Week 36: thinking about this past year

Being very honest, I barely have the energy to write this end of year reflection. But, I like the routine of it enough to push through…

Work

Has been a struggle this year. A close colleague and friend has been on maternity leave, and a team stretched too thin has meant I’ve not had much energy to feed on.

That being said, the end of the year wrapped up nicely as I got energy from working with two external people. Caroline Jarrett (forms expert) was as great as I’d imagined. She’s helping us think through how we approach updating our advance decision form. She’s helped us realise we have developed inertia when it comes to updating our form. We now have a plan for 2025 to move to a new model of regular releases. At least that’s the ambition. Let’s see.

Secondly, I worked with Nia Campbell at CDL. She has helped with our internal knowledge base idea. She is super talented and has really helped push the idea along when needed.

The other pretty big news, was the assisted dying bill passing it’s second reading on 29 November. It’s very hard to describe how much work, energy and more contributed to this moment but it was truly lovely to see hundreds of people so happy and relieved on the day. Common sense and compassion prevailed, but a long way to go.

My back, hobbies and holidays

I’ve stalled when it comes to my back issues. It’s annoying how easy it is to lose the habit of regular gym going. My view still stands that this time of life is important to try and work on core strength.

I kept up with squash, and dabbled in some actual coaching which on balance I’ve enjoyed. If I want to improve I think it’s a must.

Another movie rich year, I decided to track my cinema visits this year which has been interesting… not sure if it’s more or less than I thought? 41 movies as of 20 Dec. 

My picks of the year:

This year, I made it to:

I noted last year:

I’m grateful for lots of trips, but was talking recently how I’m hankering for a big trip somewhere soon. There is something different about a big trip isn’t there…

Well, I have been exceedingly lucky and fortunate to engineer some unpaid time off early next year so between Feb and May I’ll be travelling to New Zealand and Japan. Much needed.

Family

I wrote about filial duty last year. This year it’s been brought into sharp focus with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. It’s a weird thing to process - something which takes a long time to diagnose so there is some sort of preparation. But it’s nonetheless very hard. It’s made the end of the year an anxious time for me which I’m struggling to deal with, but am trying.

Life news

This has been a year of more upheaval but in a good sense. Me and my partner have each sold our respective flats (stressful) and moved in together in a new place.

For the third time I’m back in Muswell Hill which I love. It feels grounding and hopefully somewhere I’ll be for the long term. Roots.

Plans for 2025

An amazing trip. Family. Living.

Over and out.