It’s the last day of 2015 and boy has 2015 been a tough year for me. That aside I decided that I wanted to reflect and note the things that I’m grateful for that happened this year. I’ve linked each one to a relevant blog post to each thing so you can read more about it and see pictures of those moments in the entries.
The biggest thing for me this year is the birth of my baby girl Penelope Rose Tiah. She’s 9 months old this month and has grown cuter and cuter by the day. Just like her brother she’s had to fight a little at a young age. She had a hernia at just a couple of months old and we had to send her for surgery.
Fortunately the surgery was a success and everything is okay with her now. I’m grateful for her.
Right after our IPO this year I took a short break to London with Shorty. Ming was kind enough to let us stay at his beautiful flat there and I feel we had a good time to get rested and explore London as a couple. We did miss our kids a lot though which meant we gave them extra kisses when we got home.
This time last year I was busy working on the preparation for our IPO. It’s been a really tough process and a scary one too. In the middle of 2015 we were seeing volatile stock markets around the world and we kept wondering if the markets would get so bad we won’t be able to list the company when the time came. True enough we listed the company on what could be the worst possible day of the year.
The day the market opened after the Greek Referendum. Fortunately though we managed to find the investors we need and still listed the company. I’m grateful for that.
4) Achieving a fitness milestone
This year was the first time I went for a century ride. That means a 160KM cycling ride. Doing that kind of distance was something unthinkable just a year before so finally doing it felt really good. I’m grateful for making it through and not falling into the temptation of giving up halfway.
5) Good Health
This year is the year I discovered that I have not one but two cyst in my pancreas. I’m not sure yet if it is benign or malignant but doctors so far think it’s okay. I have to go back for a test 6 months from now but I’m grateful that it looks okay so far.
It’s also the first year that I’ve been able to break by sugar addiction. I used to take a lot of sugar drinks but now I’ve just about cut them all out.
6) Viral articles
2015 was a year that I saw more and more articles from my blog go viral. Recent ones are my story about the milk company to about KevJumba both which got over 150K shares.
All in all, 2015 was a year I had lots to be grateful for. I’m hoping 2016 will be an even better year.
Happy New Year everyone!
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space