Besides liking to spend Christmas with the people I feel closest to, I also use it to reflect on my life and how it’s turning out. These are not the small things that are easily changeable, but the grander things of life: do I like where my life is heading, do I enjoy what I do career wise and are there things I would like to do more.
I usually keep these things to myself, but since I read Chris Guillebeaus Annual review series this year I thought it might be fun to share the things I didn’t like last year and how I dealt with it here.
- My career: I decided that if I still had to work 30 years until retirement I might as well make something of it and work at an organization that does more than keeping the economy afloat. So I applied and got a job at a great charity where I love to work and know what I do helps to make a difference in the lives of people that aren’t as fortunate as I am.
- Getting a place on my own: it drifted more towards the end of the year than I would’ve liked because of the time it took to find the right job, but I’ve spread my wings and left the nest so to say. And although it’s only been a little while now and I still need a little bit of adjusting to things, it’s been great.
- Health/fitness: I started working out more and in the process lost weight and felt better. I’m still not where I want to be but it’s getting there.
- Learning spanish: I dropped the ball there because I didn’t do a whole lot on that. That’s something I have to pick up.
- Travel/Events: Although I didn’t travel much outside of my country this year I did visit some events and exhibitions I enjoyed thoroughly. Next year will see some more international travel from me with plans for trips to Lebanon, Spain and Mexico (see how learning Spanish fits in there). It also seems I promised some guy I would join him at Lowlands 2010.
- Writing/this blog: I think I’ve evolved as a writer (I even make some money out of it now; not enough to buy that beach house in Tuscany though) but not as much as I would’ve liked to. Taking this blog to it’s own hosted home was a good decision, but I still feel this is not exactly the way I want it to be.
Of course there were some other things which I changed, but overall these are the larger subjects.
For next year I’ve set myself 2 larger goals then the ones that need work mentioned above: become more socially active (it’s not that I’m a social outcast now, but I would like to do more with friends and meet new and interesting people) and be more oriented to always-learning. It will be a challenge but that’s what makes life interesting.
Let me end by wishing you a very merry Christmas!
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