Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all that dont celebrate Christmas (note: Christmas is truly for everyone, as it’s the celebration of the birth and life of our savior Jesus Christ, who came to earth to die for our sins so that we all may have the chance at eternal life and relationship with Heavenly Father, God).
Today as I start typing out this post, it’s 29th December 2024, and it’s about 50+ hours left before 2024 ends and 2025 begins.
Whew, where do I start?
I think it’s easier to start with gratitude.
What I’m Grateful For in 2024
Firstly, to God be the glory.
Looking back at 2024 and the years before (if you include my blunderyears), I definitely can tell that God has been very faithful in providing, guiding and being there for us though our hard times and good times.
The last couple of years prior had been tough years, not just because of COVID-19, which was an unusual global breakthrough (some even called it the plague, given the number of deaths globally and we even had lockdowns and limited movements in the city)…but it’s truly God revealing to us His master plan which required us to be cleansed out of relationships that wouldnt suit or work with us.
It happened in 2 medium-ish trenches, one was with a health organization and another got to do with a specific individual, and it was brutal that I dont wish on my enemies. One was the weaponization of money and the law, the other was weaponization of attention and narrative. It led me to having to go through legal battles, lots of heart palpitations and even fear that was struck in my heart and more…
…but I give thanks to God, for these painful trials have trimmed off parts of me that didnt serve me or God’s purpose for me, and made me sharper and clearer than before. It was a painful season, from 2017 end to 2019 June – once again, thank you, you people who have given me such experiences and it got me to level up tremendously through the pains, heartbreak, betrayal and even realizations on who are friends and who are not.
God truly shone through and He was in charge at every step of the way, because without these 2 incidences, we couldnt have proceeded forward with the next phase of our life.
God also provided through this hard time, that despite such difficult “desert and wintry” season, we always had enough to pay for rent/mortgage, food and drink, and each other (on top of His presence). We also found out who was our true friends and family, and recognize those who saw us as convenient providers.
Through it all, God is still the #1 bomb of the Highest order.
Secondly, I’m grateful to my family and those who truly love and stand by me through the hard and good times.
I note that it’s only going through hard times that you can see who is with you, who loves you…and of course, those who decides to correct you, not blindly agree to whatever thing you think or say.
If what I say is dumb, stupid or useless, please tell me.
I am not a weakling that I only want Yes men or Yes women in my life. I look for Truth, Growth, Love, and these cannot exist without Truth.
So to those who standby me, correct me, grow with me (and of course vice versa), thank you. Let’s go for the long haul, and I strive to not let you down, in fact, I want to grow with you =)
My wife definitely ranks a lot up there, God > wife > solid business supporters, family and kids, so, thank you my love, you’re an amazing wife and person.
Thirdly, my business PhoenixRehabGroup.com – for those who dont know, I co-own and lead a specialist orthopedic and sports called Phoenix Rehab Physio & Hand in Singapore.
- physiotherapy
- hand therapy
- traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
- sports & deep tissue massage
- alternative therapy such as craniosacral therapy and lymphedema therapy
in Singapore.
In 2024, we launched our 3rd clinic, which is in Serangoon Central, on top of our other 2 which are in Novena Medical and Tampines.
I am grateful to be able to work in such a company together with my wife, our shareholders and our people, be it the therapists and the front desk – thank you.
Thank you for the people who have referred their patients, family members and friends to us to take care and help them recover from their bone, muscle and joint injuries or pains.
Lessons Learnt In 2024
- I’ve had an interesting year – signed up for 2 coaching classes, one was with DJ51 Shun Jian, who taught me immensely about patterns and extreme ownership of my deepest values. He heard my deepest goal and challenged/reminded me very strongly (I would use the word, “highlight imprintment”) of my heart’s desires, which is to create a trust fund for my children and legacy. Even though eventually I didnt build my online business the way he did, the coaching that I went through with him lit a fire in my soul (and under my ass), so thank you Shun Jian.
- My 2nd coach (still ongoing), I wont talk about it first until I complete my first task.
- Chosen active relationships > biological relationships and that it’s always no lock in. I strongly believe that active, chosen relationships are a lot more valuable than biological ones. I’ve met people with quite terrible family members who use and abuse them, yet, they feel that they “have to” because they were “born into such a family”, hence the ties binded them. I strongly disagree with this, simply because I view all relationships as not-locked in, and that both people have to add value and relate. It cannot be a single party taking, taking and taking, and another party giving, giving and giving. It cannot be that a single party hating, beating, cursing and the other party taking it. No, full stop. If you do not want to relate or behave like an ass and expect to be received like royalty or a family member “just” because we’re bound by blood or contract…ohohoho you’re quite wrong Sherlock. Of course, I wont give up on you just like that, there will be conversations to improve, change (works both ways, of course), and if there’s no middle ground or connection, then let’s agree to part ways. It’s such an inefficient way to live life that way.
