2023 was a year outside my comfort zone. It was me branching out and making moves that will make my future self proud. It was a year of personal growth and ticking off a few milestones.
Outside of my Comfort Zone
Growth was the prevailing theme of 2023 from being nominated Controller of the Year to CFO Summits and eventually being a speaker in such events. Speaking is not new to me but to speak to over hundreds of CFOs and Head of Finance is another thing. It was only when I realized that when it comes to Finance and Accounting, that we are all telling the same story but at different levels of experience and industry perspective. 24 years in the business and I’ve been through so much in this field already to have a good narrative of the story.
Travel Unlimited
I was sort of stuck on revenge travel mode as I ended up with so many trips this year, twice in Cambodia, twice in Hong Kong, twice in Singapore, once in Taiwan, once in Davao, once in Pagadian and several land trips around Luzon. Some were work, some were for fun and some were to tick off some milestones.
Asian Trilogy Complete
Having completed the first two legs in 2015 (Kinabalu) and 2016 (Fuji), it took me until 2023 to finish the third leg (Jade Mountain). Jade was the elusive one missing the lottery in 2017 and 2019 and the pandemic denying my 2020 slot. I did do Snow Mountain in 2019, which I considered my somewhat Asian Trilogy because of how difficult Jade Mountain slots are. But I did it this year and what made it special was the struggle of building my way up again after sickly phase of the year.
Sickly 2023
I couldn’t really gather enough momentum in my training towards the second quarter of the year as every time, I get some head way, I get sick or injured. Blame it on a busy schedule or old age. Anyway, I was able to be a lot healthier in the last quarter to gain enough build for the Jade Mountain climb and be healthy for the year end.
Still On A Trail Mission
When it comes to events, one day I’m retired and one day I miss mounting them and start a new one. On A Trail Mission 3 Timberland was planned February, finalized in April and mounted in May with 200+ participants. OATM4 was planned in June but had a long time for the permits and mounted in September with over 200 plants and we were also able to plant 200 trees at Camp John Hay.
Bye 2023, Let’s Go 2024
2023 was an eventful year, though on a social scale, I was less visible. I am more calculated on how I spend my time and energy. I am more at peace on my one and in what I do that I don’t need to be on top of the world all the time. I may be scaling down my activities even more in 2024 but expect me to be more focus on my goals and passions. Silent steps towards bigger goals.