We have entered the holiday season—a time of year that’s charged with all kinds of energies, from celebratory to chaotic to somber. And just yesterday was the winter solstice; where I live, the sun set before five. I know this affects some people feeling a little low on these long dark days. I hope that you’re seeking out a little light in the darkness, be it a single flickering candle, a big pot of soup, or some time spent with family or friends.
But I have always loved this time of year as an opportunity for a reset, as the holiday craze starts to wind down, before we jump back into the flow of things. To me, it feels like a sacred pause, where I have a chance to reflect, to take stock, to regroup, to course correct. This year, perhaps more than any before, it feels so necessary.
So as the year ends, I’d like to reflect on the journey I’ve had over the past twelve months. I’ve made it a habit to sit down every year, and write a review on my blog. It’s a chance to appreciate the good and learn from the challenges. May the year ahead bring even more joy, fulfillment, and continued growth to you too.
Learning of the year
There are many lessons to take away from last year. Blogging has been an incredibly meaningful journey for me personally, and for this year’s review, I’ve decided to share one learning that resonated with me the most. Here is the central learning drawn from the year 2024 (you can find the previous one over here):
Just do it before you feel ready
Author Stephen King wrote in On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, ‘The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.’ I’ve found truth in these words, and over the past year, I’ve come to realize just how true they really are.
In 2019, author Steven Pressfield shared in the podcast Super Soul Sunday that the key thing about resistance is that it comes second. He says, ‘what happens first is the dream, and the resistance is the shadow. Meaning that for every dream there is automatically going to come resistance. You don’t have to blame yourself for it.’ 1
I’ve come to understand that the real challenge is spotting these opportunities and finding the courage to act, even when there is a felt resistance. It’s an incredibly valuable skill because opportunities not only show up and quietly pass by; they don’t force themselves on us either. I remind myself to lean into it sometimes too, pushing myself to take action even if I don’t feel completely ready, especially when I’m about to do something new.
The launch of The Tiny Bits newsletter is a perfect example of this. When I launched the newsletter, I knew the challenge to stand out in people’s inboxes was going to be a tough one. With all of the emails entering my inbox daily, I knew that I had to find a way to get the word out and to do a little more to stand out from the crowd than the average newsletter writer.
So in the first month, I reached out to 65 newsletter owners, directories, thought leaders, people I know, and people that I barely know or do not know at all. I told them what I genuinely appreciated about their newsletter and shared where I was heading with mine, asking if they had any best practices they could share with me and if there was a chance they could pass it on to their network if they saw any value in it.
Note here that at the time I had only published a few newsletters, and there were only a handful of subscribers. In the end, I got listed in 22 of them, which was only half of the people I reached out to. Still, I considered the response wonderful and I was actually quite happy with it. Despite the effort of writing to 65 people, I gained valuable insights and connected with some great individuals.
Then I decided to reach out to every single one of them that didn’t introduce the newsletter to their audience asking if they could provide me some feedback on what the newsletter needed so that they were willing to share it. Some of them took the time to reply, others didn’t. But those who did reply ended up providing me valuable keynotes that actually helped me to create a better product.
In other words, whether the newsletter was their cup of tea or not, I realized I had put myself in a situation where there was only something to gain. Either it would be shared with a new group of readers, or I would get feedback that could help me improve the product.
It’s true that the newsletter probably needed more thought, effort, and time. I’m well aware that the writing will always need ongoing refinement. It will never be fully finished, but thinking that it needs to be before making people part of your project only puts you in a station of inaction.
In fact, there were a lot of people who had already walked down my path and gained insights that I could learn from. If you think about it, their feedback was free for me to access. In situations like this, the most important reminder is to also give yourself permission to just go out into the world and do it. It’s a liberating experience, I’ve found, to direct your own thinking toward questions like: What is it that I can do, and how can I use what I actually know to get from A to B?
Being able to recognize opportunities puts you, most likely, in a more proactive state of mind.
What was your learning of the year? Let me know in the comments.
Footnotes:
- Steven Pressfield in ”Oprah’s Super Soul: Steven Pressfield: Unlock Your Creative Genius” on Apple Podcasts – 11th min.
Top 3 recommended books this year:
- The Power of Now, written by Eckhart Tolle. An absolute classic in the field of spirituality. Learn more
- Poor Things, written by Alasdair Gray. A very fun and thoughtful read. Learn more
Here’s the full list of books I recommended in 2024.
I hope you have a meaningful start to 2025. This is my third year in review. If you want to read more personal insights and recommendations, sign up for my monthly newsletter or check out the archive of upcoming annual reviews, which will give you a taste of how this labour of love continues.
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