Where was I in January? Right now, as I type this, I cannot remember. I may remember a second or a minute later. The downside to writing entire year reviews is that you forget a lot and somehow, you just want to skip the beginning and get to the ending as fast as you can. Oh, yes, I remember now. I said I'd remember a minute later, no? On January 1, we were cleaning the house (as is always our new year tradition), some guests came over, and at one point I thought I should take posting on Facebook seriously this year. I got writing prompts from Pinterest. The first day, second day, third day passed and eventually I forgot about that kind of thing. Until now.

In February, I got a writing contract. I don't like talking about this particular contract because it drained me, even if I didn't send in more than 2 articles to the blog, it still drained me. First, the pay was 20k per month. Second, I was expected to churn out 7 articles per week. I sha sent in my termination of contract email today o. Bye bye to yeye contracts.

In March, I almost got a similar contract. This time, they were paying 30k for 8,000 words per week. I remember the stresss I went through that time and I feel like crying. That's why I just know that even if I didn't achieve any other thing this year, the mere fact that I'm not where I was in March/April is something to be grateful for. It was also in March that I took Tech Sisi’s SEO Writing course and, I tell you that sometimes the confidence you're looking for lies in that course you haven't taken yet.

The events between April and June are a blur right now. I just know that I took a lot of courses and I think it was around that time that I wrote my first short film script. I wanted to see if I could do it. I did it. Around the same time, a lady reached out to me on LinkedIn because of two articles about women's health that I published on Medium. We ended up not working together, but that experience made me realize that people were actually noticing me even on days when it didn't feel like it. I think this was also what made me take my LinkedIn presence seriously.

In July or August, I interviewed a refugee about their experience with war and the new country they were settling into. It was a deeply revealing interview and although the interview wasn't published, I discovered that I love conducting interviews and would like to do them more often. I also decided to watch every movie that has ever won Best Picture at the Oscars and write a review for each one, so that next time someone wants to pay me 200k per month for movie reviews, I won't listen to the voice in my head telling me I can't do it.

In September, ah, this was one of my best months. I volunteered for the Sheedx Africa Summit, my first physical tech event. I got to do something I love - writing - while working with some of the most amazing people. I used the whole volunteering experience to make a series of four posts on LinkedIn, and then I saw Zoey's “Seduce The Algorithm” masterclass and paid for it.

October was beautiful. God added another year to me. A friend of my sister let me use his card to try LinkedIn Premium because mine wasn't working and that single action opened me up to a lot of opportunities. God bless you, sister's friend. I got a lot of leads on LinkedIn, but didn't close a lot of deals.

I expected November to match up to October’s excitement, but it was quite the opposite. I attended the funeral of a friend's mum and when I got back home, I read all three books in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ series and then rewatched the two seasons of the TV series. It was a good dumping ground for my grief. Then, towards the end of the month, I got an offer letter to write, part-time, for a culture magazine. Cool, right?

Oh, I forgot to mention that I was a participant in the RipplED Social Impact Program from January to March. Forgive me if this review isn't quite chronological. I'm writing as I remember. It was at the program that I got to meet Emmanuella Ene, amazing human and founder of Teach Girls Tech Initiative. She is a whole inspiration.

This was also the year I got something similar to a marriage proposal, but it was more like a declaration of interest. I was walking out of the bank when I met this guy who declared that I was his girlfriend and went on to say that he would be coming to take me away from my parents’ house, next year. It was funny because he was actually serious, asking me how we would move forward with marriage plans and telling me how his sister-in-law got married at my age. I woke up one day and didn't feel like sweeping and I randomly remembered him. Like, guy, they will call family meeting because there are days when new wife doesn't feel like sweeping. Hehe. Okay o.

And December. This has been a really long month. I had to deal with another loss at the beginning of the month and this grief was one that sat in my chest like a slab and would leave me feeling physically weak at intervals. Every single thing was a reminder of loss. I cried. I prayed. For strength. For comfort. Comfort for myself and the family of the deceased. And then, I felt God drawing me closer to Himself. And I got the Bible verse, “If I ascend into Heaven You are there: if I lay my bed in the depths, You are there”. I was literally in the depths of despair, and I would recite that verse to myself over and over until I got a glimpse of comfort.

But I haven't only lost, this month. I have gained too. One of my LinkedIn connections reached out to me and asked if I manage social media accounts. God bless Udemy for the social media marketing course I took in September. I answered in the affirmative, we got on a call (just to put a face to the person he'd been talking to) and I got my offer letter the next day.

On Saturday (the last one of the year), I read my short story, “On The Road” in the company of other writers and I thought, what a beautiful way to end the year. I think it went pretty well, and a writer I admire said he would read my work again. The first time I read my story in public, I was reading so fast and no one heard a thing. Someone told me to slow down, this time, but it was all good.

Today, the last day of the year, I finished reading “Mutanda Oyom Namondo”, a novel written in Efik and I found out that two of my friends are sick. Eventful day.

I saw a video of a lady's testimony online and it really resonated with me. She said, this year, she felt like she had been toiling all night long and had caught nothing. She had held on to Jesus' shirt so tight (figuratively), and now she was grateful for all the little blessings that weren't so little after all. I am grateful for the gift of people, for strength, for peace, for comfort and everything that looked like a win this year. The confidence I have now is that, whatever 2025 holds, Jesus is walking with me.