2019 isn’t quite over yet. And yet, there have been some significant differences between this year and the previous.

When this year started, I set myself a task to complete - to build new and maintain current relationships.

I started this because of a book that I read that profoundly affected my thinking.

Essentially, it reminded me that I could not live a life completely devoid of other people, at least not if I wanted to live a meaningful life.

Now, this all sounds really cliché and ‘obvious’.

I do have to give a bit of an explanation.

My tendency is to avoid human contact - mainly because I find people draining to be around. As such, I can go for tremendously long periods without interacting with another human being, even an online one - something most people find very odd.

As a result of this tendency, I have neglected a lot of relationships and avoided cultivating new ones.

It culminated in a year that felt extraordinarily low and depressing. That was 2018.

I didn’t want a repeat of that. Thus, I made a commitment to myself to do something about my relationships in 2019.

Was I fully successful? Likely not.

And yet, I know that I have put in a significant amount of effort and time into building up some of my relationships this year. And I’m glad to say that I have the improved relationships to show for it.

In terms of career / work, I’d say that this year was not great, but it was much better than last year. I’d also say that, through the building of relationships this year, I have set up a number of projects for next year. So I fully expect that 2020 will be an even better year!

I’ve been very inactive on social media this year, having gotten rather jaded with the whole content mill thing.

I have nothing against people who can consistently and comfortably put up useful and engaging content, but those who cannot need to stop trying so hard. I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve blocked or removed from social media this year because their posts were annoying / inane. Clearly, they’ve been advised by someone to do it. And, truth be told, it’s not doing them favours.

Well, at this point, these are my main thoughts about 2019. Signing off until the next post!