The 2025 Collective Sigh: Why next year requires a different version of you

AS the calendar turns to the final pages of 2025, there is a palpable sense of exhaustion in the air. We see it in our WhatsApp groups, in social media postings and feel it in the quiet moments after the kids are finally asleep.

On paper, Malaysia’s economy showed resilience with about five per cent GDP growth, yet for the average woman the "grocery receipt reality" tells a different story.

Between the phased implementation of the RM1,700 minimum wage and the anxiety surrounding RON95 fuel subsidy rationalisation, 2025 was a year where we constantly had to recalculate - not just our budgets, but our capacity to keep going.

This year felt like a year where we were constantly asked to pay attention to everything while having nothing left for ourselves. Locally, we balanced the pride of Malaysia taking the Asean Chairmanship against the personal weight of "doomscrolling" through global conflicts that never seemed to end.

In pop culture, we saw a strange shift. We went from chasing the "soft life" aesthetic to simply trying to achieve “radical stability”. We were bombarded with trends like "Sleepmaxxing" (the desperate pursuit of better rest) because we were simply too tired to participate in anything else.

For many Malaysian women, 2025 was the year the "sandwich" became too heavy. We are the generation caught between caring for ageing parents and raising children who are more digitally demanding than ever.

For many, the heaviness we feel wasn't always the workload. It was the emotional logistics.

At the workplace, it wasn’t just the meetings; it was the "always-on" culture of hybrid work. Even though 60 per cent of us now work in flexible roles, the lines between our dining tables and our office desks have blurred into a 24/7 expectation.

In our humble abode, it wasn't just the chores; it was being the "Chief Household Officer”. Managing the children’s activities, the husband’s social calendar and ensuring our parents attending their medical appointments and consuming enough nutrients - all while pretending everything was under control.

We said yes to the extra committee at work or the school bake sale out of a fear of being "less than", while our nervous systems were screaming for a pause.

To enter 2026 without carrying the "heaviness" of 2025, we must move past the idea of work-life balance (which implies everything is equal) and toward “ruthless prioritisation”. What is that you may ask? Let me tell you about it.

Let’s have the labour conversation with our life partners because managing a home is not a solo performance. In 2026, we must de-centre the "Superwoman" narrative.

Firstly, sit down with your spouse and children. Use the "mental load" list, re-distribute the invisible tasks because your value is not measured by your level of exhaustion.

Secondly, workplace boundaries is key and promise yourself the “right to disconnect”. With the new social media licensing laws and the hyper-digital nature of 2025, our brains are overstimulated. In 2026, make it a point to "log off" at a specific time. If you don't define the end of your workday, the world will keep taking until there's nothing left.

Next is the “radical self-protection”. If 2025 was the year of "holding it all together”, let 2026 be the year of "protecting the peace”.

This means saying "no" without a paragraph-long explanation. It means scheduling 20 minutes of silence as if it were a high-stakes board meeting.

The takeaway here is you cannot plan a better year if you never pause to see what made this one feel so heavy so before you write your 2026 resolutions, write your “letting go” list.

Let go of the need to be the perfect wife, the flawless employee and the tireless mother so you can be the happy wife, mother and employee - still responsible, still achieving greater heights but with a peace of mind.

It may be hard and some of us are addicted to chaos but let’s be better, sign up for that pilates class, stick to a weekly running session and join your friends for that pickle or paddle ball when you’re free. And most importantly, always stay connected to your spiritual side. 

Like seriously, there is no award for overworked female of the year. So in 2026, choose to be the woman who simply has enough air to breathe.