- I need to keep growing…or at least maintain the activities that sustain the growth. Slowing down or stopping would mean or lead to degradation UNLESS I’ve placed measures in place to sustain the activities and growth, where possible. But this depends on what growth I’m looking at – if it’s something ultra personal, for example, say I want to build or maintain my muscle mass, it is ME who needs to continually do my rounds of push ups, sit ups, lunges etc and maintain a diet that supports that. I cannot outsource that, other than at best hiring personal trainers or personal chefs, but in the end, it is ME who has to do the work (which applies to most extreme personal activities such as fathers, making love to my wife, etc). Business on the other hand, I build them to scale and delegate most activities such that it doesnt require my daily or active presence for it to run – this is a very important decision and skill that I purposely choose, as it’s of the highest responsibility to allow MY business to run without me, in the event something happens to me (be it I travel or something adverse happening to me). Without me putting in the effort to grow or the measures to keep the growth activities, then things would slow down, degrade, or worse, die. So that is something that I noticed, and this applies to so many things in life, making things complex.
- God is still paying attention (to me, and to you). The last 2 years, was like a blur, because we have our third kid, dear little Josh (we call him Joshie), and he’s such an energy and time suck, I’ve felt like a zombie the last 2 years. I was perpetually exhausted and I didnt have the mindspace to pay attention to health or food properly. We couldnt even plan trips in advance, and lived mostly day to day. 2 years later, as my energy and alertness returned, I realized that God hadn’t given up on me, even though we couldnt really go church every week or read the bible or pray every day, ourselves or as individuals. I mean, we were really tired most of the time….and 2 kids and 1 baby, was tough on our 40 year old bodies lol. But, I thank Father God and Jesus and Holy Spirit, that as our alertness came back, man, I can feel God so strongly, and though it sounds cliche, it feels like He’s always there and it was my alertness that dimmed cos I was so tired. But I start to see and realize God was there everyday, all the time.
- BIG Wins > Small Wins. Of course, ALL wins are wins, however, I’ll like to stress and emphasize that given our finite energy and time, and though sometimes small wins can snowball to big wins, but I would say that BIG wins are infinitely more important than small ones. Maybe it’s my season in life where I am looking for the best levers and moves to make best of what little time I have left in life (a bit morbid I know but let’s consider starting with the end in mind), and by allocating energy to the large things first, such as God, Health, Relationships, Money – these 4 being the largest groups and they all have subgroups such as Health can equate to stamina, strength, blood pressure, etc. Relationships we cant win or have all the relationships with everyone so you gotta choose which handfull of relationships are most important and most winnable/sustainable (which is why I do not waste time on relationships with people who either dont want to have a relationship with me, or are abusive/cursing/hating me) etc. By focusing and prioritizing the big wins, and then what balance left over I can place under miscellaneous or serendipity…which is why most of the time, I’m not free to waste time.
- Anything that stresses or strains my mental health without good purpose or growth…should be dropped. It’s just NOT worth my stress, sanity and mental health to take shit from projects or people that is hurting, have a coping mechanism of pain infliction and anything that is that same line. Yes, I forgive but I can and will love you from afar and we need not have any relationships or friendships, even if we’re from the same family.
- That the fundamentals is still important (an expansion of item #3 and add-on to item #7) – you need solid foundation and fundamentals, an anchor of sorts. At the deepest level, I would say God is the core foundation that everyone should have in their hearts and soul – with Him, we can definitely overcome everything in and out of the world. Then, to layer that, consistent habits and actions that build upon
- good mental health frameworks and resilience
- good physical health such as strength, stamina, stability
- good financial earning ability, such as a high earning skill, which then feeds into
- good investment choices, such as stable ETFs, dividend stocks and rental properties
- good relationship choices (ditching the bitches and the ones that waste your time, instead choosing the ones that co-build an actual life that you want together
- etc
My Word For 2025
I’ll tell you this tomorrow (or at least in the first week of 2025) – kids all here with me, and this post is plenty long already. It’s really a monster post, and I dont want to make it any longer, but that’s the summary of what I think the whole 2024 was like.
Happy holidays 2024!