2024: A Year of Growth, Grit, and Gratitude (G3)
2024 has been quite the year, packed with ups, downs, and everything in between. I’ve decided to reflect on the year in chunks because, honestly, each quarter had its own unique flavour.
The First Quarter: Finding My Feet
The year kicked off with a big transition—starting a new role at a new company. Coming from an education background with a dash of HR experience and a stack of HR courses under my belt (thanks, Udemy and Certification Edge), I was preparing for the APHR exam.
Spoiler alert: I didn’t write it. Life got in the way.
Adjusting to a new job in recruitment was no walk in the park, especially as I worked to get my footing and find some clarity.
By the end of the first quarter, though, I had hit my stride. The work started to make sense, and I got used to the grueling commute—early mornings and late nights had become my norm. The stress wasn’t fun, but it was familiar. My job was fun though and being around great people everyday made me real glad and proud of how far I’d gotten in my life.
The Second Quarter: Building Endurance
With a stronger grip on my role, the second quarter became all about endurance. I found joy in my work—connecting with amazing people, crafting resumes for clients, and fostering meaningful relationships. But there was one major drawback: the commute.
The daily grind of getting to work and back began to take its toll. I was falling sick often, and despite my efforts to secure a work-from-home arrangement, it didn’t happen. The stress was real, but I soldiered on.
The Third Quarter: A Hard Reset
By the third quarter, the stress had become too much. I left my job and transitioned to freelancing—dusting off my resume-writing skills, taking on content writing gigs, and dabbling in freelance recruitment. It felt like a much-needed break from the chaos of the first half of the year.
However, as the months rolled on, I found myself in a rut. Rest turned into stagnation. I wasn’t making much progress, and by the end of the quarter, the inactivity started weighing on me. Depression crept in, but through it all, my faith in Jesus became my anchor. Even when everything felt overwhelming, that faith was my comfort.
To make things worse, I had what I call a beach incident. I was almost totally overwhelmed by beach water close to a friend's house. I lost my laptop, AirPods, power bank, wig, shoes… basically, a lot. It was a major setback.
I walked in to an interview I was supposed to have in bathroom slippers and had to go and buy shoes. There was sand in my hair and on all my wet documents. Everyone kept asking what happened to me. At some point, I began to laugh while telling the story because it felt almost unrealistic.
Later on, I began to think of how I was going to get all of those things back with my freelance earnings and without a monthly salary. I almost wished the stress and sickness of the commute upon myself again.
The Fourth Quarter: Rising Through the Chaos
If the third quarter was a low point, the fourth quarter was the ultimate test. I was overwhelmed—applying to countless jobs with little to no response while keeping up with freelance work.
But this quarter also became a turning point. Instead of staying down, I decided to focus on growth. I dove into certifications, started prepping for the CIPM course. I got intermediate level I, and worked on improving my CV and skill set. Amid the chaos, I found moments of joy—small victories that reminded me of my resilience.
Gratitude for 2024
2024 wasn’t a year of roses, but it was a year of lessons, growth, and unexpected blessings. I’m grateful for the experiences that shaped me and the incredible people I met along the way and the ones I already had. As challenging as it was, this year taught me resilience and reminded me that brighter days are always ahead.
Also, on the CIPM front, at the close of the year, the results came out. I was so scared to check it out. However, I passed my intermediate exam, despite my unexplainable fear that I'd fail one of the courses. So, off to the next one.
Here’s to 2025—may it be a year of opportunities, growth, and more beautiful connections.
Thank you, 2024, for everything.
