Looking Back on 2024
What a year it was, here is my recap of a transformative year
What a wild year 2024 has been, I wanted to take some time to go over 2024 and reflect on what happened throughout the year. It feels as if time is hitting warp speed because 2024 flew right by. However in that time so much has happened.
2024 was a year of trying new things and getting out of my comfort zone, from traveling overseas for 2 months to focusing more on tapping into my own inner creativity, I truly learned a lot from 2024.
Writing
One discipline I practiced bettering in 2024 was writing, exactly what I am doing now. Writing is one of the oldest forms of art and it truly helps you tame your inner voice and will challenge you creativity like no other. Bettering my writing skills is a lifelong journey I will continue to practice. Writing is like running, in the sense not many people enjoy the act of either but very much enjoy the end result. A funny quote I am reminded of is “I hate to write, but I love having written” by Dorothy Parker summarizes perfectly my thoughts on the matter.
In this life often doing the things in which are “hard” in the present moment will lead to an easier life in the future and doing what is “easy” in the present moment will make life harder in the future. When you come to grasp this concept it will start to improve your life gradually, 2024 has definitely solidified that for me. Thinking about choosing to go work on your writing versus doom scrolling on social media will have a grave difference for your future once you compound that overtime.
Writing does not have to be something you make public either, personally I enjoy sharing and challenging myself publicly however even having an everyday journal will do the trick. Writing about your life in a journal has many scientific benefits for your mental health and mental clarity. I’ve been journaling since 2022 and looking back over old entires is literally like going in a Time Machine, seeing how much you have grown is such a beautiful sight. Growth comes in many ways but one fascinating department is the evolution of self, how you start to better make connections with the past and present to generate new ideas.
I challenge you in 2025 to write more and share more with the world, we all live such a unique and different life that we can all learn from each other. I’m reminded of a tree forrest, trees thrive more when they are near other trees. Tree roots in a forrest are all connected that create a network/communication channel and this allows them to share things such as nutrients, water, nitrogen, and even warning signals about threats by sending chemical signals. We humans are social creatures, it is how we evolved to this point we are at now, thinking about the information age we live in now, I’d like to do my part in adding to that pool of information and share with those around me. I view creating as a service to humanity because you truly don’t know who the end receiver of that information will be or how it will help aid them on their journey epically in the internet age, the world is now connected.
Writing has also had an impact on my mental clarity and speaking ability because writing is basically a slow way of talking. Mental health is a big one a lot of people struggle with, myself included. I’ve found when I write it reduces the mental load I carry, once you put it on paper, it purges your brain of that information. Also when you write you aim to be coherent, which correlates to your speaking ability. The more you practice writing the better you will get, just like any other skill.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is something I have been vocal about in the past and will be more vocal about going forward as it is a project that is much deeper than just money and number go up. I have been fascinated with bitcoin since 2018 and have spent many hours reading books, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos about this subject. It’s a topic that many people are misinformed on but love to state their low intellect opinion on. Throughout the years I have seen the price of it go from $4,000 to $69,000 back down to $15,000 and in that time I heard many times it will never become anything. In 2024 it hit an all time high of $108,000 the first time in it’s existence crossing $100,000 which is cool to see but what is cooler is when you believe in something but the crowd has told you the complete opposite.
This goes to show that no matter what the world is telling you don’t be afraid to go against the grain and seek the truth for yourself and never forget to remain open minded to new ideas. We live in the Information Age, take the time to educate yourself with the abundance of information we have. I look at it as asymmetry of information, the future will reward those who have vast varieties of information spanning the gamut. We live in a world where having more information on a subject can come with a reward after placing a strategic bet.
“Nothing else in the world…not all the armies…is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo
Bitcoin is the amalgamation of many advances and compounding of computer science breakthroughs and technology. The idea behind this project has come at such a juncture in humanity, it is truly an idea whose time has come and no one can stop this idea from spreading. We are witnessing the proliferation of this idea spreading worldwide at an unheard of rate, the idea of mathematical scarcity and a set of rules without rulers. We are still very early in the bitcoin days and have a long road ahead but it crossing the illustrious milestone of $100k solidified in my mind we are in fact going to hit $1,000,000+ it is just a matter of time. Discovering and learning about bitcoin is such a fun and never ending rabbit hole that I truly implore you to go down.
