It is the last day of the year, so what better time to reflect on 2025. Overall, it has been a wonderful year, and largely fulfilling. Here is my best effort at trying to capture my reflections of the past 365 days.
The fulfilled
Overall, 2025 was a very good year. It was particularly busy; work became increasingly demanding, and Octavia is what you would call a Spirited child. She’s a ton of fun, but a combination of being high energy + low sleep needs can be a handful. Fortunately, she is both happy and healthy, and I would take the energizer bunny who only sleeps 20 minutes a day to her being unwell or upset. She has developed quite the personality, which has been a delight to see unfold.
Even with the external pressures of family and work, Ky and I add our own complications. With family and friends spread across the globe, we ended up spending five months this year out of Denver. There was time in Aus/NZ at the start of the year for Ky’s work and for Octavia’s grandparents to meet her, there were nearby trips to see Canada and Mexico, there were two overseas weddings, one in Italy, the other in Australia, which we were fortunate to attend. And now I’m writing this post a few hours north of Auckland, helping out Ky while she tends to her sister, brother-in-law, and niece.
It is a lot of flights, a lot of organisation, a lot of exhaustion, and a lot of cost. Frankly, it is probably too much, and I think we will scale it back in 2026. However, Ky and I have said this pretty much every year since we met, and we still keep racking up the airmiles. For a lot of that period, it has been chasing a sense of adventure, whereas now, there is plenty of adventure to be had in our own backyard. Colorado is a beautiful state, and the hiking, camping, skiing, fishing, and climbing options are seemingly endless. We have just scraped the surface here, and I hope we do and see more of our backyard in 2026. Once we leave the States, the time we will probably get to spend in this region of the world across our lifetime will be measured in weeks. Tick tock.
Ky and I have been together for years now, but this was the year that we really became a family. You can be a family without being married, or without children, or without having a place you call home; no doubt. But for us, those milestones have turned our relationship from one where we love spending time with one another, to a foundational, fundamental unit from which everything is built upon. Octavia has forced us to be even stronger, even closer, than before, and the result is a miracle. I encourage everyone to get married and have children, but DO NOT MARRY the wrong person. The world when you get this right is blessed.
Work has been a particularly positive force this year. Innovera is still going through some growing pains, but with clients in the funnel, cash in the bank, and a growing team, I think 2026 is going to be a banner year.
Regular readers will know I split my job satisfaction across ten categories, but today, I’ll just focus on 3:
- Creativity: I don’t consider myself a creative person, or at least, I didn’t. This is largely because I associate creativity with artistic expression or skill; essentially, are you good at drawing. Now, I think of creativity as the propensity to create something novel. Cranking out identical widgets isn’t creative, nor are grand imaginative ideas that never see the light of day.
I think this blog is an expression of creativity, but it is through work that I have had the most freedom to experiment and explore. In the past 12 months, I have built a number of internal tools that our team uses, or have at least learned from. Many of these MVPs or experiments frankly suck, as most new things do, but a few have been winners, and that has been super cool. I encourage everyone to pick up a free Cursor or Claude Code account and see if there is something they can build that will help them professionally or personally; there never has been an easier time to build.
Having this freedom to trial, experiment, get things wrong and go “monk mode” is a luxury; most jobs revolve around things that need to be done, to a certain standard, in a certain time frame, repeatedly. To be able to wander off for a few days and tinker around, with no guarantee of success, is a luxury, and a lot of fun. - Benefits: This is something I used to score low, because Innovera doesn’t have the resources to give me the bells and whistles that the MAANG companies shower their employees with. There is no free food, no business class flights, no trips to the Superbowl. There isn’t even health insurance. But the freedom to work from home, anywhere in the world, makes my life, our life, possible.
Earlier this year we drove an hour each way for a photoshoot in 5pm traffic. It was literally unbearable, and the whole experience was draining, frustrating, and frankly a complete waste of time. I did that once in 2025. It was only for an hour each way. Yes, the second leg had a screaming baby, but the first leg was relatively quiet. But even so, being able to skip a long commute is something I shouldn’t take for granted, and is thus an incredible “benefit”. Compound that with being able to work by the ocean, drinking a corona, in Mexico, and it is going to be hard to go back. - Leadership: This year, I had my first full-time employee to manage. I have had some experience managing, my sister and I ran a grocery delivery company which hired people, but this was my first time where I had someone who I could grow over time.
Felipe has been excellent. He is a hard worker and a smart guy. That counts for a lot. He’s also a lot of fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed the time we got to spend together in San Francisco together. I have enjoyed the challenge of helping him develop, and seeing those changes take root. Whether he’s a lifer at Innovera, or moves on to something new, I have full confidence that he will do just fine.
The unfulfilled
As aforementioned, 2025 on a whole has been overwhelmingly positive. In terms of fulfillment, the twin peaks of Labour and Love have reached lofty heights. Put bluntly, things with family and work are going just fine.
However, there is a few things where I fell short of the mark.
I mentioned earlier how grateful I am that I don’t have to wrestle traffic daily, but being WFH can be isolating, even when Octavia and Kylene are in the house. The other day I mentioned to Kylene that I fear my social skills may be atrophying, and we discussed methods of solving for it.
One needn’t be a genius to figure this out, I just need to be more intentional with my time, and make sure that my social battery gets regularly refilled. 2025 saw a lot of our social time organised by Ky, which is awesome, and I’m super grateful. It was a year where we really solidified a lot of new friends who had just become parents, and being able to go to events like 1st birthday parties makes life simple.
In 2026, I must get to be more intentional with planning things. This can mean regular phone calls with pals overseas, dad nights, family weekends away. It means making sure I get down to the Bulldogs for training, or the denhac to build. These things all take a bit more planning and organisation than they required in the past, but I will regret it if I don’t follow through with them in 365 days time.
The other area where I could have been better is my health and fitness. In positive news, I have dropped a small chunk of weight this year, largely through diet, but I haven’t been able to stick to a regular workout plan for more than 4-6 weeks. Some of that is life interuptions, but mostly it is due to an absence of planning, discipline, and structure. I’m reaching an age where fitness is less about looking good on the beach (although that is always nice!) and more about giving myself the best possible platform to live a full and long life.
There was a period in my life where I could fall into bed at 4:30 in the morning and be on the water rowing at 7. Those days are long over, and they’re never returning. Now, if I want to do everything I want to do, while setting a positive example for my daughter, then it is a matter on intention.
The Summary
Overall, 2025 will be one I look back it with great joy. I love being a dad, and I can confidently say that Octavia loves having me around as well (it was a slow start). Kylene and I are a proper family now, and that has been just superb. We’re a happy family, and our home is calm, warm, and pleasant to be in. What more could you ask for.
We have made a real community in Denver, and while it has been dandy being able to spend seven weeks over here in Aus/NZ, I can’t wait to get home. There will be friends to visit, snow to play in, and mountains to ski. It’s one of my favorite times of the year.
If you have made it this far, thank you for reading, commenting, emailing, and chatting with me, either over this blog, calls, or in real life. It makes all the difference.
Life is so rich.
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