I’m always late in writing my yearly review. In the past, I’ve not excelled at writing. I tend to think in bullet points and doubt my inner voice, if I can even hear him. But I resolved to do better this year and truely feel it’s been a year of dismantling, pruning, and the beginning of growth.
Dismantled
This year, I started therapy for anxiety. After years of half-attempts and a dozen justifications for delaying, I found someone and started going regularly. And I learned what probably millions of people have learned as they also started this journey: we often sell the worst-case scenario to ourselves.
I told myself for years that I was either fine and didn’t need therapy, or that I had too much going on, too many people depending on me, including my wife and child. I thought I couldn’t afford to dig up whatever was gnawing at my roots because I couldn’t risk having bad days. I couldn’t be the weak link in the chain. But I’ve seen that our desire to protect ourselves can sometimes be our undoing, that failure isn’t always as bad as our brains make it out.
On top of that, I faced one of the most difficult challenges of my professional life: losing my job. It was a moment that shook my confidence and forced me to reevaluate everything. At first, it felt like the world had dropped out from under me, but over time, I started to see it as an opportunity to rebuild. Therapy helped me process the emotions tied to this loss and turn them into motivation for the future. Losing my job wasn’t just an ending—it was also the beginning of something new.
Achievements
Finally Started Learning React
As a web developer, I’ve known for a while that learning React was overdue. This year, I finally took the plunge and began the journey. It’s been rewarding to step out of my comfort zone and expand my skills in a meaningful way.
Level 99 Mining in RuneScape
I got back into RuneScape, the ancient MMORPG, near the end of 2023. I’ve drifted in and out of its grasp over the last 20 years, but this year, I decided to finally tick one of my long-standing goals off: Level 99 Mining. It’s a small, nerdy accomplishment, but it’s one that brought me a sense of satisfaction.
Book Body Count
This year I only read 3-4 new books. I finished the ACOTAR 3rd book (meh). I then went on to read the first too Fourth Wing books (again meh). These weren’t terrible books in my opinion (the 2nd ACOTAR book being pretty decent), but I wouldn’t recommend them if romantasy isn’t something you enjoy.
About halfway through the year I started my re-read of The Stormlight Archive books 1-4 by Brandon Sanderson in preparation for the fifth installment, Wind and Truth, which came out last month. While I didn’t quite finish the fifth book before the year ended, I’m still counting it as a highlight. With just a few hundred pages left in a book longer than all three Lord of the Rings books combined, it feels like a fitting way to close the year.
Summary
So that’s my whirlwind of a year. To end this, I’ll write the cheesiest thing I’ve ever written: the most important step I can take is the next one. May 2025 be a year of continued growth.