2018 was a year of personal growth, and as it comes to a close, I'm awfully proud of where I'm at heading into 2019. I have four healthy, smart and sweet kids, a strong and healthy marriage, a personal best for KMs biked and I'm feeling great physically and psychologically.
It wasn't all wine and roses, however... here's the good, the bad, and the ugly, but to end on a positive note, it's the ugly, the bad, and the good.
The Ugly
The last thing I expected heading into 2018 is that I'd be unfairly shit on by Dean Blundell. That was ugly. I plan to leave that garbage in 2018.
With that Blundell crap came trolling, but not from Blundell supporters. It's coming from Doug Thompson and his "yellow board" friends and I'm not quite sure why. Luckily, I have industrial strength scrub brushes and am determined to persevere.
The Bad
The Molly Johnson episode was bad. Her attitude threw me off my game and I wasn't able to do my thing. At least I learned a great deal from it and am a better host today because of what happened in episode 368.
The Mike Stafford incident was unfortunate, because I thoroughly enjoyed both his visits and have always been a fan. The question I asked Lou Schizas that set Stafford off is a question I'd ask him again, so I'm not sure I could have avoided this conflict. It was pretty innocuous, and not worthy of my new "turd in a basement" moniker.
I was restructured out of a full time gig I'd had for seven years. I received a stellar review just a week before hearing the news and was literally told my job was moving to Atlanta. That made it easy to not take it personally, but it still sucked.
The Good
There was plenty of good in 2018. As mentioned, my family is healthy and well-adjusted, I'm feeling good and the aforementioned restructuring led me to begin the next chapter in my life.
I launched my own digital services company. TMDS has been my sole source of income for four months now and it's been a wonderfully rewarding experience. I'm learning so much as I build this business from scratch, and I'm incredibly optimistic about what's in store for 2019. I'm striving to continuously improve Toronto Mike'd, passionate about helping others podcast, and continuing to provide digital marketing services and content to a variety of different businesses. And most importantly, I'm responsible for my own calendar and betting on myself.
That's a quick summary of the good, bad and ugly I experienced in 2018, but I'm jazzed about what's around the corner in 2019. Happy new year to each and every one of you, and thanks for your continued support!
