🪨 The end of 2024: Bolder and Boulder
Rocking towards the end of the year
Hi there 👋🏻
Well, I was planning my usual late-November edition, but my 2024 travel curse caught me out again, leaving me stuck in San Francisco for 48 hours whilst I was travelling back from New York. Which also resulted in my birthday being eaten by the International Date Line. Which has all left me in a confused state wondering if;
a) am I still 37 for another year? and/or
b) have I entered a birthday vortex, and now every day is my birthday until next year?
Either way, I now know how 29 February babies feel.
So here we are, what has turned into a two-months-for-the-price-of-one edition of the bookmark. Which is a big old yearly wrap up.
Let’s get into it.
My word of the year this year was 'bolder'. A prod to make big decisions, take some bigger risks, and do even more new things than I usually do.
However, it turns out that when that got transposed, it was transposed as 'boulder'. And therefore I was served up a year of big rocks.
[Side note: I've been doing quite a bit of bouldering this year, so there's a bonus little joke in here.]
For part quite a bit of 2024, I've been pretty annoyed by the events that have tested my patience (a virtue I'm not exactly known for anyway), identity, and resilience.
But as the year starts to wrap up, I'm starting to think that maybe bolder and boulder are actually the same thing.
Because in order to be bolder, there probably needs to be some big rocks to work your way around/over/through. Some of them need persistent chipping away at, others need a big enough lever to shift, and others need clambering over with a leg up from your friends.
Either way, it's all just the messy and annoying process of 'doing the things', rather than some unusual failing on my part to effectively design and create my own life.
Over the last few months, I've been surrounded by a lot of indirect tragedy. Without wanting to be a total downer, or turn into some problematic ‘LiFe COacH’, every one of these stories is a gut-wrenching reminder that life can be very short, and lives can radically change, or end, in as little as a few minutes.
So maybe I need to reconcile the frustrations of this year with the fact that this is life, and it means I am alive and living. And for the areas I've felt like I've done 'less' living than I'd like, decide what needs to change in 2025.
Here are a few tools I find useful for some reflection…
Journalling: My buddy Jason Fox recently released an excellent and 'practical without being basic' podcast about his own journalling practice. Since then I've been using 750 Words to do my daily journalling (I'm on an 27 day streak), and have been surprised at how much I've enjoyed journalling digitally versus physically.
Question: Another pal, Leanne Hughes, in one of her regular LinkedIn Lives with Alan Weiss, had a conversation about what do you want to ‘be’ vs 'do' in 2025. A good reminder for those of us who are a bit more goal oriented, that there are other questions to consider.
Reflection: Year Compass have just launched their 2024 -> 2025 book. (Tip: for the last couple of years I've been completing this and sharing it with a friend, who does the same, and we then have a specific catch up about our entries and about how we can help each other with our next year plans).
Creative: Spotify Wrapped is obviously a lot of fun*, but I find it’s also a good indicator of where I’ve spent some of your brain power in a given year. (Fun thing: I made a fully designed Wrapped for a friend this year, containing various fun stats and highlights of our year).
Thanks for reading, commenting, sharing, and replying this year, you’re the best. I’m taking a big chunk of time off over the summer to read, write, and have some adventures. Let me know your best bits and things of 2024, have a great summer / winter, and I’ll see you in 2025.
Bolder and boulder,
Steph
*well, usually it’s fun, this year was very blah in comparison.
PS. To borrow from Austin Kleon, this newsletter is 'free but not cheap'. You can support their ongoing creation and keep me in books by buying me a coffee as a 'thank you', recommending it to a friend, or using any affiliate links in the email.
Tell me about your friendships!
💗 There’s still time to share your interesting, creative, and fun own rituals and routines with your friends 💗
ICYMI, I’m writing a book about the rituals and routines that people have for spending time with their friends in meaningful, fun, and creative ways. Think of it as a ‘recipe book’ of ideas for connection. You can submit your own examples using the links in the comments.
I love that there’s some clear themes emerging. I’ve had a particular influx of stories on how people stay in touch from a distance, and some fun ways of celebrating birthdays (or other events).
If you’ve got examples of….
💗 Small rituals
💗 Keeping in touch / friendship from a distance
💗 Celebrating more / make the everyday an event
💗 Something about ageing together
💗 Something about marking and/or making it through life transitions and big changes (which may include a ritual or practice of ‘resetting’ friendships)
(Speakpipe is the option if you’d rather talk than type your submission)
Submissions due by 24 December so I can write over the summer!
Of course, if you know someone who has their own cool friendship ritual or experience, please forward this to them to submit their story.
The best of 2024 it list 🔥
👩🏻🏫 Books
I’ve read a paltry 14 books this year (and have about three in progress). I read 9 on Kindle, 5 hard copies, and 0 audiobooks! This year I’ve had an intentional focus on reading more sci-fiction / dystopian fiction. I’ve read quite a few ‘pretty good’ books this year, but honestly nothing that blew me away. So here are some notable ‘pretty good’ mentions…
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel
From What Is to What If by Rob Hopkins
Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
🎧 Music
This section will quickly illustrate what I was doing instead of reading this year.
I was listening to A LOT of music.
I listened to 163,519 minutes, which is outrageously high compared to my next closest year (~96,835 in 2023). Given that’s 114 days of solid listening, it basically means I’ve spent 1/3 of my year listening to music. (And judging by my top five artists, mostly music by sad men).
