Yesterday was my last day as a 23 year old. I’m not one to ever celebrate, let alone acknowledge my birthday. In fact, I go to great lengths so that as few people as possible know it. This year I’m taking a new approach. I’m acknowledging my birthday as a true new year. Not like the regular new year celebrated on January 1st, but a more intimate and introspective year in review.If anything, what I’m celebrating is past accomplishments and not the future. Because, well, I haven’t done anything yet.

Life can only be understood looking backwards but must be lived forward.

In retrospect, I can easily say that I just lived one of the best years of my life.

For the sake of succinctness I’m going to rattle off some things I’m proud of.

1) I explored more of my interest. I feel like I’ve moved more toward the “why” in my life.

2) Explored multiple avenues of learning. Reading books, articles, watching online learning tutorials, mooc, interactive learning platforms, paid and free classes.

3) Was hired full time for the first time ever.

4) Learned responsive web design and implemented it on website where I’m employed.

5) Joined some slack groups with other devs with similar interests.

6) Joined some meetups in my area to find people of similar interests.

7) Brought a macbook to pursue web dev/design interests.

8) Bought Adobe cc suite to pursue creative design interests.

9) Created a blog to showcase projects and pursue writings interests.

10) Bought a DSLR to pursue photography interests.

11) Subscribed to podcasts for self-improvement and words of wisdom.

12) Read books cover to cover.(something I hadn’t done voluntarily in a long time ).

13) Worked out consistently for 20+ days for the first time ever

14) Consistently practiced a new language for the first time ever (independently).

15) Bought a ps4 to remind myself to have fun.

16) Bought a mic+stand+interface to pursue possible podcast recording interests.

17) Recorded very first podcast episode with a friend.

18) Submitted podcast episode to iTunes , Sticher and Google play music.

19) Persued creative interests and ideas with friends.

20) Received the greatest satisfaction from giving Christmas presents to loved ones.

This is the shortlist of things I enjoyed while being 23. It’s everything I could come up with while sitting in a Starbucks sipping on my free birthday iced coffee. The things I listed are perhaps not a big deal individually, but they build up to everything that made my year awesome. The lesson here is that life is mostly about the little things that inevitably turn into something big. One small victory at a time. I can only hope that life as a 24 year old is at least as good if not better than last year. I won’t know until I live it. Thanks for joining me on this journey. Until next time…