2024 Review – The Year Of Frequency

Caught in an earthquake while hiking through snow in the Japanese Alps. Being one of 96,000 screaming fans at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour stop on a perfect Melbourne summer night. Standing in awe under the Aurora Australis on the coast of Adelaide.

These were some of the highlights of my 2024.

My theme for 2024 was frequency. I was curious about patterns and repetition. How often I did all the things in my life. And what things I did too often.

But everything I cared about measuring was down compared to previous years. Number of flights, steps taken, hours slept, days spent writing, workouts done, photos taken, time spent reading or playing guitar, friends I met, even times I had sex.

The frequency of 2024 was too low.

Perhaps the only thing I did more frequently in 2024 was worry.

I worried about my family commitments. About the possibility of my artistic progress stalling. I worried about getting older and slower. About not understanding the cultural changes happening around me. Why I couldn’t keep my kitchen clean and my garden tidy. I worried about why I was worrying so much. And what all that worry was doing to me.

Which is not to say it was a bad year. It wasn’t. I wrote a lot of words. Had some of them published in places other than this blog, something I haven’t done in years. I made progress on my memoir. Celebrated the twentieth anniversary of this blog. Made some important decisions on where to focus my efforts for the next few years.

And as I alluded to in my opening sentences, it was a year of memorable moments. I took my first road trip in years, from Melbourne to Adelaide. In an electric vehicle, no less! Through countryside I had never seen before. Collecting locations I’d love to visit again to photograph.

In fact, if I did anything with relentless frequency this year it was cataloguing things I want to return to. My life has felt like it’s been on hold for some time. Since I left Japan in 2019, really. The whole of my time in London was a weird pandemic-enforced hibernation. Since coming back to Australia I’ve been faced with grief, and family and care responsibilities, and divided attention as no one place feels like home.

Frequently I end these yearly reviews with some lists of the best things I encountered during the year. But rather than tell you what my favourite art exhibits, albums, books, films and TV shows were, I’d rather simply say there is so much new and amazing creativity to explore. In almost any art form you can name, we are in the midst of a golden age.

That might be the paradox of 2024. There is so much to enjoy in the world. We just have to reach and discover what’s there for us. But much of the world also feels off kilter. It’s hard not to worry. Things are going wrong. But also, life is glorious.