Through the Snake’s Coils: A Year of Global Shifts and Personal Resilience
- Ajmal Samuel
- 19 hours ago
- 4 min read
As the final moments of 2025 slipped away, I looked back on a year of quiet reflection. I’m not a firm believer in Chinese astrology, but I deeply respect my wife Carol’s cultural heritage. According to its wisdom, 2025 was the Year of the Wood Snake, my Ben Ming Nian (本命年), a time associated with challenge. The year certainly brought its share of tests, for the world and for me, but within those challenges, I found unexpected strength and small, meaningful victories.
We started the year on a note of warmth and family. In January, my mother’s 89th birthday brought us all together in Hong Kong. It was a celebration of generations, a grounding moment of connection before the year’s tides of change began to shift. Those shifts were not just personal. Globally, it was a year defined by economic reordering, with rising trade tensions and shifting supply chains reshaping how nations and businesses interacted, creating a backdrop of uncertainty for many, including my own ventures.
In February, Carol and I sought a different horizon in Cape Town, a city we both love and have started calling our second home. My goal was to log flights towards my sports pilot license. Soaring above Sedgefield and the Map of Africa in the Knysna region was a taste of freedom. But that freedom came with a stark reminder when a severe crash brought me back to earth. My shaken instructor, Matthew Van Zyl, later said to me, “Ajmal, I have learned something about you - you can be destroyed but not defeated. You are a survivor.” His words, witnessed by my friend Anton and Carol, would echo through the months ahead. Despite over 90 flights, the goalposts moved; the South African CAA now required 200 flights. My quest, like so many plans in a shifting world, was paused.
This pause was made more personal and frustrating by my ongoing recovery from shoulder surgery in early 2024. My body’s limitations kept the sports that define my life frustratingly out of reach. It was a daily reminder of incompletion, pushing me to keep working with doctors in hopes of a full recovery in 2026.
Back in Hong Kong, March offered a creative outlet. We welcomed Rimantas and Agnes from Lithuania to complete filming for Pushing Through Waves. Focusing on storytelling was a way to move forward, even when physically held back.
April brought an unexpected domestic shift. Renovations moved us to a dog-friendly hotel in Sai Kung, a month-long adventure for Shaghi and Mario, but a disruption for me, compounded by contracting Covid for the first time. In a world where households everywhere were feeling the squeeze of rising costs and disruptions, our small temporary displacement felt like a personal echo of a larger global theme of adaptation.
I travelled to Pakistan in May, reconnecting with roots and catching up on business and perspective. Meanwhile, the news continued to focus on tariff impacts and realignments, with nations like China pivoting to new technologies and Africa asserting its role in critical minerals. The Global South was finding its voice, just as I was searching for mine amid physical constraint.
I decided to focus on what I could build. In June, April Lam joined my team, bringing clarity and strategy to my marketing and PR efforts, which was a crucial step in navigating an unpredictable climate. This period was intensely focused on finalising Pendulum Control with director Richard Mark Dobson. The film, which chronicles my journey to becoming Asia and Africa’s first certified adaptive paragliding pilot, was a labour of love. Richard and I had our friendly creative battles, all fueled by a shared vision. Alongside us, Richard, Charlotte Cotton, and Akin worked tirelessly on the book about my handcycling trip to the Baltics and Scandinavia, which will hopefully be released sometime this year.
Running my fintech company, FTS.Money, through this period, required sharp focus. The global economic “misalignment” wasn’t just a headline; it directly tested business resilience, demanding adaptation not unlike the geopolitical pivots happening worldwide.
Our efforts culminated in August with the premiere of Pendulum Control at Soho House. The warm reception was a real reward. Choosing intimate, curated screenings over a wide release felt right; it was about creating impact, not just content, mirroring a world where direct connection was becoming ever more valuable.
Screenings built momentum through September, culminating in October: my 60th birthday. The surprise visit from my siblings was the greatest gift, a true joy. Amidst celebrations with friends, we also received our public screening license from Hong Kong’s censorship board, a small but significant victory.
In November and December, the film began earning recognition, winning awards that humbled me. The year’s journey fittingly ended in Palermo, Italy, where Pendulum Control won the Extreme Sports award at the Paladino d’Oro Sport Film Festival.
So, 2025 was a year of the Snake, a year of global flux, and a deeply personal year of setbacks and comebacks. It taught me that resilience isn’t about avoiding the fall, but about how we gather ourselves afterwards. My thanks go to everyone: Carol, my family, friends, and my dedicated team, including April, Richard, Charlotte, Georgia, Joanna, Hans, Arshad and Akin, who shared my path.
As 2026 begins, I move forward with cautious optimism, for my shoulder’s healing, for returning to the skies, and for continuing to tell stories that matter in a world learning to rewrite its own rules. Here’s to turning challenges into chapters, and to the journey ahead.
Comments