2024, a year of exploration

As we finish one more lap around the sun, here is one more opportunity to reflect on our life and the direction we wish to give it going forward. The last couple of years were hectic, filled with wars, COVID inflation, stress and quite the handful of reasons to fall into depression, so I thought 2024 would be as good of a good time as any to rekindle the series and define a theme for the next 365 days.

This post is part of a series of posts where I

• 2021, a year of growth
• 2020, a year of creativity
• 2019, a year of challenge
• 2018, a year of change

2022 & 2023, two years of reconciliation

While I did not get the opportunity to write my yearly resolutions for 2022 and 2023, it’s still valuable to reflect on them and observe how much I’ve grown.

Highlights

• Had my first & second internships as a software engineering student in Montréal. It helped me reduce my financial and career uncertainties.
• Met the love of my life.
• Became a Godfather.
• Started playing volley-ball and improved a lot.
• Started playing videos games and improved a lot
• Started consulting a psychologist and learning about psychology as a whole.
• Started learning Japanese

Drawbacks

• Felt very isolated most of the time and went through various passes of (mild) depression.
• Some health issues (whether on my end, or of my loved ones) that temporarily affected my ability to perform.
• Went through a big reading slump (haven’t read much)
• Went through a huge creative slump, that made me write and code a lot less
• Injured myself which prevented me from working out for a big chunk of the year.

In short, 2022 and 2023 were amongst the toughest years for me so far, yet I also feel like I have grown a lot. These two years allowed me to come to peace with many of my inner wounds, insecurities and weaknesses, to acknowledge my strength and go from a unacknowledged « Fixed Mindset » to a slowly evolving « Grow Mindset ».

2024 will be a year of exploration

For most of my life, I have been rather pragmatic, always trying to anticipate everything, only making a decision if I could ascertain all of its consequences first. Yet, I associate the most meaningful moments of my life with randomness. How I met the love of my life and some of my closest friends, how I found my university and went on my path to live in Canada, how I became a Notion ambassador and countless other stories... In no way could I have predicted the events that would drastically change the shape of my life.

Side quests and errands

Side quests and errands are the best parts of any game.

While playing Horizon Forbidden West, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, No Man’s Sky, or any of my favorite games, I am often surprised by how much more enjoyment I get from deviating from the main path and finding my own way around the world. Scripted or not, it feels so much more rewarding to find a wonderful landscape, a legendary armour or a wholesome encounter because I decided to take one specific path, instead of another.

While the main story paths (our studies, our career) are important, side quests, errands and random exploration also contribute in shaping our character. More often than not they convert from a side activity to the main story of a spin-off.

Focus on feeling good

I am starting 2024 reading « Feel Good Productivity » by Ali Abdaal which perfectly summarizes my spirit for the new year. While, like any other, I want to achieve more, be stronger, faster, better... I also acknowledge my condition. I’m not a God. Not Yet. I’m still a monkey.

So, I just want to focus on what I can do, which is, to have fun, to focus on what makes me feel good. As far as randomness goes, my intuition has also guided me throughout my life, learning new languages, learning programming, trying this or that... What makes me feel good always brought me on the right path, so in 2024, I intend to let myself be guided by intuition more.

Some paths I would like to explore in 2024

As much as I embrace randomness, I mentioned the importance of giving a direction to our life. Whether I end up exploring all of them or only a small subset, here are some paths I would love to explore in 2024.

1. Space Exploration. I’ve become fascinated with space, the universe and the vastness of the cosmos. I would love to continue making research, learn for myself all of the discoveries of men up to this point.
2. Design Exploration. I’ve been playing around with design for a handful of years now, and I believe I have a somewhat good intuition. But I would love to explore variations, more patterns and possibilities to convey the experiences I could imagine. I would particularly love to explore doing small redesign of random brands and businesses.
3. Real Estate. While I don’t plan on buying a house right away, it couldn’t hurt to learn more about the process, right?
4. Home Lab. I started building my own home lab with dedicated server in 2023. Would love to continue learning about Docker, Security, File Systems, Networking, etc and build small projects.
5. Knowledge & data Management. Started building my second brain in Obsidian. I would love to dedicate time for research and exploration every day.
6. Languages. I’m an avid language learner and I once said I wanted to learn all the languages of the UN. In 2024, while continuing to actively learn Japanese, I would love to start experimenting with a new language. Maybe Korean? Arabic? German? Russian? Time will tell. But for now I’m hinting for Korean.
7. AD(H)D & Hyper-Efficiency. I would love to learn more about the impact of these potential disorders on people, as I think they might (or might not) apply to me.

2024 has many adventures in store for me; some of them I can expect and some I can’t, yet that’s okay. I’m ready for it. I’m ready to explore and find my own path through this uncertain world.