Rear Vision Mirror: 2018
What a rollercoaster of a year it’s been.
👉 There were plenty of firsts.
👉 There were new places explored.
👉 There were new friends made.
👉 There were (a lot) of new things learned and new skills acquired.
👉 There was also a lot of turbulence… constant change, demons faced, comfort zones challenged, fears confronted and plenty of farewells sprinkled throughout.
Was it a two-thousand-and-greateen, after all?
Honestly, it was a challenging year to get through for a number of reasons, but there’s so much that I have an insurmountable amount of gratitude for, and this is what today’s post will focus on.
As for you, 2019, thanks to the growth I’ve experienced this past year, I’m a much stronger person now — I hope you’re ready for me because I’m going to come in punching! 💪
It’s a big, beautiful world out there.
I was very fortunate to have travelled to all of these new places that I had never been to before. These experiences have opened my eyes, taken my breath away, and filled my heart.
📌 Langkawi (Malaysia 🇲🇾) — a last minute flight destination my husband and I booked on a whim at the start of the year.
📌 Auckland and the Waitakere Ranges (New Zealand 🇳🇿) — I was lucky enough to have been selected and flown over from Perth as a speaker for the Codemania conference. This was my first ever international conference that I’ve attended (and spoken at!).
📌 London (United Kingdom 🇬🇧), Berlin and Potsdam (Germany 🇩🇪) — I was unbelievably also flown to Berlin to speak at the ever-so-amazing JSConfEU.
📌 Laško, Ljubljana, Triglav and Bled (Slovenia 🇸🇮), (Croatia 🇭🇷) and Trieste (Italy 🇮🇹) — a wonderful trip to celebrate my best friend’s wedding… in a castle!
There were some achievements sprinkled in there…
I leapt out of my comfort zone and into my courage zone by accepting a new job in January 2018. It’s been a massive opportunity that’s presented me with plenty of challenges, but no feat has ever seemed too big or impossible with the amazing product and technology team that I was fortunate enough to be working alongside.
It honestly doesn’t feel like I did much this year but upon reflection, there’s quite a bit to be proud of.
✅ New Job! — I started a new job as the Head of Product and Design at Seven West Media (SWM).
✅ Presented at a meetup — I was invited to speak at an ACS women’s event about ‘Glowing Up’; leaving your comfort zone and finding your courage zone.
✅ Hackathon Win! 🏆 — I was flown to Sydney (Australia 🦘) to participate in a national newsroom hackathon in a team representing SWM (and we won!). I wrote about my experience here. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to participate in the world cup finals held in Lisbon (Portugal 🇵🇹) due to an event clash, but what a wonderful opportunity it was!
✅ First international talk — I gave my first ever international talk at Codemania in New Zealand!
✅ Second international talk — and soon after Codemania, I gave my second ever international talk at JSConf EU in Germany!
✅ First keynote talk — I was very humbled to have been invited to speak at Web Directions Code in Melbourne (Australia 🦘)! This was also a first.
✅ Presented at a primary school — I was invited to speak at Gooseberry Hill Primary School to (hopefully) inspire our future generation of leaders. The students were wonderful and I think I walked away from the event more inspired by their awesomeness!
✅ Started a new meetup! — Ah yes, Corey Ginnivan and I started a Product of PER chapter in Perth! We’ll be kicking off more activities with this meetup in 2019 🌟
✅ Nominated for an award — I was very surprised to be a nominee in the Women in Technology WA’s (WiTWA) 20in20 awards. The biggest congratulations to all of the nominees and winners, and especially to my Mixin and SWM teammate, Mandy Michael, for representing the tech industry and making the final 20!
Thoughts… as I moved into a 5-day working week instead of my preferred 4-days (probably against my better judgement) in this fairly consuming role, I found myself struggling with finding the right balance between work, life and fulfilment. I recognised the symptoms and have done a lot of work to improve my circumstances, but can’t help but be disappointed that I allowed myself to reach my limits again.
Ah well — lessons learned (again!).
… and some more 2018 highlights
👉 Went to a Butterfly Effect gig (it was amazing)
👉 Flew in Business Class on Air New Zealand (wowie, wow!) 💅
👉 Took the Qantas direct flight to London (16.5 hours) and it was surprisingly good! ✈️
👉 Took in the beauty of postcard-worthy lakes, mountains, waterfalls and caves in Europe!
👉 Went to the Oasis Ball for the first time!
👉 Went to a Nirvana Tribute gig
👉 Started Yoga — it’s the best 🙏🏼
👉 Learnt how to do screen printing
👉 Went to my first AFL game
👉 Won a netball grand final and made two semi finals
👉 Bathrooms renovated — yay!
👉 Pranked my (ex)-boss with a camel in his office. Bonus: didn’t get fired
And of course, so many more great memories, including amazing people, cattos and doggos I’ve met along the way.
I’m wholeheartedly grateful for the year that’s been. Without writing all of this down and just going off how I feel, I think I would have looked back on last year thinking that I didn’t really achieve or do anything substantial, when in fact, I really did have a good year.
Perspective. It’s a funny ol’ thing.
I did a bad job at running ahead without pausing more frequently and reflecting — something I aim to improve on immensely in 2019.
A year of new beginnings, but also endings…
It’s with great sorrow that the Mixin team announced that the first MixinConf would be the last. I hope to write more on the topic soon. I’ve shared a few tweets for the time being.
Today, I also made an announcement (thread) that these next 1.5 weeks will be my last as the Head of Product and Design at Seven West Media. Goodbyes are hard! 💔
Phew, what a year in review that was…
Now, it’s all eyes forward for me as I focus on the road ahead. The next chapter awaits 🤜🤛
My 2019 goals will all shape around doing things that bring the most joy to my life. I’m aiming to write more, create more and to find my healthy balance again so that I am fit and strong both mentally and physically again. I aspire to be more deliberate in my journey and what I footprint I want to leave on this world.
Wish me luck!
Thanks for reading (really!) and I hope to read your 2018 reflections soon too ✨
Special thanks go to these awesomes who’ve given me so much extra support and encouragement along the way Corey, Thomas, Anton, Mike, Miles, Stuart, Brendan, Kylie, Teegan, David, Teresa, John, Anna, Michael, Sam C, Kari B, Jess K, Ming, Sandy, Cale, Donna, Michelle and Cyrus, Tam, Krish, Dave S — my hubba, my mumma and my family! ❤️
