I always find the new year an opportune time to reflect. A lot happens year in and year out, and it’s easy to miss just how much our situation may have changed over the year, or how much we’re changing ourselves. This last year was a reflective one for me, and there were a few highlights that seemed worth sharing…

• I started journaling in January for the first time (yeah, it took me that long). I can’t recommend it enough; among other benefits there’s an extra sense of accountability to how I use my time…
• We normally never travel, so given travel uncertainty during school holidays, we drove coast-to-coast across Australia. In the middle of winter. And had a great time.
• We avoided catching COVID during our travels or from the office
• We caught COVID while working from home. Thanks, kids? And yet, four vaccinations and a few virus mutations later, it does seem increasingly manageable.
• I shifted away from software development to devote more time to writing, family, and personal development.
• I no longer have a motorcycle, for the first time in nearly 20 years.
• I picked up my first ever iPhone, thereby changing camps and having to relearn where all the keys are on my phone keyboard again.
• I started teaching my 17 year old how to drive. Which also means that the little kid who was about 4 when I started blogging (back in the old blogspot site) has come a long way!

If you’d asked me to predict any of this on the first of January last year, I don’t think I’d have picked even one of them. All I dare assume about 2023 is it’ll be as much of a surprise, and a challenge, and a delight, as 2022 was. We’ll try to grow in the process, and God willing we’ll be back here again in twelve months sharing the adventure that is the year that was.

In the meantime, allow me to wish you a Happy New Year for 2023.