As the year comes to a close, I wanted to reflect on both the highs and lows. And while there've been some challenges this year, there have also been some major accomplishments. I guess that is how life is, highs and lows alternate through life - like in a dance.

Closing out the year soon, and unlike last year, and while I still have some ongoing projects this time of the year, there isn't a lot of work.

This year, the most significant event in my life was moving out to my own place, the agency this afforded me was life-altering.

Work

Middle of this year, I took the plunge and became a full-time freelancer. While it hasn't been easy financially, it's been incredibly rewarding in terms of the freedom and opportunities it has afforded me.

Last year, I had planned on balancing my time between THT, VerticaDev, and Learnflo, and it's pretty interesting though, that I'm closing the year not working for any of the three firms- not proud of this - a combination of burnout and poor mental health resulted in this.

But, late this year, I got into TopTal - so looking forward to this becoming a force multiplier in 2023.

Speaking of next year, I have big plans to diversify the projects and languages I work on. This year, I mostly focused on the Javascript ecosystem, with some forays into Swift and Kotlin. I also mostly only worked on web and mobile projects.

In 2023, I want to branch out and try building apps for desktop (Windows and Mac) and also get involved in the browser extensions space.

Health

I had hoped to get my workout routine on track this year, but unfortunately it was a bit hit or miss; hence I had some really tough days both physically and mentally.

But hey, there's always next year, right? I'm planning to be more consistent in 2023 and create some solid workout plans to keep me on track.

Learnings

In terms of learning new things, I made the goal to learn Rust this year, and while I'm still a beginner, it's been a great experience overall. I'm also excited to explore using it in the open source space in the future.

I also had the chance to read a number of truly impactful articles. One that particularly stood out to me was Learning to exercise agency, which delves into how to exercise our sense of choice.

Another one I enjoyed reading was, Communicating at the Right Altitude, which explores the importance of communicating at just the right context, which is something I've always thought about - but this article puts it so succinctly.

I'm always on the lookout for new and thought-provoking pieces to read, and I'm excited to see what else the coming year has in store.

2022 in Books

As far as reading goes, I really enjoyed diving into non-fiction books this year, with The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green being a particular highlight — a review of the world we live in. Aside that, I had some interesting reads like:

• Kingdom of Lies by Kate Fazzini
• I want to die but i want to eat tteokbokki by Baek Sehee - I loved reading this book, it was a ride from beginning to end.

Looking back

As I look back on this year, I am filled with gratitude for all of the positive things that have happened. I am grateful for the opportunities that have come my way, the opportunities to work with some amazing clients and people as a freelancer.

And although there have been challenges and struggles, I am grateful for the lessons I've learned and the growth I've experienced as a result — truly thankful for all that this year has brought, and excited to see what the future holds.

2023

A new year is a new beginning. Last year (2021), I had some goals, and I managed to complete some of them:

• Spent more time writing - I wrote about 12 posts this year
• Learnt Rust - still very much a beginner at this, but it's been great.
• Dipped my toes in some open-source projects - the Digital ocean hacktoberfest really motivated me to do this

Next year, my biggest goal is getting a Google Cloud Certification.

I also want to get involved in speaking at events, I hope to speak in at least one event next year.

Public speaking has been one of my long-lived fear - and next year, I plan on overcoming it.

I'll be joining a Public speaking workshop next week - so I'm happy to explore this - and in a way, as I pen my plans on speaking publicly next year, I'm combatting my fear just a bit.

Towards a better year

I quite hope that by putting this here in writing, I'd be more motivated to achieve all of this.

Here's to wishing that 2023 will be a great year for all of us. Happy New Year!