Two thousand and greateen!
It’s mid way through January already and some might say it’s a little late to do a recap of the year that’s been and a starry-eyed forecast into the year ahead. You know what, though? I’m going to go ahead with it anyway because I feel like I’m smack-bang in the middle of an incredible life transformation and I’d be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t stop to observe it all.
A lot of what happened in 2017 really paved the way for the adventures that I’m heading into now. Hola, 2018!
Words can’t describe how personally excited I am about this year. It could just be all the adrenaline that’s racing through my veins to muster up this courage to go on the journey that I am about to, but as the saying goes, if it doesn’t kill you…
2018 tldr;
(scale of grandeur indicated by the following key; XS — Extra Small, S — Small, M — Medium, L — Large, XL — Extra Large)
- L — Travelled to Langkawi, Malaysia for the first time [ done! I highly recommend it ]
- XL — Starting a new job [ in progress ]
- XL — Speaking at (and attending) my first ever international conference [ New Zealand confirmed ]
- L — Doing my first ever Euro trip in the bridal party of my best friend’s wedding [ Slovenia confirmed ]
- XL — Speaking at my second ever international conference [ Europe confirmed ]
- M — Other exciting news [ currently embargoed ]
- S — Speaking at a meetup for the ACS [ confirmed ]
I’m writing this on the eve of starting my new job. My first career change since starting my dream job after finishing my degree 12 and a half years ago. There’s nothing I can fault about where I was and I would have happily stayed there for the rest of my years. It’s seriously great workplace with a fantastic culture, awesome people and I’ve remained a major shareholder in the business.
Perhaps it was the ability to step away for six months of long service leave that gave me a new perspective. I was fortunate enough to enjoy life and explore the world. To be honest, I didn’t really want the break, but it turns out that it was exactly what I needed to push me forward. I realised, after much soul searching, that I was comfortable. Way too comfortable.
One of the biggest epiphanies that I had was that the world, and work, honestly just continues, with or without you. I’m not unhappy about that. It’s actually the greatest thing. In my absence, the business changed, shifted and adapted. Individuals in the team stepped up into leadership roles and they were amazing — just as I knew they would be. They did such a great job; it really made me so proud. I couldn’t help but happily say to myself, “You know, I think my job here is done”.
I’ve since stepped down as a company director to pursue something new. I didn’t know what that something would be but as timing would have it, as soon as I decided to close one door, another one opened in front of me almost right away.
2018 has certainly started off amazingly, which a last minute trip to Langkawi, Malaysia helped in setting the tone. Tomorrow I start my new job — I hope I can get some sleep tonight through all this excitement!!
But that’s tomorrow. Before I look too far into the year ahead, it’d be prudent of me to look back on the year of 2017 because it was epic, to state it mildly.
2017 highlights
(scale of grandeur indicated by the following key; XS — Extra Small, S — Small, M — Medium, L — Large, XL — Extra Large)
- S — Started the new year camping at Sandy Cape with some close friends. We got to visit the beautiful Jurien Bay beaches for the first time ever on the way home too — gorgeous!
- XL — Created and launched a community initiative, Localhost, along with The Deployment, a national touring roadshow.
- S — Hosted community Web and Wellness fitness sessions along with monthly discussion dinners.
- L — Travelled to Japan for the first time ever! I’ve fallen in love with the people, food and snowboarding…
- M — Launched a Localhost branch in Brisbane (LocalhostBNE) which also meant a visit to Brisbane for the first ever time. Loved it there! The community vibes are so similar to Perth.
- XL — Organised and hosted The Deployment — a roadshow event that took 4 speakers around the country to 4 cities in 4 days. Went to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane as part of this.
- XL — Went on six months’ long service leave! No plans. Impromptu trips to places like Northam, Yallingup, Albany and Bali.
- L — Spoke at my first ever conference — Managing Design, UX Australia (Melbourne)
- L — Spoke at my second ever conference — DDDPerth (Perth)
- S — Spoke at two meetup events — Geek Mental Help Week (Fenders Perth) and 72dpi (AGDA)
- M — Resigned from AWIA. I wrote about this here.
- XL — Said farewell as an employee from my wonderful business, Bam Creative, after 12.5 wonderful years, to pursue the next stage of my career (I remain a major stakeholder, but have since handed over the baton to my awesome team there).
- M — Broke my toe. Sad panda.
- S — Attended many awesome meetups, events and conferences! Web Directions Respond, Web Directions Summit, Fenders Perth, Junior Developer, WiTWA, Telstra Business Women’s Awards Dinner, ACS Diversity Dinner, STYLEAID, the Australian Web Awards and more.
- XS — I also met a lot of doggos.
- XS — And ate a lot of caesar salads.
- XS — Tried many new gins. Can highly recommend my new favourite, Jinzu.
- M — Life achievement unlocked: faced a fear and gave pats to a live chicken (and survived to tell the tale).
Phew! Well, I think that’s all of the main stuff. 2018 is going to have to be pretty huge to top that effort but I’m ready for the adventures.
Thanks for reading. Wishing you all the best year ahead!
