2024-12-31
tags: yearnotes
Words: 2355 (9 minutes to read)
2024 has come to a close! I have for a few years written year end reviews, variously titled over the years. Here it is for 2024.
This year has actually been so busy and hectic, it's hard to look back over the whole year in any kind of consistency. I definitely have made good progress: I would argue this has been my best year so far. I think I am orienting myself towards better concerns, and implementing them better. I am developing a more coherent, if inconsistently applied, philosophy about life. In short, I am maturing a bit - about time, at the age of 23!
I'll add all that I can, but I probably will miss things or get the timings wrong on many things. First, though, let's start with what I normally start with: reviewing how well I did in the concerns I set out for myself in the last year end review.
The website this year has done relatively well. I redesigned it, initially using a script written in Odin, then re-writing that script into Zig. I can now write my blog entries in a Markdown-like format (I call it kmd) and it converts to the finished HTML document when I build the website. There is still work to be done on this, and the website definitely could do with being better designed; still, I'm happy with where I am at.
I started in September #100DaysToOffload as a bit of a challenge, and realistically because I was already writing enough to do it easily anyways. I'm about halfway in, and should finish it by mid next year.
In 2023, I tried to use the phone less, but failed. In 2024, I have ... not really tried that overly, and have somewhat more succeeded. A lot of my previous Youtube-viewing was replaced by reading blogs on my phone, instead.
There is a big reason for this: I can't actually access Youtube on my phone now in the first place, because I added it to the /etc/hosts file on it. Still, it's reduced my screentime I believe, to a few hours per day for most of the year. In December, as a part of my 25 for 2025 and trying to get ahead of myself, I have kept my screentime to less than 25 minutes every day since 13th Dec. I hope to continue that in 2025.
I reinstalled Whatsapp this year to be able to keep in contact with my family easier, and save costs over SMS. I did get my physical Railcard, which has made me a bit less "reliant" on bringing my phone about, but didn't really stop me from taking my phone with me to work, or indeed from using it (to browse blogs) at lunchtime.
I don't consider the bad habit of Youtube fully kicked, because I do still use it on the computer. However, I consider it much better now than it was.
Last year, I did very well on the allotment for a first year. This year... was not so pretty. I had other concerns, and spend my time doing other things, is a part of it. It also wasn't a very good year for allotmenting generally. The spring was rainy, and well into May nothing could get started due to the excess of slugs and snails. Partly that was also my fault, though, as I didn't tend to the grass as well as I could have, and didn't take preventive measures against the snails until too late. My leeks did not grow well; this was my fault, as I tried a different method of starting them in trays, which was clearly not as effective as starting them in pots as I did the year before.
I didn't grow much at all, as a result, this year. My carrots kept failing; my tomatoes didn't root in well, and so didn't grow well at all (this was due to the lack of a good summer, I believe). My kohl rabi were completely destroyed by snails, etc.
What we did get, was a good crop of courgette from the garden, and a fair (but not incredible) number of Golden Sunrise tomatoes also from the garden.
I also created a new border in the garden, which grew very well with nasturtiums and calendulas, and some red sunflowers that exceeded two metres tall!
Essentially, this year was a poor year for me, but due to focussing on other things, and making several mistakes throughout the year.
The bike saw slightly less use for travelling to the allotment, as I went less. It did see decent usage to and from the gym, though. It's not in the best nick, really, because I haven't maintained it well. At times haven't lubed it regularly, etc. I also have not been on many longer recreational rides.
The new bike has essentially seen no use at all. I have occasionally used it when my brother has borrowed my bike, but I haven't used it to cycle to work, opting to continue to walk instead. It's easier to just walk instead of navigating the folding and unfolding on and off the train. It also doesn't actually feel very nice to cycle on, due to the smaller tyres.
I'm not sure it's worth comparing myself too much against 2023, and it's going to be too much hassle for me to try. I think I've read a decent enough amount.
I was rather insistent at the start of the year on reducing plastic use, and not eating any ultra-processed food. I did this for the first few months, with a few exceptions for common products I sort of "need" (like soya milk) that are in plastic (or tetra-pak) packaging. Now, I am considerably more relaxed. That said, I do still shop more in Sainsburys to try to get veg without the plastic.
I think my diet has transitioned a little: I eat more in the way of grains/cereals now. Generally, my diet is fairly healthy at this point, I would say. The main problem I now have is that I still just eat too much.
I put this one with a question mark, that I could potentially take up a motorbike as a form of motorised transport. The problem is I was worried about all the inevitable problems in terms of pollution, noise pollution, contributing to congestion , etc. I haven't started to ride a motorbike this year, or taken my CBT. I'm still sort of undecided on it - for as long as I live in the UK, and there is no viable alternative to motor transport (we do have trains and buses of course, but there are still certain places that are impossible or extremely difficult to reach with public transport, and many places where it is prohibitively expensive and overly cumbersome) I might have to. For now, though, I will make do without. Likely, I will not get one in 2025 either.
