I originally wanted to write this end of year review before January 1. Didn’t happen, no big deal. But I think that is also telling of how 2024 felt for me.

I have done decent reviews of years past but this year I sat down and was a lot more intentional about it. Part of it included reading all of my private journal entries and reflecting on it. All in all, it confirmed what I was feeling when I started to see other people’s year end posts pop up: my year wasn’t that great.

This post was originally going to be kind of long and more transparent than virtually all my writing, but honestly, who wants to read that much about my year?! So this is the shorter version.

The not so good

2024 was quite literally the worst year of my 21 years in business. My big mistakes were 1) underestimating how long a couple of client projects would take, and 2) relying on referrals and letting my "marketing" slip. Major facepalm. Also, ouch. 🤕
I spread myself too thin with work and personal projects and as a result, I didn’t meet or gave up on many of my goals and projects.
Speaking of projects, I just created far too many personal and internal business projects for myself and didn’t plan them properly.
Depression reared its ugly head again in September and December.
I was far too hard on myself throughout the year.

The good:

5 core habits kept me sane: journaling, walking (especially with my pup), lifting weights, a very practical skincare routine, and my version of minimalism.
On a personal level, I’ve learned a lot about communication and I’d like to think I’ve improved in that area.
I restarted my newsletter, Block 81 Insights.
Toward the end of the year I found my way back to one of my core values: simplicity. I didn’t realize I had strayed so far from it!
In a burst of insanity, I decided to redesign and rebuild this site. 🤷‍♀️

Looking forward

I’m feeling pretty exhausted. As a result, I’ve written down exactly zero goals and projects for 2025. Not because I don’t have any, but because I don’t want to add that pressure on myself. If anything, I think I’m going to focus on two words this year: slow and simple.

Slow: take the time to do the things that matter the right way.
Simple: keep it as simple as possible (whatever "it" may be).

Happy 2025.