Finding growth in unexpected places: Reflections on 2024

Every year, life surprises me with lessons about who I really am. 2024 was no different.

I’ve never spent more time with anyone than I have myself. In fact, there’s not a moment that I wasn’t here with me 😀. Yet, it blows my mind at what I learn each year, through each new experience – particularly the painful ones. And I wonder with curious excitement about what it is that I still have to learn about me.

As 2024 came to an end, I’ve been reflecting on a year that has been filled with unexpected moments of excitement, growth, gratitude and challenge.

Surprises come in all forms, ranging from the positively joyous to the painfully difficult. But they all have one thing in common: an opportunity to frame them in whatever way I choose. The choice feels impossibly hard sometimes, but it’s a choice nevertheless.

Because, just as the expression ‘pain is inevitable, suffering is optional’ reminds us, we – or at least I – often allow our suffering to exceed the underlying pain.

Likewise, I think this can be flipped, to say ‘good moments are inevitable, noticing them is optional’. It’s so easy to overlook the good things that happen to us on a daily basis, when we’re so preoccupied with what isn’t going our way and the busy-ness of daily life.

We get transfixed, staring deeply into the empty half of the proverbial glass. And completely overlook all the good moments that fill the space beneath it. But they’re there, waiting to be seen and brought into focus. And celebrated.

I’m 44 and have done many things for the first time this past year, both in my personal and working life. There’s something exciting about this, knowing that age is no barrier to new discoveries and growth. That – just because I’ve never been as experienced as I am now – I still have so many new and rich experiences ahead of me. So many amazing people I’m yet to meet. And so much left to learn about me, about others and about how the world works.

And I look at people ahead of me and see this continues to be true well past the mid point of life, and for as long as we continue making it true.

For example… my mum, who is 71, ran her first 5km ever last year (and quite quickly!) and says she’s fitter than she’s ever been. And – for the first time in her life – took a solo overseas holiday (including a visit to her favourite – i.e. only – son 😅).

Or my old boss and dear friend who’s in his mid-70s and still talks with childlike wonder about the things he’s learning and discovering in retirement. About relationships, about love, about life and about the world.

And watching many of my closest friends actively pursue and discover rich personal and professional growth with every passing day.

One of the big firsts I did this year was to launch and lean into Impact Society with Joel. This has been one of the most enjoyable, exciting, fulfilling, liberating and scary things I’ve ever done.

My career followed a pretty steady ‘up and to the right’ trajectory for the first 20 years. I’m pretty sure my pay went up every single year. As did the level of responsibility and challenge.

So, how’s it going now?

Well, in 2024, I earned less than I ever have before.

But I’ve never been happier about work.

Likewise, it’s been decades since I managed fewer people or a smaller budget.

Yet, it’s more exciting and – in some ways – challenging than anything else I’ve been part of. And I’m learning so many new skills and concepts (e.g. just designing and manufacturing our first physical product – Random Acts of Leadership – has been a fun new world for us).

Why is that?

Because – as every year passes and I learn more about who I truly am and what I want to do with my life, personally and professionally – I have the opportunity to bring my reality into closer alignment with it.

There are some areas of my life that have caused me persistent sadness and disappointment, but – as far as I can tell – that’s a common part of the human experience.

But this too has been a source of growth. Most importantly, it’s taught me that emotional strength doesn’t mean running away and avoiding pain, but rather meeting it with curiosity and compassion. That it’s about having the fortitude to resist the impulse to turn away and instead sit quietly in the discomfort, to see what lessons it offers to deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

So, 2025 is another opportunity to simultaneously practice:

Acceptance of the (relatively few) things that aren’t as I wish them to be
Gratitude for the (abundance of) things that I’m so lucky to have going my way
Recognising the growing freedom that comes with incrementally aligning how I live my life with who I truly am

I’m genuinely curious about what others in our community have learned this past year, so would love to hear from you, in the comments or by DM :).

Happy new year!

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