I did fairly well with gigs this year, going to 14 concerts in two countries. This included three Sofar Sessions, which I thoroughly recommend if you want a relaxed evening supporting local, independent artists.
Song: Still an impossible and ridiculous question. (But St Vincent’s The Power’s Out might be up there).
Album: The Smile graced us with two great albums in one year (Wall of Eyes and Cutouts). IDLES TANGK was excellent.
Gig: IDLES in New York were incredible (as always), and I could have stayed listening to Nick Cave’s solo concert for a week. However, the real pinacle was finally seeing Thom Yorke live. My live music dreams are now complete (unless Radiohead get back together, or anyone reanimates David Bowie).
On the flip side, this year I also had my very worst experience in 25 years of going to gigs, seeing Less Than Jake in Melbourne. The music was fine, but I’ve never felt so unsafe and uncomfortable at a gig. Not cool.
🫛 Podcasts
Hard Fork wins again as the podcast I still listen to religiously every week.
The Yoga Nidra & Beyond as my second most listened to podcast is a sign of another ‘boulder’ from this year; insomnia!
What Did You Do Yesterday didn’t make it onto the top five as it’s a very new addition to my listening lineup (because it’s a brand new podcast), but I’m loving it. I’ve twice had to stop what I was doing whilst listening because I was laughing too much.
👀 Things to watch
Film: Kneecap was brilliant, original, funny, and probably the best thing I watched all year.
Documentary: I am still thinking about The Road to Patagonia, and the decisions that Matty made to choose adventure and a non-obvious life.
🔨 Tools, travel, and tech
Tools: Airalo eSims have once again been SO useful for my various trips this year. No more fiddling around with that silly sim card tool and trying to find a mobile operator stand at the airports. (Here’s a USD$3 discount if you want to try them on your next travels).
Travel - hardware: the July large tote has been an excellent addition to my growing July collection, and looks very cool perched on top of the hand luggage case.
Travel - hotels: I’ve stayed at a couple of Ace Hotels this year (Brooklyn and Sydney) and they’ve been consistently excellent; funky, quirky, and a bit sexy. I think they might pip QTs as my new favourite medium-sized chain.
Places: Only one new country crossed off the map this year (Cyprus), but I spent time in some new places like Bridport, Newcastle (the NSW version), the NT, and fell in love with Brooklyn over my three trips there.
Tech - app: Embarrassingly late to the New York Times games party. Officially addicted. Honourable mentions for 1SecondEveryday, which is still a daily go-to, as is Opal for keeping my eyes off of the brain rot apps.
🧠 Best of the rest
Events:
Is it weird to include an event that I hosted?! A real highlight in 2024 was celebrating my 10 year Aussiversary with 12 of the people who’ve been a big part of my decade down under.
I’ve also been enjoying the Olios events that have launched in Melbourne (co-hosted by my friend Sian), and am looking forward to more of those delightfully slow evenings of conversation next year.
Finally, Breakfast Clubs have been such a fun and meaningful addition to my trips to New York and London this year. I love that the Brooklyn BCs run every week, and knowing that when I’m in town, there’ll be a space for me around a table of interesting, fun, creative people, ready for great conversation. Ben Dietz has spawned something pretty special here.
Eats: I’ve been in Castlemaine a couple of times this year to visit a friend who moved there. I am obsessed with the sandwiches and cakes from Sprout Bakery in The Mill. Best enjoyed under a tree in the beautiful gardens opposite.
Treats: A dangerous love affair with Tarts Anon has blossomed.
Person to follow on the internet: Dales Bits weird little animations.
Comedy: Rhys Nicholson was my best-of-the-Comedy-Festival comedian this year. Romesh Ranganathan made me laugh until I cried during his October visit to Melbourne.
Journal: Once again I’ve loved using the Jumbled x Emma Kate Co diary this year for my daily captures (and have another one lined up for 2025). Each day I write down three things that went well that day, and give the day a score out of 10, just before I go to bed. It’s one of my favourite rituals.
Home things: Andria Beighton is a new addition to my art collection, and I feel like this might not be my last purchase of her work. Also, one of the best upgrades I made in my home office this year was adding two of these picture ledges from IKEA to create a gallery wall.
Random things: My excellent friend Megan Flamer bought me this Kennedy Smith candle and it’s one of the nicest things I’ve smelt. I love.
👋🏻 Some places I popped up recently
Podcast - This Connected Life with Mel Kettle. Mel is bloody great, and we had the best conversation about life, choosing where to live, friendship, and fun. Listen on Spotify or Apple
Smart Company - In my latest Smart Company piece, I share some of the weirdest stories and trends of 2024 😬
App - The People Spot: Each month I pop up in the audio tracks of the People Spot app sharing a few interesting signals about the future. These audio clips are included in the free download (iPhone only) and you can use the code STEPHC for an additional two months free access to the full content library in the app.
Learna - Learna is a new learning app for organisations to break the cycle of drudgery in their approach to learning. Organisations and teams I know who use it love it, and I’ve also got three modules on the platform. *Exciting news*: you can now download the app and sign up without needing your workplace to sign up for you! Apple | Android
Yes, I can confirm that the Stephiversary was one of the events of the year. Thanks for the live-stream shout-out!