2024 — The Experimental Year
I had lofty goals for 2024, and I managed to achieve most of them. However, 2024 was more of an experimental year for me in many ways. When I use the word “experimental,” it might sound like trial and error, but it was much more than that. Before I delve deeper into what 2024 meant for me, I want to start this review by expressing my gratitude to God for life and growth. We often reflect and review our year as it comes to an end, but it’s important to recognize that only those who are alive and in good health can do so. Thank you, God, for the opportunity to reflect.
As I contemplate the theme for my journey through 2024 — “Better” — and the profound imagery of being carried on Eagle’s Wings, I’m reminded of a declaration I made at the dawn of January. It was a simple yet profound choice: “I and God in 2024, or God and I in 2024.” The essence lies in the acknowledgment that, in this new year, I desired not to navigate it alone but to surrender, allowing God to carry me on His majestic wings.
I wrote this at the beginning of 2024, and it has been true from then till now. At the start of the year, I had just begun to get my life together, understanding what it truly meant to have the grace of God in my life. This meant not living carelessly but using that grace in a way that shows appreciation for it.
2024 was also the year I was going to get married, which required deep planning and figuring out life. I had set goals like:
I had deeply put systems in place and was ready to take on the year. In every review, you would see in the year, you would see how much everyone had economic conditions in their review and this is true. At the beginning of the year, we used to spend around 40–60K thereabout monthly for fuel but now we are averaging 400k lol, we thank God for growth. I got my Canadian PR at the end of 23' which meant that I needed to figure out what that meant and the experimentation began. In January, I had to do my first landing which brought the realization of living in another country, changing systems and all that. I began to think about getting a job there, figuring out what it meant to live abroad and understanding what changes needed to be made. February came and I turned 30, and the 30' knee pain had set in. More importantly, what 30 meant to me was that you had fooled around enough and it was time to take your life serious, enough of this play play. I needed to begin to take responsibilities for my action, build a life I would be proud of and God would be proud of. March came and I married the LOML. Best two days of the year, We had so much fun and we threw a proper lagos party for both days (we are still trending sef). But it was such an amazing two days. After which married life began. In April, I started consulting for an organization that required me to be in the office twice a week. This was a huge shift for me, I was used to be working for home all this while and going to the office was a huge one.
But at this point, the experimentation had just begun. My devotional was always a pride of my day, something I was always proud of. In no year have i fought to keep this going like this year. Some days were hard, some days I had to do two days in one. Basically, I kept trying to figure out a rhythm for this to work and this was one part. Money was also another section, I had already sort of figured out saving, the next part was figuring out how to invest and then we just also continued with the experimentation. This followed through with the business and passion projects. For podcasts, finding time to record was the problem and we kept trying different system and we still have not. Trying to figure out how to run the businesses better, keep them profitable and ensuring that we kept the ship moving. Marriage also was a new thing and a lot of building the home and understanding what to do per time was to keep trying things. But, like I said at the beginning of 2024, this year was really me and God in all ramifications. Trust was a huge part of how I soared through the year. I held on to God more and it was such a vital aspect of how I navigated the year. And really, 2024 was that year — an exhilarating adventure into the unknowns. A partnership between me and God, where His wings cradle my aspirations, dreams, and endeavors. 2024, it’s not just a year; it’s a covenant between a willing soul and the divine orchestrator of destiny.
I am grateful for so many things in 24. Faith, friends, family, systems and much more. My faith and faith community has been a strong bedrock in the year. I wrote sometime in the year about my money experience so far and that’s a testament to my faith. Being a Christian has pushed me to become better for myself and people around me and the change has been worthwhile in every way. Nothing can hold me firm the way God does it every time and I am grateful.
Family has and will always be a major part of my life. To my baby (wink wink), you know the vibes. In all honesty, I know that there’s a place where you choose to be better but you see someone and you say I have to be better. Thank you for being that person. For my loves, my one and only siblings, mama, thank you. You have always seen me as a better man and it has taken me years to begin that process, thank you for your patience. Thank you for always seeing what it took me year to actualize, you are the real MVP and I love you so much.
To my Gs. The interesting part of this year, most of us had many life changing steps this year, what makes this great is that we can run to each other for strength and comfort. Thank you for your shoulders. Always making it available for advise and comfort. I pray that as we navigate this journey, we always have ourselves. Love you my bros.
To my egbons, thank you. Thank you for your counsel, thank you for your heart, your openness, thank you for access. You make life a little bit easier, thank you for always sharing and pushing me to be better.
The Millenium Estate small group. The gift that keeps giving. The Elevation Church has been my church for a few years now and every year, the church finds a gift to give me and this year, the small group has been that gift. The fellowship, the conversations, the growth. Every Sunday, 6–8:30pm and sometime more has been more than I can ask, thank you so much for the friendship.
Even if my passion projects didn’t go the way I hoped this year, they still remain the fire that keeps me burning. Every year is a new challenge and an opportunity to figure you out and push you closer to the dream. This year, I have done amazing work from building a home for three of my dreams (Motley | Apejo | Personal | Stracct) to building amazing brands for clients and many more. 25, we get to build more and tell amazing stories. 2024 has shown the amazing power of the stories we can tell.
So 2025
I still remain with my vision of me and God this 25. This is not a cliche and I am not saying this because it is the Christian thing to say but the truth and nothing but the truth. No way would I have gone through this year without God and the same goes for every year I am alive on this side of eternity. So 25, its me and God o.
But my word for 25 is Deeper and Fuller.
A lot of process began in 2024 which I had to figure out on the fly and begin to put in systems to see how we can maintain the momentum for these things and build them properly. For money, I want to move away from savings to investment, basically, I have coined this “My Wealthy Sznnn” Lets go. For faith, I want to go away from performative fellowship to actual devotion. For career, why has it been hard for me to set goals for this, Omo, its you God o. But for this, Do Amazing Work, Make Crazy Money. I want to earn enough to support my family, contribute to family expenditure and take away every financial anxiety. For Stracct, Build a marketing business that does amazing work and expand our clientele (still WIP), For Apejo, go back to telling the amazing stories of faith. The Apejo was founded to help people find expressions, we are going back to do that. Motley Inspires, Building a learning and development outfit. Now this are lofty goals, but I am building systems to ensure that each brand becomes sustainable and grows. Basically, the goal is to go deeper into these things and ensure that we are able to extend how to get more from these things and build them better.
The same applies for me, Nifemi. I want to explore the fuller extent of myself. I am entering into my “content creator szn” (lmaooo, I hope this is not just vibes). I want to tell amazing stories of my self and the different things that make me, me. Build out content, from images, to words, audio and video (YouTube SZN). Don’t care so much about formats, platforms or other but rather focus on building and creating.
All of this goals will be surely built on the strength of my father and I am excited about 2025 because its truly Nifemi Szn. Y’all aint ready. Let’s gooooooo.