What Stayed With Me This Year
Stories, music, art and practices that shaped my year
Hello, my dear, and welcome to The Pause!
I hope this season is treating you gently… or rather, that you’re finding ways to treat yourself gently through the season. Even for the most grounded and self-aware among us, it’s normal to feel a little rattled this time of year.
The incessant push for us to shop more, the distressing amount of socializing expected of us (often with people that activate our deepest wounds), the pressure to please our loved ones with the perfect present…
Hell, I feel all this, and I hardly participate.
I’ve said this before, but it feels worth repeating: winter is meant to be a time to rest and restore, yet the pace and expectations of this season often ask us to do the opposite.
Rebel against the beast of consumerism, my friends! 😝
No matter how busy the holidays get, I find it important to pause and reflect on the year; to take stock of what worked, mourn what didn’t, and acknowledge the path we’ve walked. It’s too easy — and too unfair — to skip straight into 2026 without a proper pause.
I published my first novel this year. 💛It still feels a little surreal to write that sentence, and it is a huge accomplishment. And at the same time, the year has been so much more nuanced, marked by both highs and lows.
So rather than trying to summarize it all or draw big conclusions, I wanted to do something simpler. I wanted to name a few of the things: books, music, art, and practices, that nourished me this year, and notice why they mattered.
This is a list you can borrow from, or maybe an invitation to notice what nourished you, too.
Stories That Felt Like Home
These are some of the books I loved and kept recommending to friends. They felt like home to me, and I wanted to gather them here.
Contemporary Fiction: Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin
Sci-fi: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Non-Fiction: A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
Catalan Fiction: Si Sabessis el Mar com és Bonic de Gemma Calduc
Catalan Non-Fiction: Valenta com tu de Iolanda Batallé
Some of these I read on paper, some digitally, and some as audiobooks.
Sounds for My Soul
Music accompanies me throughout my days: when I write, when I move through the house, when I walk around the city, quietly romanticizing my writer life.
Beyond my Spotify Wrapped — which gets some things right and misses others — these are some of the sounds that supported me this year, meeting me in different moments and moods:
To energize me: TOCA d’Oques Grasses & Figa Flawas
To ground me: el cuerpo después de todo by Valeria Castro
To go for a walk: And The Living is Easy by Guts
To relax me: Light Dark Light by Fred…Again
To help me rest: My Heart by Jon Batiste & Rita Payés
Art that Moved Me
In Barcelona, art is woven into daily life. You can see it in the buildings, the cuisine, and even the people.
This year, I found myself saying yes to a few experiences that reminded me how alive and generous that cultural landscape can be:
Exhibit The Body Keeps the Score by Foreign Affairs : Through visual layers and poetry, this exhibition spoke directly to the body, holding memory and experience with fierce care.
Opera Akhnaten in El Liceu: My first visit to El Liceu, and a modern opera that felt unlike anything I’d seen before: bold and unexpected. It was completely absorbing.
Inspiring Conversations
Conversation has nourished my personal and writing life just as much as books or art, unfolding in lush parks in Amsterdam, bookshops in Barcelona, online productivity livestreams, and even checkout lines in the States. I truly love to ask questions and listen; you never know where the next spark of inspiration will come from.
This year, with my debut novel Saber tornar coming out in October, I also had several opportunities to speak with readers about the book: listening to their questions, reflections, and how the stories resonated with their own lives.
If you’re curious, you can check out one of those conversations here. Feel free to watch now, or come back to it later (in Catalan).
Podcasts, too, offered moments of thoughtful exchange this year — conversations I could listen in on while walking, or taking a deserved break from writing and editing.
The Blueprint, by Angie Franklin Garcia: a podcast I returned to for its thoughtful, wellness-informed conversations around culture, identity, and entrepreneurship.
Spiritually Fly by Faith Hunter: reflective episodes that feel like a conversation, inviting seasonal, embodied, and unapologetic ways of living.
Practices that Sustained Me
More than any single project or moment, it was the small practices I chose to return to throughout the year that truly sustained me.
Morning Pages: a place to empty my cluttered mind, meet myself with honesty, and begin my day with clarity.
Pomodoro Sprints: If it weren’t for this simple time-management tool, I’m not sure I would have finished my novel. Short, focused bursts that helped me stay present and consistent, without burning out.
Daily walks: When I’m in the city, I choose walking over yoga most days. It’s my favourite way to move as I notice the world, listen to life unfolding around me, and let my imagination roam.
Coffee dates with friends: Unhurried conversations over cozy drinks with the people I love most. A reminder that time together is precious and worth carving out.
Before Moving On…
As this year comes to a close, I’m less and less interested in 2026 resolutions. What matters to me now are rhythms: noticing what sustains me, choosing what to carry forward with care, and letting go of what no longer serves me.
If you’re reading this in the midst of a busy season, whether personally, professionally, or both, I hope this pause offers you a moment to breathe and perhaps serves as a reminder that nourishment often resides in story, art, community, and even in the small rituals.
Thank you for being here, and for sharing this space with me.
Until we meet again, pause often, breathe deeply, and be kind, especially to yourself.
Much love,
Laia. 💛
You continue to inspire. Sending peace into wrapping up the joys experienced in 2025. ✨
Thank you for reminding me to reflect on what matters the most. I’m having a slow holiday season on purpose this year and it feels really good.