2024: A Year in Review
Opinions expressed here are and will always be my own. Many of these are based on my personal experiences and anecdotes and are not data-driven conclusions. This isn’t meant to be a post that helps you decide what to do, but rather a retrospective on my own experiences throughout this year.
Ah yes, it’s the end of another year. The last “year in review” post I did was in 2022 (I think) and it was a Facebook-only post. So this year, I’m planning on dropping this on Medium and Patreon (free membership, btw) since it’s a return to form for me.
These year-in-review posts have always been a safe way for me to do some stream-of-consciousness writing without tying myself to a particular goal. Sometimes you have to treat yourself, right? Well, here we go.
Say Goodbye to A Borderline Terrible Year
Did I like 2024? Hell no. Going into 2024, I saw a lot of what I worked to put together waver. More than once, I thought about what I was doing with my life and if it was time I packed it in and jumped back into the fray.
I became self-employed in 2019, right before COVID and I rode the wave of that disease on my own, coming out much better for it on the other side. Unfortunately, during that wave, I tied myself to a company and that’s something I should not have done.
When the company moved on after that period, they left me high and dry and I found myself struggling to find replacement sources of income. For a while, I was floating by on my hard-earned savings. I had to pivot or die.
Naturally, I couldn’t go back to being tied to a desk, so goddamn did I pivot. I shifted from being a B2B/B2C content writer into being a journalist. I leaned into what I learned as a writer to become a freelance travel journalist. 2024 was a year of firsts for me.
I threw myself extra-hard into consolidating what I learned, and relearning new things. It paid off, as 2024 comes to a close, I’m in a better position now, with more control of my work and my income that I ever have been before. And it feels good. After struggling for a bit, it really feels like I’m recovering and I am all for it.
My Country Continues to Decline
No year in review is complete without my thoughts on the country that I live in and…boy was this a year for Trinidad and Tobago. It’s the last day of the year and not only has the murder toll hit more than 600 people, but we’ve also had a state of emergency levied on us. Because what a nation plagued by crime needs is authoritarian dictatorship measures. Yes, that’s sarcasm, in case you wondered.
This year saw a tightening of foreign exchange controls. Now, ALL banks had a limit on how much forex individuals can spend. Moreover, they have a limit on how much US currency anyone is allowed to purchase, putting a huge dent in imports.
Naturally, a black market for US currency has sprung up and right now the black market rate sits at around 1.3 times the “official” rate. Since supply and demand forces apply to foreign exchange, this rate will only get worse as time goes by once the government does nothing to help it stabilize.
Based on what the average person sees, the government has no intention of stabilizing anything. In fact, as time goes on, it’s pretty clear to anyone with a pair of eyes that this country’s leadership isn’t just lacking in ideas; it’s also lacking in a way to get itself out of its current predicament.
However, that’s not a big issue for the individuals making up the government since they’re still making money through their backroom deals while the nation suffers and slowly crumbles. All of this isn’t news to people who live in the country and face it daily. But little by little, people are fleeing because they see signs of a collapse.
In the last year, many businesspeople I know personally have decided that since they’re not a member of the privileged class funding the government, the only way they can survive is to leave the island. I agree with them. 2025 is likely to see me following their pattern. It’s become impossible to stay here any longer.
Could this be fixed? If you had asked me a decade ago, I’d have said yes. Paying attention to the declining forex situation, shifting dependence from one economy into many and opening up the market to competition were all means of driving the country to prosperity, but none of these things ever crossed the minds of those who run the country. Now, facing the shadow of a narco-dictatorship, I don’t see any way out of the current death spiral. So the only alternative is to leave.
What 2024 Taught Me
Despite going through my version of financial stress, I learned a lot of things about myself. I realized I’m not too old to learn new things or too old to compete with younger people. I learned that no matter what happens to me, once I bet on myself, the outcome is probably going to be in my favor.
One of the biggest lessons I learned in 2024 is that trusting others requires them to trust you in return. I realized that no matter how self-sufficient I am, no man is an island, and having a support network is physically and emotionally significant.
There’s more than one way to do things. Thinking about doing something is important, but having no plan to achieve that end goal is next to useless. Many people say that the first step is the hardest, but that’s a lie. Coming up with a plan is the hardest. And sometimes, that isn’t even your first step.
This year I learned how to reprioritize myself and my work. For about three years I lost sight of my goals and ambitions, but I rediscovered those things this year. I’ve started writing fiction again and it feels good. Even if there are only a few people reading it right now, it gives me hope that my work is getting read. And for a writer, what better motivation is there than knowing people like your work?
Probably the most significant thing I rediscovered this year is the idea of consistent progress, no matter how small. Having completed a novel manuscript before, I understand the need for consistent progress over time but I seem to have forgotten that lesson over the last few years. This year, I rediscovered what it meant to be consistent and I am reveling in that discovery. It will help me finish this novel and the others I have planned for next year.
What Does 2025 Look Like?
William Jennings Bryan once said, “Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.” I 100% believe in that version of the future going into 2025.
I don’t know what 2025 is going to look like or how it’s going to be. But I do know that the only way to make 2025 work out for me is to set achievements and make it happen. Instead of resolutions this year, I’m doing a 2025 bingo card. I’m going to fill it in with things I want to achieve and accomplish and little by little I am going to tick them off until I finish the card. Some of them I might not accomplish, but I’m still going to try. At the end of next year, in my “Year in Review” note, I’m going to see how well I did.
So, what do you see 2025 looking like for you? I’m interested in hearing how your 2024 went. And what things would you put on your bingo card? Please, let me know, and enjoy 2025 as it rolls into view.
