My 2024 Reflection

It's been a while…

I was intending to write my 2024 reflection on a timely basis, like immediately after the end of the year, but life has gotten in the way. The big news is certainly me moving to London at the end of the year! There's a lot of thoughts I can share about this, but perhaps that’s for another forum. For my reflection over the year, historically I would do an alphabetical thing. Last year, I think I focused on a "wheel of life" framework.

But this time, I want to keep it simple and visual. I decided to focus on presenting only 1 picture for each month in 2024 that I felt was memorable and meaningful to me. So here goes…

Jan 2024 

Having the honour of being best man at Edmund's wedding and in typical fashion, creating a corporate slide desk to accompany my speech for him and Winnie. This goes down as one of my fondest memories in the year, having witnessed how Edmund and Winnie have grown together as a couple to reach this point.

Feb 2024

Cycling around Olympic Park with my friend James, and randomly bumping into the last night of Taylor Swift's concert. We aren't exactly die hard fans like many others so this picture is really as far as we'll go… Incidentally I write this having met up with James his wife Dorothy, who I got to have dinner with in London recently.

Mar 2024

Getting asked by my pastor (Kevin) to voluntarily serve in this Sydney Baptist denominated church conference being run on a random Saturday… I got to meet people from different churches who all shared a similar heart for God. It was interesting in hindsight, because that was when I also felt my pastor was going to be leaving my church (he moved to Carlingford Baptist in Oct 2024).

Whilst I love both my pastors Tim and Kevin, I did feel closer to Kevin (because he reached out first to me, when I visited my church as a stranger back in 2016). Poetically this felt like also the last big favour I did for him. To be honest, his leave took me by surprise. I certainly felt a bit sad when the news was confirmed, but I wish him and his family all the best. 

Apr 2024

My mum recommended this quiet Christian retreat called "Eden Waters" which was near Woy Woy, up in the Central Coast. This was my 1st time attending something like this alone. It was a restful 5 days for me of being away from Sydney and at that point in time, a great place for reflecting on my goals/priorities in life. I don’t think I came to a lot of actionable answers, but perhaps that was less the point. This picture below was me hiking in the beaches, and I came across this random seating area facing the endless ocean. I think I sat there for a good hour with no other person in sight, just me and the water, in my own thoughts…

May 2024

Booked a cheap tour to explore 10 days in China with my friend Gary. It was an amazing time, since it was my 1st time in China. I was amazed at the country. Both in the lovely cities we visited namely Beijing, Xian, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Shanghai. Each city had its own charms. Below was just a memorable one for me, walking one of the 7 wonders of the world, ie the Great Wall of China. I also solo visited the Shanghai Disneyland (my mission there is to visit every single one of them and do all the adult rides I can possibly do)!

Jun 2024

Every year, I have had the opportunity to go back to UNSW Investing 4 Charity to speak at their education program induction. I was involved historically with UNSW I4C back in 2018 where I was an education director, and it has been a club that has stuck with me many years later. Incidentally, it was because my mentor Albert shared so much wisdom to me over the years since 2017, which encouraged me to also share what little wisdom I had about investing, to people younger than me.

Jul 2024

Back when I still had the privilege of serving as the CFO of Atlas Academia, the education enterprise that provides tutoring services in sciences to years 9-12 high school students, we had end of term meetings. This was end of T2, and we decided for our social to have bowling after in my local shopping centre. This is not all our staff in the team, but a good chunk of them. I do miss them at times, and evidently since moving to UK have stepped down from my CFO role. I now only serve Atlas on a very loose ad hoc basis as a Board Advisor.

Aug 2024

A month of change. Wedding season was in the air, with my good friends Claudia and Jack (whom I both knew for several years together now) finally tying the know and getting married. This again was another night where I felt blessed to be a witness of their love journey. I also sat directly opposite them at reception! It was also nice because it brought back together a lot of our close high school friends (from North Sydney Boys) together that night.

Incidentally, that month for me was a BIG change period, as I had just moved out of my parents' home properly for the 1st time, into my own apartment. That was a big leap for me on a personal level. It was also a time when my good friend Luke also moved out of home, to his own apartment in Hurstville.

Sep 2024

At my work place (ie Antipodes Partners), we had an offsite event in the lovely Blue Mountains, and I also had the opportunity to bring my mum along to this. I was very thankful for this mother/son bonding time. I look back very fondly at that time because we got to spend a lot of time together, and my mum also got to meet many of my colleagues from work that she had only known as a name, rather than a face. There's also a running "joke" about how my mum is a better stock picker than me, and that some of the artisanal stock ideas have actually come from her, rather than me.

Oct 2024

Me and some close high school friends in Edwin, Jack, and Gary were able to carve out some time in the long weekend to road trip to the Central Coast. A lovely area, where the famous Long Jetty walkway was. This picture below was a nice group pic we took at a beach nearby. That was a fun trip filled with an airbnb (with a cold shower experience that I'll never forget), but also a solid bbq, and some chaotic catan boardgame plays. In October, I also spent more time having 1x1 dinners with all the friends I could, but especially also with my mum.

One of the unfortunate events during that time, was my washing machine accidentally leaking and wetting all my living room floorboards, such that I had to fork out money to replace them, ONLY after having just newly installed them for about 1 month. I've learnt from work, but also that event, that life often never goes as smoothly as you want it. But that is ok.

