We are getting to the end 2024, and therefore it seems like the perfect time to pause for a moment and reflect on the year gone by in order to highlight key moments, lessons learnt, and what I would like to take with me in 2025. I have already started my yearly review on my bullet journal — a process which I strongly recommend you try, whether you use a bullet journal or not — so I am going to use the information that has emerged there to inform this post.
What has worked in 2024
The most significant achievement for me in 2024 is probably my work. It has been my second year as freelancer, and my income has tripled since last year. I have had happy clients come back to me, new collaborations started and I have met a lot of different people who have all taught me something. I am immensely proud of my work as freelancer and feel like this is the type of job I am most cut out for.
In 2024 I have also started working for the state school sector in Italy. Again, a big win since in my first year as temp teacher I immediately signed a full-time, 9-month contract with a high school. I could not have asked for more. I am slowly adapting to the new setting and find some of the tasks of this kind of role really demanding, but overall I am enjoying the financial security and the routine aspect of this job compared to freelancing. Two factors which provide enormous mental and material stability to my life that I was lacking in my freelance months.
Overall, work-wise I couldn’t be happier, which is much more than I could say the previous (at least) 3-4 years.
The second aspect of my life that has been working well in 2024 is activism. I started volunteering for an animal rights association about 4 years ago, but I was never really involved in the cause, feeling like a side-kick to more active members of the group. However, my activism with Anonymous for the Voiceless1 has taught me to let go of my fears and go on the streets to engage in difficult discussions with people, venturing the cold winter months as well as the scorching heat of summer to bring the message where it needs to he heard.
It did not end well, but it has taught me an immense amount on what kind of person I am, what my values are and how they must reflect on what I do, as well as pushing me to do more to make the world a little bit better, one struggle at the time. Plus, I have met a lot of like-minded people and learnt a great deal from them too, something I will always be grateful for.
What hasn’t worked in 2024
Unfortunately, one consequence of the fact that my freelance work has picked up has been my total lack of work-life balance for almost the whole first half of 2024. It is true that when you love your job, it makes it easier even when you have to work long hours. But work is not all there is, I have a family, friends, hobbies that I like to pursue, books that I would like to read, and most importantly a partner who lives with me and deserves to spend quality time with me.
I have come to realise that I cannot put on hold the “rest” of my life for months at the time because I have to finish X project, or I have to say yes to this other client because if I say no I’ll lose them forever. Luckily, this is one of the good things about my new state-school job: it is demanding, but it is much more regular in its demands, allowing me to manage my time and make sure I have enough space to breathe, take time for myself and most importantly for the people I care about.
Lessons learnt / what I’d like to take with me or improve in 2025
There are many things I would like to take with me in 2025, and a few things that I would like to change/improve. I am going to list them in random order, as they come to my mind.
- What I really need is yoga: I have tried swimming this year, thinking that it being more casual than yoga classes it would have made my life easier — and it is cheaper too. However, one year in I have found myself coming up with any kind of excuse not to hit the pool, as well as discovering that my head tends to race in all directions while swimming. This defies the purpose I do exercise in the first place, which is to find some mental clarity. I have recently gone back to yoga, and have realised how much I missed the breathing work, the relaxing atmosphere, and the chance to concentrate totally on what I am feeling right now rather than on what I need to do later. I think I need to stick to yoga after all.
- Creating bonds is never a waste of time: during my activism with AV, I have met and spoken to a lot of like-minded people. Some of whom have become good friends, other with whom I have little more in common than our passion for a common cause. Nevertheless, they have all taught me something about the world out there and about myself, about what other people believe and cherish, and about who I am and what I can and can’t compromise on. It has been an incredibly useful experience, and has made me grow as a person and as an activist.
- Listen first: when someone close to me has to write something down in order to summon the courage to talk to me about a sensitive issue because they think they cannot talk to me about it, it is the sign that I need to pause and do some soul-searching. What does it take to be a good listener? How can I be better at listening to what others are telling me? How can I show that I care, and make people feel like they can talk to me? These are all questions that this 2024 has left me reflecting on. I definitely need to work on my listening skills in 2025 if I want to become a better teacher, and a better person.
- The end of something is always the beginning of something else: I know this is cliché, but I think this year has taught me this more than ever. It is difficult to let go, especially when the thing you are trying to separate from is something that makes you feel good, that has given new meaning to your life or in which you felt “at home”. However, holding on to things that have become toxic just for nostalgia or fear of the unknown is not the right thing to do. I hope I have learnt that now, and will not make this mistake again in the future.
Overall, I count 2024 to have been a very good year for me personally, and a disastrous year for the world around me. I am worried about he future of humanity and of our planet, and therefore will not stop doing my part to try to change things. I will probably not succeed, but at least I can say I was not sitting still while humanity was destroying itself and everything in its path.2
Footnotes
- Read here what is wrong with Anonymous for the Voiceless: https://arbusti.noblogs.org/post/2023/11/27/cosa-ce-di-sbagliato-in-anonymous-for-the-voiceless-tutto/ (Italian)
or watch this video to find out what happened to the organisation in 2020: https://youtu.be/wECfy2hErbI (English). ↩︎ - If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend McKay’s film on human stupidity, Don’t Look Up. It perfectly sums up our current situation. ↩︎