2025 will be a big year for bitcoin, conservatively I foresee it hitting $250,000+ in 2025. This is not financial advice, it is what my research has led me to believe, do your own research. We are entering a paradigm shift where the world is becoming more and more digital everyday, money will succumb to that same fate, bitcoin is the vehicle in which that prophecy will be fulfilled. At the end of the day you need to shelter yourself from inflation, inflation is something that plagues all of humanity, rich or poor. Having a store of value that cannot be inflated away, confiscated, and is trustless creates a powerful combination the world direly needs. When you start to save in bitcoin the entire world around you gets cheaper, houses, cars, food, toys, literally everything.
Truly the most scarce asset everyone has is your time, bitcoin ranking the second most scarce being that there will only ever be 21,000,000 bitcoin, never more than that. The aspect of bitcoin people don’t talk about is how it gives you your time back to do whatever you please, by sheltering your life’s energy in bitcoin it allows you to spend time doing what you love. Money buys you optionality to embark on your own path whether that means starting your own business, pursuing a passion, or literally taking time to just recharge. It gives you the choice to make decisions that truly align with your heart and mind. We all have limited time on this earth and it is a shame we are forced into a system that literally steals our time invisibly; printing of money. When our government prints trillions of dollars out of thin air, it dilutes literally everyone who uses those dollars, those same dollars in your bank account today become worth less the following day. However there is a system that shields you from that heinous system, opt out and study bitcoin.
Photography
Photography sorta reminds me of writing in the sense when I look at a photo I took a year ago it can teleport me back in time to when I was at that present moment. When you take a photo you are carving a window of time that you can look back on at any point moving forward. I have been challenging myself creativity via photography to create images that mean something to me personally and will stand the test of time. It is a craft in which will also be lifelong and one in which has taught me a lot in the time I have practiced it.
While your iPhone is an amazing camera I wanted to further engage with photography on a fundamental level and take it to the next level with a "real” camera. Having a dedicated camera has a couple added bonuses over just using your iPhone, for starters its a camera… Your phone is capable of performing many many tasks often that can actually distract you from documenting the moment as it will literally take you out of the moment when you get a notification from instagram. A camera on the other hand is well, just a camera. It has one task to perform and that is to document what is in front of the lens. Lastly a dedicated camera is much more of an enjoyable experience opposed to just using your iPhone, with a camera you are more intentional with your shooting and can create images your iPhone cannot.
Lately I have definitely been going down the rabbit hole of trying different cameras and seeing which one I like the most. On my YouTube channel i’ve been creating a lot of content about cameras and one camera in particular, the Fuji X100VI. It has been such an amazing camera that has been slung around me 24/7 since the day I bought it, on paper it is an amazing camera but it goes deeper than a spec sheet. The sheer joy I get from manually using the camera can’t go understated. Once you learn how to properly expose for a scene with the exposure triangle; ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed that is where photography gets really fun. If you are in the market for a great camera that you want to just document life, check out the Fuji X100VI, it is amazing.
You have probably heard the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” that statement is the truth. Often photos may be all you have to document certain parts of your life and when you look back at those photos it can elicit so many emotions and memories. I’ve made it a goal to take more photos in 2024 and boy did I, I finished the year with taking ~40,000 images. To me that represents pieces of my life I will be able to look back on later in life.
2024 is where I started to share my photography publicly with the world and it has been such a fun journey from where I started. Not every photo I take will make it online but the work I have shared has helped me build a community with people that share the same interest as me which is more than I could have ever asked for. Photography is an art and not everyone will enjoy what you have to share however reading some of the comments and DMs is what pushes me further go down this interesting road of life i’m on. To me as long as you love the work you are creating, that is truly all that matters, the rest of the world will keep marching forward.