Nov 2024

On the topic of life never going smoothly, there was another photo I wanted to share but I decided not to because it brings a lot of painful memories. I had booked a long 15 day tour to take my mum for her birthday to the Balkans, exploring much of Eastern Europe including places like Croatia, Albania, Macedonia, etc. This was also meant to be my last trip before I left to my work's London office on a 2 year secondment. Unfortunately, she suffered an accident, and ended up with a broken wrist where we had to take her to emergency care in Dubai and we never made it back to our enroute flight to Croatia as such. What followed was a lot of admin, and taking my mum to get regular check ups with the doctors, pathologists, etc. It was not a fun time at all (not withstanding the fact it costed a lot of money since the tour group would not refund us, and insurance refused to cover us). I questioned God on why this had to happen to me. To this day, I don’t think I know the answer. But I have become a lot more stoic and trusting that whatever the reason, it was God's will. I would be dishonest, if I said I was ok during that time. I was actually quite a mess myself.

Another photo that did not unfortunately make the cut (but could have easily) was watching my sister's daughter Evelyn, perform in her school's end of year concert. She plays the violin. She’s a very active/sociable girl from my own observations of her, and isnt shy about performing in public. Ironically I don’t think me or my sister would've been as brave as Evelyn at such a young age. So credit to her for that.

Below instead, I inserted my last Atlas end of term meeting, with the social at my house. It was a fun time, because it was also my 1st time I ever hosted a big group in my house. I have been very blessed to be part of the Atlas journey and gotten to know many of the staff members (beyond just the founders in Wayne and Anthony). I've considered many of them friends. I also served fried chicken that I cooked by myself and got the seal of approval from the staff members (it's a running joke that I cannot cook to save a life but hopefully living alone has given me more chances to learn this craft). This was a nice memory.

Dec 2024

And finally, reaching the last month of 2024, I struggled to only choose 1 picture given how fond I was of so many of them that I decided to include several.

For my own personal farewell, it felt very bittersweet for me. I've never celebrated my birthday properly post Kindergarten (where my parents hosted a bowling party for me back in the old Top Ryde Shopping Centre in 2002). So a group event like this was something I had never organised before. But I was so thankful that a lot of friends were able to attend the day and stayed to the end, although others visited during the day to bid their farewells that did not make this group photo. Thank you to my good friend William for taking the initiative to take "formal photos" of my farewell event, Gary/Edwin for organising the polaroids, and for Nancy in staying with me to the absolute end in packing up.

Work is something that my close friends/family will know is something I've honestly had a love/hate relationship with over the years. Many know me as a workaholic in the workplace, and also outside the workplace. To this day, I think I simply do this job, because it often does not feel like a job, but a passion project instead. That mindset change was something my mentor Albert, had instilled in me a long time ago. In some ways, he prepared me for this so that I came into this industry with the best intentions. I am deeply indebted to him for that.

I also have benefitted from meeting James back in a university stock pitch competition final back in 2017 (where I pitched a buy on Crown Casino), and for Jacob who probably in some ways "pushed" me to limits that I never would've believed in myself for if not for his time he spent with me in those formative years.

Beyond that, I genuinely cherish all the colleagues (those in the photo and not in the photo) because honestly, whilst we're imperfect humans, I think I've lucked out in working with a team that I am encouraged by/pushed by/challenged by on a daily basis. It's not a perfect journey by any means, but strangely, it has been nearly 7 years in the same shop at Antipodes Partners now, and whilst nothing is ever certain, I do think for now this remains a 2nd home for me in many ways.

The last friends to visit my house (who didn't make my personal farewell to UK) were my good friends Cathy and Jess. Both have been solid university friends from Campus Bible Study, and both have known me enough to see my own journey of emotional and spiritual maturity over time. I think they've seen both some of my low and high points through the years. But in some ways, I found it quite fitting that they were the last friends to farewell me in my house. We tend to be quite reflective people and what better way to end that than playing "We're not really strangers" one last time!

I love this picture so much because I had no expectations of any friends/family driving me to the airport (I was already about to book an uber!). My parents were going to say goodbye to me from home. But Gary and Nancy reached out on my last day and graciously volunteered one last time, to send me off to the departure terminal. I hope to see them again some day soon.

I packed my life into essentially 3 suitcases, and took my plane from Sydney, stopping over briefly at Hong Kong, and eventually landing in London for the 1st time in my life. A funny story there, was back in 2014, my parents asked me if I wanted to go to London after my final HSC exams in year 12. My interest in London actually stems from my love for the Sherlock Holmes stories that I read since I was a child actually. Stupidly, for whatever reason (perhaps lack of interest, saving money, etc) I said no, and ended up using the time instead to mostly just play video games and following my dad to work at IBM to get some work experience. Whilst I see the reasons why I did what I did, not going to London was a regret I think I harboured in my heart for a long time.

But I finally made it to London. I'm thankful that my high school friend Gary also had established himself and moving in at the beginning from day 1 made my life adjusting to London (especially during the winter cold) a lot more bearable. Other high school friends in London including Kevin and Jerry also made the transition easier as I knew I wasn’t alone.

Finding my church St Helens Bishopgate (thanks to my pastor Tim and friend Edmund) also gave me an anchor point for my faith when I landed on day 1. I would say having left my old church, Macquarie Baptist after 9 years, and settling into a new church, has not been easy. I do miss my old church at times. The bible study group, and the people I had known for many years. It was a comfortable rhythm for myself. Whereas in London, the church brits can be somewhat culturally different to me. I sometimes feel like a minority in the church. But I am continuing to stick with this church to at least end of 2025. 

To end this, I took a photo next to a classic telephone booth in London on one of the last days of 2024. That was taken in Angel area, incidentally the area where I now live in.

In terms of future posts, this is something I have also questioned in the context of this new AI era where even blog posts can now be written to a decent standard by the AI (instead of a simple human like me). I do still want to make blog posts from time to time (God willing) though I think my "busyness" with work/travel/church/etc will constrain this. Thus I don’t set any hard targets on what I want to do with this blog.

If you finished reading to the end, a sincere thank you (for sticking with my ad hoc blogs). :)

Wishing all my family, friends, and colleagues well…

Michael Li