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The last few years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, have taken their toll on me. Weeks and months passed by, and I couldn’t grasp a moment and didn’t manage to listen to and within myself, to grow and develop. Everything was better this year, from my first visit to the dentist to the sport and the associated weight loss, increased self-confidence, and many other realizations and changes.

And of course, there were lots of special experiences, great highlights, and fantastic people in my life this year. 2023, thank you!

I spent the whole year working on myself, growing beyond myself. This included improving my health and fitness, getting mentally further, leaving negative things behind, and becoming a better and more positive person. This also included admitting to myself that I had failed in my marriage.

The world keeps spinning. The world has still not managed to get a grip on COVID-19. There is war in parts of Europe. The British queen has died. Women in Iran are rebelling against their regime, and the Soccer World Cup was held in Qatar. And we are eight billion people on this planet.

News that passes me by like the days I didn’t use for anything meaningful.

In a year in which hardly anything happened apart from the evil ‘C’ word, what should I write about in a yearly review? I’ll try to fight my way through on the basis of my given structure.

We all have experienced unprecedented times this year. A global pandemic, no answers, lockdowns, incompetent politicians, and really gross weirdos who are putting more people at risk unnecessarily with their conspiracy narratives and actions. I’m glad my little family and I are healthy. Otherwise, this year is just lost. This year in review is getting pretty monotonous except for the first two paragraphs.

I intended to take bigger steps this year, but then somehow life came in between. And work. Reflecting on it, I got more in my head than last time, but were those really big steps? I think not. But what does it really mean? I definitely take away from the year that I set myself concrete goals this time and then in the next review I can evaluate quite objectively whether I have made it or not.

So what happened in good old 2018? There was quite a lot but I still have the feeling that I didn’t really evolve. I’m still the same guy, I haven’t outgrown myself. For me as an ambitious person, this is of course not satisfying. So I’ll leave the past year behind and plan to take bigger steps this year.