This year has been really amazing. I know I probably give the same impression every year, but this year has been really good. I travelled miles away from home to the UK, and it’s been an eye-opening experience, from school to the environment and systems. I made some new friends and probably lost a few, sadly. I joined a new church, which has been a great experience, launched a product, Anfani, and grew in various areas of my life, which has also been a blessing. I know I typically write this in multiple areas of my life, but this time I will try to write it with various events or seasons in the year.
I already mentioned travelling to the UK. I came to the UK for my master’s, and it’s been quite a different experience. My program was in Data Science, and I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, really, because I had an idea of the course but not so much. I just had a general open mind about the whole course and possible experience, so far it’s been fun and trying, but I made it (by the time you are reading this, I will be done with my project, so yes 😂). I learnt more about machine learning, made new friends, amazing people, really.
This was the first year I did not really plan anything for the year, for as long as I can remember, which was weird but, in retrospect, a perfect decision. Although I had a subconscious plan, which was to read the whole bible again, the last time I did it was when I was quite young with the whole family. I eventually started with a plan on the bible app I use, and luckily, a friend also started a similar plan, so I just joined the friend’s plan, and it has been a great experience. At first, it was a bit tricky to consistently read, but I am proud of myself for sticking to it. I had another worry of where to worship around me cause my church in Nigeria did not have any branch in London so I had to find one, which was somewhat scary cause I did not want to go church shopping and also wanted a church similar to the one back at home and will help my spiritual growth, I eventually found one via google maps 🫢😂 but it was one of the best decisions I have made in the year cause it has just been the perfect experience so far.
There has been this debate I have been having in my head about nature vs nurture, cause I have been trying to study my parents and siblings for similarities in how we behave or react to certain things. It’s probably weird, but 😂 yeah, it’s how my head works. I started staying with my dad this year, and I think nurture won the debate in my head because I pretty much see where I got certain traits from. It’s funny sometimes when I think about it, but I learn more about myself from watching my dad, and I also understand why I do certain things. I don’t want to mention some of these, but if you know me personally, there are a few qualities I have that I inherited directly from my dad.
Reflecting on some of the gigs I picked up this year, from waiting tables to working at events and teaching, I also relived the experience of working physically with people and the energy that comes with it. I enjoyed working at every gig I had through the year, it was fun meeting new people, learning new cultures, watching my first F1 race 😂, Football match and even a cricket match. I was working at these various locations, but it was so much fun, and I made the most of every opportunity I had.
I co-founded Beere Software with my friends last year, and it has really been a great experience, from figuring out a name to the purpose of the company (🫢 yeah, we had a company before defining what we wanted to do with it). We started building a product last year, but after analysing our progress and the current marketplace, we had to pause that project. My co-founder built an MVP of a platform to help find opportunities online and also send a reminder about it. After sharing the idea and MVP with me, we built the whole thing again from scratch to be more scalable and also have a UI This was a great experience that eventually turned into Anfani. We launched Anfani in October and have been amazed by the feedback. We are tweaking things and adding features, looking forward to the amazing things we will do at Beere with Anfani in the new year.
Finally, one crucial lesson I learnt throughout the year is saying yes 😉, it may sound counterintuitive, but most of the best experiences I had throughout the year were mostly caused my saying yes, most times without thinking it through fully (might not advise that every time though 😂), but yeah I will try to say that more in the coming year and be open to more experiences.
In summary, 2025 was more than I expected, though I did not really have many expectations 😂. I was reading a book by Morgan Housel, The Art of Spending Money, and he also shared how expectations affect happiness pretty much. This year has given me a better appreciation of happiness and a better lens through life. I look forward to the amazing experiences, people, gigs, and fun I will enjoy in 2026. Have a blast.
