I spent the final day of 2025 skiing with friends in Leogang, Austria. And what a day we’ve had. Fresh snow, clear blue skies, empty slopes and the best of company.
I’m not sure I’ve ever skied at this time of year or celebrated NYE abroad, so it’s been a real treat and the perfect way to wrap up a relatively decent year.
Using the same format as usual, here are my reflections on the past 12 months – what went well, what didn’t go so well and what I learnt in the year twenty twenty five.
What went well?
Let’s start with the positives.
Work
I have a couple of retainer clients that I’ve built a strong relationship with over the years. Thanks, in part, to our work together, their businesses are going from strength to strength and this year was another good year.
As freelancer, these are the type of clients I look for. Ongoing work, a motivated team, great communication, invoices paid on time. These clients keep my business afloat, so I’m extremely grateful for their ongoing commitment and trust in me to deliver. If this sounds like your company and you need web design/development help in the new year, then I’d love to hear from you.
Outside of client commitments, my focus has been on couple of projects. First is ERYN, my web development agency website. Which I decided to put more time into to better articulate the services I offer. I plan to launch a v2 of the website in the new year. The second project is Practical Hugo, the Hugo course I’ve been working on for some time now. Following a couple of rewrites, I’m pleased to say that the first season is now ready to go. All that’s left to do is figure out some kind of launch strategy.
Personal site and newsletter
I managed to publish 16 posts, all in the first 6 months of the year. The reasons for which will become clear later. I covered a range of stuff, mostly technical writing on subjects like accessibility, the IndieWeb, Obsidian, Cloudcannon, CSS and, of course, Hugo. I also wrote a few posts on health, which I’d like to continue with. I haven’t posted much on the current state of the web, AI and so on. Perhaps I should be more vocal in this respect, but with so many amazing commentators already covering these subjects and so much noise in between, I just haven’t felt the need.
A big change I made this year was turning my Now page into a blog so I could post regular updates whilst keeping a record of previous ones. After struggling to find a way to integrate general life updates to my personal site, this has proven to be an ideal solution. With the help of a reminder in my calendar, I’ve managed to publish a monthly update for most of the year. I also joined Nownownow and got some great feedback from Derek and a few others about the new format of my now page.
My newsletter has been ticking along nicely since way back in 2017. It never really grows, but that’s hardly the point. There’s a been a few iterations to the format in that time, but I’m happy with where it’s at and I’ve been fairly disciplined with the schedule. In August I switched from Mailchimp to Brevo and haven’t looked back.
Ditching social media
I’ve never got on well with social media. After years feeling bad about not having an active presence, it’s been a real relief to see so many others turning their back on some of these platforms.
In August I finally got round to deleting my tweets from the Twitter/X accounts I still have access to. Cyd made the process super easy. I’ll keep these accounts active to prevent others adopting them, although I suspect that’s unlikely to happen. Facebook and Instagram are up next. Currently I have no plans to switch to Mastodon, Bluesky or any other alternatives. I’m quite happy with zero social media presence. Email is enough for me. And on that note…
Connecting via email
One of my favourite things about publishing words on the web is the connections made as a result.
This year I’ve had a number of conversations via email with some great people, many of whose work I really admire. Some of these interactions have simply been an exchange of gratitude, others have resulted in sharing ideas and processes via video call and one or two have lead to work or collaborations.
Whatever the case, every single conversations has been incredibly positive and encouraging. Reaffirming my belief that you really don’t need social media to make connections and stay connected.
Whenever you discover someone online and find their work interesting or helpful, I highly recommend reaching out via email, even if it’s just to say thanks for putting it out there. It’s so easy to do and it’s always massively appreciated. Plus, you never know what door it may open or where it might lead.
Travel
I packed quite a bit of travel into 2025, all within Europe.
In March I organised another ski trip, once again to La Plagne in France, this time for 15 of us, one or two of who were first-timers. We were blessed with the ultimate conditions: fresh overnight snow and sun during the day. Couldn’t ask for much more. It was brilliant trip.
I made two trips to see family in Warwickshire, once over the Easter weekend and again for a few days last week. In keeping with traditional British eccentricity, this time we went to see Beauty and the Beast at the Pantomime and found a handful of cozy pubs to wind down in. Much to the disapproval of certain family members, we also made it to The Farmer’s Dog. That’s Jeremy Clarkson’s pub for those of you who haven’t been watching Clarkson’s Farm. The beer is actually surprisingly good!
I also spent a good bit of time in Germany this year. Visiting Hamburg on two separate occasions, Kappeln, Bonn and Mainz, for the first time. In November, a bunch of us spent a weekend in Berlin, celebrating the launch of Matt’s new album, which we designed the artwork for.
In the summer we met friends in Athens, then spent time on the beach in Agistri and Poros, which has become a real favourite place to relax and make new friends.
I’m currently in Anger, a small German town not too far from Salzburg. We’re here seeing in the new year with a friend we made in Cape Town a few years back.
Health
I ran two half marathons this year. The Hamburg Hella Halbmaraton in June and the Kallithea Half Marathon in September. My goal was to run sub 2hrs, which I managed on a very hot day in Athens with 8 minutes to spare. I also ran seven 5k parkruns across two different parks. Setting a new PB of 21:38 in August. I’m hoping to improve on these times in 2026.
I’ve found a steady rhythm with yoga, settling on our local studio, which recently had a refurb and is now a rather nice space to practice. Teachers have come and gone, but I’ve managed to stick with it.
My brother and I had a good run with indoor skiing, making the trip up from London to Milton Keynes Snozone on six separate occasions. You never really know what to expect from the snow park until you get there, but it’s currently the best option for wannabe freestyle skiers living nowhere near the mountains. We’ve managed to get the rigmarole of treking across London with ski gear down to a fine art.