As I mentioned above, I didn't do very well in terms of the allotment this year not just due to the poor seasons, but also because I didn't put enough time into it.
This year, we planted another rhubarb down the end of the garden, next to the original rhubarb that's been there for years now. The aim is to have copious amounts of rhubarb in a few years time once they are both mature.
I also planted a gooseberry, and a blackcurrant down the allotment, and at home a redcurrant and a pinkcurrant (in a pot).
I have awaiting proper handling a wineberry, a boysenberry, and a whitecurrant plant. I'll have to plant them out early in 2025.
In April, I started a gym membership. Now, I feel disappointed to say that I haven't done anywhere near as well on it as I wish I had. I have definitely improved: for instance, on the chest press, I went from managing about 20kg to about 47.5kg. I noticed that I got a bit more muscular, but am still not in what one might call a good shape. This is partly because some of the time, I didn't even bother with the gym: I didn't go at all in June and July and opted just to swim most every day instead, and haven't done much of at all since early November.
Still, even though I haven't done it enough to be pleased with myself, I guess it is something that I spent my time doing.
For work, I studied the LM1 and LM2 this year. I also studied the horticulture course that I started in Nov-23, and am halfway through (having completed four of the eight modules).
I did a bit of guitar this year. I sort of did a bit in the later part of the year, then ended up not doing it for several months, and have done it a bit more consistently since end November. At the beginning of December, I bought my mandolin (only cheap), which has been absolutely great fun to play!
As an attempt to actually start dating (which I have, somewhat intentionally, avoided to date) I have decided to begin with speed-dating. I've been on a few; they have all been with people older than me, and so I haven't really met anyone, but it's decent fun either way.
I feel I have adopted a bit of a strange mindset this year: a sort of more productive one, but one which lends itself to a more depressive tendency. In autumn, I found myself having to seriously review how I was thinking, as I was continually underperforming according to my expectations of self, and was inducing a depression in myself. I have found that several times (detailled for instance in wv 0019 wv 0033, or wv 0077, and wv 0092, I have had a form of tenderness, as I call it, which is a state not altogether new to me, but particular prevalent, and pronounced, this year of all.
I have also noticed that this winter, I have been suffering a winter depression - more lethargic than anything. I imagine that is in large part due to a lack of sunlight during the (nigh on non-existent) summer, but I don't know, really.
I am fully aware, though, that a large part of the depressive tendency I have suffered this year was self-induced: I intentionally acted in a way which I knew would compromise my mental health; I simply did not realise it would affect me so strongly.
For next year, I really do need to find a way to continue my goal of self-improvement, whilst being somewhat permissive and allowing of my flawed state, and not compromising my health in doing so. I'm not sure how that will look; potentially, I will also grow to cope better.
I have really detailled this greatly elsewhere, so I will be rather sparing in terms of my words here. I have created a 25 for 2025, which sets out some goals I aim to complete in 2025. To guide me, and to provide myself a sort of way of thinking, or clear outline, of what I desire, I have also set forth some themes for the year. These are mainly four: Health, Allotment, Guitar, and Study. I have noticed rather too late that, rearranged, these can form the unfortunate initialism SHAG.
Within that, there's quite a lot to focus on. The allotment itself is a lot of work; guitar and mandolin require daily practice; study is continuous and I've got not just the RHS, but also IF2 now, and whatever ones I do next for the Dip CII for work; then, there is of course exercise, which will not be frequenting the gym, but rather doing daily (if at all possible) skipping, running where I can (to try to get a 5k under my belt next year), and general weights etc.
What I hope to achieve is to have a more focussed routine, that I can patiently go through, ensuring that I take each week in its turn, and so, by the end of the fifty-two, have accomplished a fair progress in the four concerns that I have set out for myself. Naturally, one of these is reset each year, but in terms of the others, I could achieve:
This more minimalistic, and regular lifestyle, will also, I hope, allow me to also get better finances (since my expenses ought be fairly few, and well accounted for). I will of course have nights out, etc. and try progress generally on all fronts of my life, bit by bit.
I think I can have 2025 be a great year; I've improved slowly each passing year, in what I think are somewhat exponential gains. Each small improvement is definitely getting me to a state that I think is desirable. I think 2024 has been the largest leap so far; I've made some serious improvements. 2025, I am, to consolidate these, and reduce and concentrate down into a more distilled form to allow a better progress. In other words, it is a distillation of my priorities, and a form in which I hope to make rather appreciable improvement in each of them, whilst also keeping up with all of the usual concerns of life.
I'll see how it goes. I may underperform; I likely will; so be it. I think the key for myself will be to take each day as itself, and do the best I can do in that day. Then do the same for the next day, and the day after. Consistency, dedication, and hard work, is what will afford me the life that I want.
With that all said, have a good new year. I am not sure if anybody will actually read this, apart from likely myself at the end of 2025. Hopefully you kept true on your word, if it's future me reading. I doubt you will be happy, but rest assured, if you've done your part, you're probably happier than me.
Good night, and have a good 2025.