Circling back to sharing more of my work with the public, i’m excited to announce a project I am working on, creating my first photography book. Towards the end of 2024 I backpacked Thailand for 2 months and in the process documented my travels with my camera. Some of my favorite images I have taken to date came from that Thailand trip, I will be compiling my first photo book with photos strictly from the Thailand trip. This book will be a very premium book that will be a limited edition run, be on the lookout for the release in 2025.
Zooming Out
Sometimes we get so immersed in the day to day of life we forget what is right in front, one practice I implemented in 2024 was to take a step back and get a Birds Eye view. If you are ever upset or stumped over something trvial, ask yourself “how will this affect me in 10 years” often doing that will ground you in a better headspace to make a more rational decision. Life will present many challenges for you to face, you must not let your emotions get the best of you. The world is constantly calling for your attention, attention is today’s new oil. What you decide to give your attention to will shape your reality for the better or worse. Making present day decisions while thinking long term is how you create “luck”. Zooming out and seeing the bigger picture will only help you on your path, wherever it is you want to go in life, zoom out.
Don’t miss the forrest for the trees, getting caught up in the little details can cloud you and make you entirely blind to what is right in front of you. Often I forget about the simple fact that we can make a change and we have autonomy over our decision making. You literally have the ability to make a decision about whatever is right in front of you, just this morning I in fact did not feel like going to the gym. I decided to go counter to my emotions but gave myself some leeway with how much weight i’d lift. When I left the gym I felt better mentally and came up with more ideas for this exact blog you are reading now. It’s the concept of zooming out and rationally thinking about the road ahead and executing in a way that will eventually get you there.
Traveling
In 2024 I did the most traveling i’ve ever done in a year from going to Canada, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Thailand it was a year riddled with traveling. Traveling is such an eye opener for many reasons, seeing how different cultures operate to meeting some really interesting people it’s something that opens your eyes to the world around you. Also an aspect I love is it creates memories that can never be taken from you, if you give me the option to have a nice car or travel somewhere across the world, i’m taking the latter every time. In this life I want to create memories and live a life with no regrets. My worst fear is when i’m in old age and on my deathbed thinking of the things I wish I would have done in life, traveling is one of them. Fuck that, no thank you.
The world is such a beautiful place and there are so many amazing places to visit in such a short amount of time. If traveling has been on your mind, this is your sign, go travel the world. Stepping into the unknown is such an uncomfortable thing to do but so much awaits you on the other side, you will discover so much about yourself. From traveling I learned truly how much I enjoy my alone time and peace. A lot of the traveling I did was solo, which I HIGHLY recommend, it is just you and the world. With being alone there has to be a balance, there is time you need to spend alone and time you need to spend with other people. Tipping the scale in favor of one or the other can come with consequences, it is a balance you are constantly dancing between.
2025
In 2025 i’m going to curate a better relationship with the technology around me, we now have the ability to pacify our minds at the snap of a finger. Bored in line waiting for coffee? Pull your phone out and get a tiny hit of dopamine from watching the funny reel on instagram. Our phones are so capable of many things and I love them for the ability to do so many amazing things, just think giving someone a modern iPhone 200 years ago, they would think it’s magic. With great power comes great responsibility, I need to be more responsible in which how I use my phone and what it is I do on my phone.
I have never looked more forward to a year than 2025, truly I am looking forward to harnessing my inner creativity and traveling the world as I do it. Everything in life you have ever done has led you to this exact moment, which is interesting when you start to think about all the decisions you have made that have gotten you here. In 2025 I want to have impact and be the example for the younger version of myself I needed. I thank God for all the blessings I have and want to thank you for joining me on this wild journey. If you have made it this far I truly appreciate you for reading and hope you enjoyed this writing.
2024 truly taught me life is about the journey not the destination and your life is the ultimate project. Never stop learning, become a student of life, you owe it to yourself.
Here is my latest video on YouTube in which I go over what photography has taught me in the year 2024, I hope you enjoy!
My Instagram is where I post my latest photography work here and also post some behind the scenes of my day to day life if that might be of interest to you.
My X is where I post my stream of thoughts and keep up to date on what is happening in the world around me, check it out if that may be of interest to you.