2024: The year that maybe slipped away, maybe it didn't
When progress feels like standing still
As 2024 draws to a close, the holiday season brings more than just festive cheer—it brings an avalanche of introspection. Christmas is just days away, the New Year looms on the horizon, and I find myself caught in a whirlwind of emotions: overwhelmed, questioning my progress, yet oddly hopeful.
This year has been a paradox of growth and setbacks. I’ve embraced discipline in many aspects of my life, yet financial prudence has been my greatest struggle. A new car with a powerful engine and a significantly higher rent are bold choices that challenge my financial stability. But these aren’t reckless decisions; they’re calculated risks balanced precariously on the edge of potential and restraint.
The most powerful challenge hasn’t been financial, but personal. Where does one draw the line between self-care and people-pleasing? How much of ourselves do we sacrifice to ensure others’ comfort? These questions haunt me as I approach 2025, a silent resolution forming in my mind.
My entrepreneurial spirit wrestles with practicality. The “Dime Defender” - my envisioned expense tracker - now feels like a ghost of an idea. Not because it lacks merit, but because it doesn’t align with my intrinsic way of thinking. I’m a big-picture person, someone who calculates life’s expenses in real-time mental spreadsheets, occasionally scribbling down expenses in a notebook, but far from maintaining meticulous app entries.
The allure of novel ideas beckons. Live social shopping in Kenya - a concept both exciting and terrifying. It reminds me of my hesitation with TikTok in 2019, that paralyzing fear of content creation. Yet, the potential for innovation whispers promises of unexplored territories.
As this year concludes, I stand at a crossroads. Software engineering offers a structured path, but my entrepreneurial heart beats with restless potential. What will 2025 bring? More importantly, what will I choose to build, to chase, or to become?
The journey continues, undefined but unafraid.