My 2024 in Review
To reiterate: I am writing this for myself, but happy if anyone finds it useful.
It is very hard to know what “time” we live in while we’re in it. Will the era we’re in be remembered as a “Start of a new global instability and end of globalization” after a fairly long stable period, or the “Start of the noösphere”, where the narrative is more important than the truth, or will it be when the extreme weather events really set in and we see the effects of the climate crisis globally? Or, will it be “The Dawn of AI?” It feels as if we are in a time of change an upheaval.
In general, it has been a very good year for me personally. I have felt more serene than ever, read and run more, and kept my habits — and added a new hobby: pottery. Part of the calm is a re-framing (call it stocism if you want) and part is something else that I don’t know what it is.
Work
Kept busy, but work has felt more “in check” now more than ever. This was a year where “nothing broke,” and I wasn’t “ashamed of anything.” Building something is hard, but now it feels like we are starting to get the machine to work. We took over The Drop from co-hosts and did it with Domino that we work closely with — was a great feeling.
Reading
I read (and listened to a lot this year). One of the reasons were that I more or less stopped listening to podcasts but prioritized audiobooks when running & commuting.
There were fewer outstanding fiction books, which is sad. I made a plan for 2025 and hope there will be more gems.
Non-fiction
- 🤔 Meditations for Mortals: How to handle highs and lows of life. Or, “learn to go with the flow.”
- 🪦 Four Thousand Weeks: Yeah, that is a whole life. How are you “productive” in that time frame? (To “win” you have to step out of the game.)
- 👟 Shoe Dog: The story of how Nike was built! (Hustle porn!)
- 🛼 Storyworthy: How to tell a story! (It is a lot about shaving off things!)
- 👂 Supercommunicators: How to be a great communicator — and yes — that mostly means listening! (Changed the way I am at events!)
Fiction
- 🌈 The Great Believers: What “era” do we live in? And, how much are we to blame when a macro-event hits?
- 👨⚕️ Cutting for Stone: The arc of life — uprooting, family, belonging…
- 🐺 Once there were wolves: What is wild and what is “domesticated?”
- 🧑🦰 Demon Copperhead: A modern version of David Copperfield set in the rust belt.
Testing new things
This year’s “new thing” became pottery. Really, really enjoyable and also something which means I have to develop my patience! 😺
Kept a lot of the old “new things” — mouth taping, not drinking alcohol, etc. But stopped (or at least did very little) sea kayaking.
Running
Was a wonderful year for running — in general I really enjoyed it and ran more often and further than before. And, more socially (Wednesdays at work) and in December with Ville. I ended up running for almost 100 hours and more than 1100 km — and did my fastest 21k (1:36:26).
One of the wonderful things about running is just being places — from wet Lofoten to toasty-warm southern Italy to snowy-foggy-sunny Malmö.
On screen
This year Arvid and I rewatched some of the best things with Ville and Tova — Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, and Fury in the WW2 set, and then Untouchables, Dallas Buyers Club, Captain Fantastic, Money Ball, American History X, Drive, Inception, Last of Us, and many more. Amazing!
Vacations
Spent a week in incredible Lofoten — amazing strange mountains in the middle of the sea — with sun 24h and rain at any random moment! Anna of course swam in the sea with the kids 🥶
We went skiing in Sälen and with an abundance of powder, I went snowboarding. The kids pulled me out every evening and I was beyond tired when home 😙
Rented an RV during the summer and went cruising with the kids. I slept very, very well when back in my real bed. 💤
Internet
Seems sadly as if Twitter/X is turning sour, partisan, misogonistic, and in general 👿. Sad, as it was a wonderful garden before.
Next year?
What does 2025 have in store for us? Hard to tell — I really hope we will lower the degree of armed conflict and getting more bipartisan politics & collaboration across the isle. I doesn’t feel that way, but I can hope.
I do also hope that we will see breakthroughs in medicine and health thanks to all technology built, and hoping to see some light in the tunnel for nuclear deployement and battery storage.
For my own sake, I hope to keep my good habits and hang out with the kids as long as they will hang out with me! ❤️
