roundup 2024 [TMP #105]
a year of uncomfortable growth and gratitude
At the end of 2023, I really looked forward to having a healthy 2024. I am glad it was, and I am grateful for even more things. What were they and what did I learn along the way?
About God
Two Halves
Uncomfortable Growth and Reality Things
Books, Baby
Internet Goodies
ps: I recently posted two other stories - Coincidentally About Christmas and November’s Big Ideas.
about God
This year, I got to see God’s character through people—through events in the lives of long-time friends, through new friends and elder friends. The generous use of ‘friends’ is intentional because I learnt, very uncomfortably, to let go of hard lines between an acquintance and a friend to build community. Just love people genuinely, man, and if you need to talk about something, you know who to meet with. The other things I learnt were that God answers prayers and He also disrupts plans because He has something better in mind.
two halves
2024 felt like two years in one. I started the year working full time and ended the year as a grad student in a different culture. Of course, each half was full of widely different experiences but some things remained constant.
In January, I was concerned about the physical intuition of fluid pressure distribution and by December, I was still concerned about the physical intuition of fluid pressure distribution (because make it make sense like I’m 2 😭). Seriously though, in both halves, I experienced the warmth and help of people I didn’t really know and the joy of learning something new, and for that, I am grateful.
uncomfortable growth and reality things
Because 2023 had been a stressful year, I fought less for what I wanted. Add in an uncharacteristic fear of change and it caused unnecessary anxiety and dillydallying. What I have taken away from this year is to not fight for what I do not want. If I dislike the future result, I have no business pushing for it. It also went ‘deep into my psche’ that if there is a better way of doing something, allow the change to happen. Don’t resist it, change can be instant if I allow it.
This reminds me of a passage in The Almanack of Naval Ravikant that says:
“Another example is all the people you dated until you met your husband or wife. It was wasted time in the goal sense. Not wasted in the exponential sense, not wasted in the learning sense, but definitely wasted in the goal sense.
The reason I say this is not to make some glib comment about how 99 percent of your life is wasted and only 1 percent is useful. I say this because you should be very thoughtful and realize in most things (relationships, work, even in learning) what you’re trying to do is find the thing you can go all-in on to earn compound interest.
When you’re dating, the instant you know this relationship is not going to be the one that leads to marriage, you should probably move on. When you’re studying something, like a geography or history class, and you realize you are never going to use the information, drop the class. It’s a waste of time. It’s a waste of your brain energy.
I’m not saying don’t do the 99 percent, because it’s very hard to identify what the 1 percent is. What I’m saying is: when you find the 1 percent of your discipline which will not be wasted, which you’ll be able to invest in for the rest of your life and has meaning to you—go all-in and forget about the rest.”
As to reality things, I finally saw a Lucid in real life! I also saw Cybertrucks and Rivians; God is good 😂.
books, baby
I only completed three books this year and that’s crazy. I re-read Single. Dating. Engaged. Married. by Ben Stuart, I wrote a review on The Richest Man in Babylon and I read In the Grip of Grace: Your Father Always Caught You by Max Lucado. ‘In The Grip of Grace’ is a really good book and here’s an excerpt of it.
Edit (Jan 4, 2025):
Well, this is not entirely true. “Only completed three books” was alarming to me (because how, then, did I use my time?). So, I went back to review all I had read. The correction is this:
I read seven books completely:
The Richest Man in Babylon
The Simple Path to Wealth
Single. Dating. Engaged. Married (a re-read)
In The Grip of Grace
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (it could have been a good fantasy novel)
City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty
And a seventh book I can never recommend
I spent the rest of my reading time on the Pauline and general epistles of the Bible, Acts, Revelation, and four Old Testament books. The total count for these is not the point. The important thing is that, through these books, I learned something vital: grace is the spiritual inheritance of a believer in Christ.
internet goodies
Because I deleted social media for nearly the entire year, I watched more YouTube and listened to more podcasts than I ever have. I spent the most time with Koinonia Connect with Apostle Joshua Selman, Adama Lorna’s YouTube, Lamide Elizabeth’s YouTube, ModernMBA (this was recommended to me only a few months ago), Cherie Brooke Luo’s YouTube, The Balance Theory Podcast on YouTube and many random cooking videos. My favorite though was Stanford GSB’s interview with Leena Nair, CEO of Chanel.
For record purposes, I also participated in Mervin Azeta’s #24for24 challenge and it was such an insightful program! It was a massive learning opportunity and I cannot recommend it enough for early-career professionals in the energy sector if it happens again.
And that’s it for the year, folks. I hope your 2025 is as impactful as it is excellent :) 💞
Before you go, here’s a nice song:
Thanks for the youtube recs
Profound writing once again Dee👏🏾. The part about knowing when to let go of what's not serving you really resonates with me. Cheers to growth and more learnings in the coming year🥂