My Recap of 2022
Table of Contents
I had an incredibly challenging and exciting year and therefore this recap is going to be a lot shorter than previous reviews.
I anticipated that this year won’t be like previous years and therefore I didn’t do much regarding development or personal goals.
Challenging & Exciting Year
Let me first address the challenging parts of this year, my girlfriend was pregnant with my daughter so there were visits to the gynecologist, a few visits to the hospital, and then the birth of my daughter Saige on 2 June 2022.
I was both nervous and excited at the same time during all the visits up until the birth but I cannot be happier about becoming a father to a beautiful baby girl.
My girlfriend was on maternity leave for 4 months with an extra month of leave and I was lucky enough to get 3 weeks of paternal leave which was much needed.
I told many people that it is not something you can prepare for, the only way to learn is to go through it yourself.
Going through all of that was challenging enough and before the birth, we had to move houses, and just before the end of the year we had to move again which was stressful, especially after the birth.
With everything that happened, I didn’t get much time to read or exercise.
I am planning on getting into both a reading and exercise routine this year as it is an important part of my life that helps me stay balanced.
During my leave in December, I did manage to get a few development things done.
Bronson Dunbar
I decided it was time to update my website with a better technology stack and move away from WordPress, something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now.
The updated technology stack is Hugo, Forestry.io, and Netlify.
I wrote a blog post about it which you can read below.
Ackee
When I updated my website I was looking for an alternative to Google Analytics as I find it confusing and not that useful, not to mention the data privacy issues regarding Google Analytics.
While searching for alternatives I came across Ackee, a self-hosted analytics platform that is easy to understand and use. I decided to start using it and couldn’t be happier, I even wrote a blog post about why you should rather use Ackee instead of Google Analytics which you can read below.
Blog Posts
Snapshot Growth React Native App Website
When I updated my website, I thought it would be beneficial to update the website for my app Snapshot Growth as well and went with the same technology stack which you can view here.
Upcoming Side Project
Also during my December leave I managed to make a start on a side project that I’ve been wanting to do for a while which I am hoping to release in the next few months.
Stay tuned for more updates.
2023 Plans
Reading
I need to get back into the habit of reading daily, this is probably my most important goal for 2023.
Exercise
This is probably second on my priority list as I don’t exercise at all anymore and need to get back into it.
Release Side Project
I would like to release my side project in the first quarter of 2023 which I am very excited about.
Snapshot Growth React Native App
I would like to make improvements to the Snapshot Growth app by making it better at helping you achieve your goals and keep you motivated.
Wood Stain Bookcase
I wanted to do this during my December leave but didn’t get around to it, I am planning to stain my bookcase a darker shade to make it fit in with the other furniture.
This is something that is out of my comfort zone and I think it will be an exciting and fun challenge.
Vegetable Garden
Hopefully, I can get started on this as it has been on my list for a while now and with everything a bit more settled it should be doable.
Overall even though I don’t consider this year as productive as the previous year, it was still exciting and a lot happened and next year is going to be even better.