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A lot happened in 2024.
I quit my job, moved to Seoul, changed my name, founded K-Bridge, crossed 1,000 days of gym, met many kind souls, and hosted my first ever in-person event (which was a big success!).
It’s crazy to think all this happened this year.
At the beginning of 2024, when I published ‘Reflections at 27’ I wrote: “The question I’m asking myself these days is, ‘What risks am I not taking that I’ll regret later in life?’”
I’m glad I took this seriously.
On the surface, moving to Korea made no sense.
I didn’t speak Korean. I didn’t know anyone in Seoul. I didn’t have any employment opportunities lined up. In Chicago, I had my family, a great job, and clear opportunities to advance my career.
Everybody asked why. What’s your plan? What will you do when you arrive? What are you hoping to accomplish?
When I got to Seoul, people were even more confused.
To leave America - the land of freedom, opportunity, and innovation - and move to a country on the brink of implosion. For what? It did not compute.
I wasn’t sure either.
What are the origins of our desires?
As someone who would describe themself as pragmatic, careful, and calculated with how they navigate the world, it feels uncomfortable to explain what’s transpired as spiritual.
But that’s the best I have.
In 2025, I’ll return to Seoul to work on K-Bridge.
So far, the journey has given me an appreciation for life’s paradoxes. For example, one reason I thought K-Bridge should exist is because I believed in the power of community.
From my own experience, I understood how positioning yourself around a few kind, thoughtful, and action-oriented individuals could do wonders for the human soul.
At the same time, I’ve come to believe that our lives are existentially lonely. That no community or companion can ever understand the full scope of your situation.
It would be fair to characterize my Korea experience as both deeply communal and deeply lonely. I think that’s how it’s meant to be.
Free will and determinism is another one.
Which is it? Do we have personal agency? The ability to influence our own fate? Or are our lives pre-destined and our efforts futile?
From an intellectual perspective, I’ve always put this in the “too hard” pile. But as a pragmatist, I’ve always assumed free will to exist. (I’ve benefited too much from this POV to believe otherwise.)
Emerson wrote, “Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” I agree.
At the same time, my personal experience over the past six months leads me to believe that - at some cosmic level - I’m simply playing out a pre-determined fate.
In some logically incoherent way, both feel true.
This year, I’ve revisited Kevin Kelly’s quote on success multiple times. He said, “Your goal in life is to be able to say on the day before you die that you have fully become yourself.”
In 2024, I feel I took a big step towards “fully becoming myself”.
I really hope I can say the same for 2025.