This year I made a conscious effort to introduce weight training to my morning routine. I’m told I need to lift heavier weights still, but you’ve gotta start somewhere. Perhaps that’s something to work on in the new year.
House
Two years since our move and we’re still working on renovating our house. I guess that’s to be expected when working full-time and doing the majority of the work yourself.
This year our focus has been the kitchen, employing the help and expert knowledge of Grants Plastering to re-plaster the original Victorian walls with traditional lime plaster. Grant is a top guy and knows a hell of a lot about the correct way to look after historic buildings.
After 6 months of drying time, we took on the challenge of decorating ourselves, using breathable Earthborn Paints. R had the great idea of using a spray gun to paint the cabinets, which turned out to be a ton of fun and much quicker than using a brush. One leak and a broken boiler later, we can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. It hasn’t been the cheapest project ever, but we’ve learnt a lot and hopefully it will be well worth the investment.
Next up is laying new flooring in the office.
Learning
I prioritised learning in 2025 and managed to work through three courses.
The first was Andy Bell’s Complete CSS, which I highly recommend if you want to learn how to communicate with designers, plan projects and use a methodology to improve the way you write CSS.
The second was Compound Content from Visualize Value, a practical SEO course that teaches how to harness the power of organic traffic to sell your products or services. I learnt a lot.
The third was Jack McDade’s Radical Design Course which I enjoyed for Jack’s unique style and approach to design projects. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to finish it as work got busy. Perhaps I’ll pick up where I left off in the new year.
I grabbed four more courses during Black Friday sales, which I’m excited to get going with in 2026:
- Sarah Soueidan’s Practical Accessibility.
- Everything I Have Done to Make CSS Wizardry Fast from Harry Roberts.
- Scott Jehl’s Web components Demystified.
- Let’s Go from Alex Edwards.
Let’s see how it goes.
Reading
I read 16 books this year which isn’t too bad by my standards. I tried to keep my interests broad, reading books on Web Accessibility, Ethics, Economics, Finance, Sci-Fi or History. And my mind open, by reading about certain esoteric/fringe topics, such as out of body experiences, zero point energy and UFO’s, which fascinate me.
I also read countless articles, mostly concerning design, web development and the current state of tech. Cory Doctorow’s work on Enshitification and the post-American internet and Ed Zitron’s work on the AI bubble probably being the most stand out stuff I read. I also enjoyed posts published by the brilliant 404 media, and Jason Kottke, who never fails to share an endless stream of interesting content.
What didn’t go so well?
As ever, some things didn’t go quite so well this year. Here are a few of the things that spring to mind.
Work
Had a bit of a howler with some of my project-based client projects.
A couple of clients ghosted, one had their business go under, another I had to let go due to problems with paying invoices and a lack of alignment. I didn’t win much new business, though I didn’t exactly try hard to find it. Much of that was due to focusing on projects with retainer clients and personal side projects.
I plan on assessing and hopefully clarifying my offering in the new year. Then dedicating more time to sales and marketing, and solving the pitfalls in my client qualifying process.
Blogging
Blogging on my personal site took a back seat from the summer onwards. As much as I wanted to write, I realised I had to prioritise writing content for Practical Hugo if I ever wanted to get it out there. In that sense it’s paid off.
Now I need to figuring out how best to resume writing here on my personal site, whilst also writing Season 2 of Practical Hugo. It’s not going to be easy, but I’m sure as hell up for the challenge.
Meditation
2025 was an inconsistent year for meditation. I started the year well, then tailed off as the year progressed. In November and December I didn’t meditate at all. I’m blaming that on a disrupted routine mostly caused by renovation work on our kitchen.
I still find meditation really valuable when I actually do it, so I’d like to find a way to keep it going even when my morning routine is affected. Although that’s easier said than done when life gets busy and priorities shift.
De-googling
I’ve done a good bit of work to reduce my dependencies on Google in recent years. However this year, Docs, Sheets and Drive have all crept back into my workflow.
I’ve been using Docs mostly for discovery documents I share with clients, for the simple reason that it’s great for collaboration and most people know how to use it. I’ve started using Sheets for budgeting and project time tracking. I also used it in a client project, to generate web pages from Sheets data, which an SEO agency my client partnered with had prepared. Google Drive, of course, is kinda unavoidable when you’re working with either Docs and Sheets.
Until I can find better alternatives, it looks like I’m stuck with these tools for now. I’m fairly strict with my criteria for when I will allow myself to use them, so I’m hoping this will help kerb any serious dependencies, that may prove difficult to unpick at some point further down the line.
What did I learn?
In no particular order, here are a few things I learned this year:
- Change happens quietly.
- Slow progress is still progress.
- Buy less new and more using Vinted.
- Focus comes from refining and letting go.
- Double the time you think it’s going to take, unless you already know how long it takes.
- Use a spray gun to paint woodwork, it’s 10x faster and the finish is much better.
- Avoid most “smart” tech.
- Stop trying to do something original and copy what’s already working.
- Lift heavier weights.
Wrapping up
There’s plenty of reasons to feel uncertain and despondent right now. Be it recent world events, the enshitification of what feels like everything, the whole AI bubble thing, the lack of a Chelsea manager…the list goes on.
In spite of all this, for me personally, it’s still been a fairly positive year. Not necessarily my most successful year financially. But certainly one in which I travelled a lot, stayed relatively healthy, found focus with side projects, made slow steady progress with client work, let go of things that were holding me back and gained a little more clarity over what I’m actually doing with my life.
So I’m ending the year feeling fit, happy, positive and full of gratitude. I have a rough plan for where I’ll focus my energy in 2026 and that, I think, given everything else that’s going on in the world, is more than I can ask for.