught rather than taught right? ;)

Let 2025 be the year we'll be kinder to ourselves.
How will you give yourself grace in this new season of 2025?

With Love,

J