My 2022 Recap: Celebrating the Wins and Learning from the Challenges

7 min readDec 31, 2022

12:58 am. Saturday, 31st December 2022. (Currently listening to Obongjayar — Wind Sailor).

Well, it’s that time of year to reflect on the highs and lows, the triumphs and setbacks, and everything in between. It’s been quite a ride, 2022. But as they say, time flies when you’re having fun (or going through the wringer, as the case may have been). So, let’s take a moment to reflect on all that’s happened in the past year and see what we can learn from it.

I’ve actually never written a recap or review of any year in my life. I haven’t witnessed a year as phenomenal as 2022 in my life. So, I hope to the best of my abilities, I can give you an insight into how things revolved in this rollercoaster year.

If you hate stories, just skip to the Q4 part of this article for highlights and final words.

Ready? Here we go — let’s dive into my personal 2022 year review!

Q1- (January — March) — The “I want to build on my biggest win of 2021” Quarter.

As the title says, I wanted to build on my biggest win of 2021. This quarter finds me reminiscing on the fact that In my 2years of perusing through the tech/digital world, I finally got paid for writing. Not just one job, two jobs gotten within the space of three months of persistence, hard work, and let’s not leave luck behind.

Well, I’d say I didn’t build well. I guess I didn't use the proper cement, I didn’t call any contractors, I was the surveyor, the bricklayer, the plumber, and the interior decorator of the house I wanted to build with no proper mindset.

Forget the Bala blu I’m typing, the house collapsed. My two job wins (: couldn’t even keep me away from the gruesome hands of sapa (More details coming soon).

I ended up as a teacher, PE coordinator, and the only male in a school earning what I can spend in a week every month.

This quarter was catastrophic! The funniest part, I still had my beloved wins of 2021 basking in my arms, tapped unprofessionally, waiting to be utilized.

Q2 — (April — June) — “The I’m Ready For Anything/ Growth year”.

As this title says, I became ever-ready for anything. We had a one-month break in school, and I told the headteacher “I’m not coming back to this school after this break”. The only thing I had in mind was that I was going to make 6-figures from writing articles in 30 days and that was it.

And as the title also says, “Growth”. I had my biggest growth. I smashed my goal. From writing 12 articles in Q1, I wrote close to 50 articles in 30 days and my bank account recorded its first ###,### of money. See joy!

I got myself a phone, and my brother gave me his old laptop too, which made my work much easier (I’m expressing a profound appreciation here). And that was just the first growth of Q2.

And things were smooth in Q2. So smooth! I turned 17 in June ( the 2nd growth, I can’t wait to turn 18). And I recorded the first time I ever took myself out to spend money on myself. This 2022 recorded a lot of firsts.

Well, Q3 came with gifts….

Q3–(July — September) — “The Bad, The good, and The keeps getting better quarter”

Q3’s first gift was 2 weeks of sickness in July. Used all my money to pay for injections, and drugs to rid myself of Malaria and Typhoid. Horrible!

July was with mixed feelings as I also got to attend my first tech event and got to join the biggest community of GenZs in tech, Genztechies. So, a W at least. But July left me in stitches.

Then August came in good with the gift of Web3. One of the best gifts of my life. I got 100 followers on Twitter in a month of “consistently” (I’m resuming consistency next year, hehe) creating Web3-related content for a month, got invited for an AMA session with Ayagigs, and got invited to speak about careers in Web3 at an event to take place in September all in a month of learning about Web3. Major joys of my life, big bragging rights for The Non Fungible Human.

I delivered the talk in September and I also began my Blockchain engineering journey with Dapps3 learning HTML, CSS, and their brothers.

I sincerely can’t remember the events I attended during this period but I attended Linkedin Local Lagos, and Web3 Lagos conference during this period.

Then I also joined the #1 community for Web3 builders in Africa, Web3afrika. Still proud to be the #1 Web3afrika Ipaja Ambassador, join here to connect with like minds, win giveaways, and have fun too!

On the 26th of October, I got featured on Technext and I was interviewed on their tech teens series on Youtube. Read HERE. Watch HERE. (You can get more details of my journey in tech after reading or watching)

Also started working for Yoable as a content writer this quarter, a very beautiful initiative made of youths, by youths, and for youths.

And things just kept getting better from this quarter onwards….

Q4 — (October — December) — “The I want more/ I got more quarter”

In this quarter, I wanted to do more. I had been ghostwriting web content for about 9 months now and I needed more. I started writing articles on web3 on medium and started a series on “Cryptocurrency and the future of Africa”. I got an internship with CreativeFayCo, a marketing agency and I started positioning myself to write content to make the internet a better place and to make brands reach their goals.

I became an ambassador for Genztechies, and also for Octogamex, a gaming NFT project. And I won’t forget a job I got from writing “tokenomics” on my Facebook bio, Web3 Advocate for BEMA, a decentralized music streaming platform startup (Don’t underestimate the power of social media). I also formed my Web3 study group with Unit.Network, called Web3 For Newbies and we’re about 120 members strong.

The Dapps3 blockchain course crashed and it got replaced with a better opportunity as I got into a 9-month free Full Stack Development with Nithub Unilag.

And I got to realize the happiness of helping people without monetary benefits as most of the new jobs I got here are volunteered for but I help solve problems with content and it gives me joy. I also solidified my community activities with my beloved Genztechies and Web3afrika.

I think I’ll stop here and just drop the major highlights of the year.

Major wins/highlights

Stayed alive
Attended about 9 events ( Genz Hackfest, Web3 Lagos, Linkedin Local Lagos, City Js, Tekart Con, ISN Expo, Technext, Google Devfest, Revival Summit With Prosperity, maybe more)
Made 6-figures from writing
Turned 17
Got featured on Technext. Article and video
Learnt Web3
Gave my first public speaking engagement
Got a job in Web3
Created a Web3 Study Group
Wrote a cryptocurrency series
Became a Genztechies Ambassador

Final Words

“The only way to learn from your mistakes is to embrace them and learn from them. Every mistake is a stepping stone to success. Don’t let setbacks hold you back — use them as opportunities to grow and improve. And remember to celebrate your small wins along the way — they all add up to something big.” — The Non Fungible Human.

Perspire to acquire your Maguire and retire. 2023 will be more hectic and I hope to see you reading this in bigger and better places. Set goals if you like whether personally or with an accountability partner (text me if you need one) here. I think the best way to live a year is just to keep living it as it comes. If life gives you lemons, at least be thankful it gave you something.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” — Helen Keller

This quote reminds us of the power and potential of working together and being a part of a community. By joining forces with others and leveraging their skills, knowledge, and resources, we can achieve much more than we ever could on our own. So as you reflect on your year and look ahead to the future, consider the ways in which you can tap into the support and resources of your communities to help you grow and achieve your goals.

I can’t underestimate the impact of networks, communities, and people in my unprecedented growth this year.

Connect with me on Facebook and Twitter! I’ll love to connect with you too.

Ciao.