Looking Back at 2015

2015 is nearly over. The winter solstice has passed, the days are getting longer, and the New Year according to the Gregorian calendar is nigh. And what would the New Year be without some reflection on the past 52 weeks?

This was an interesting year for me in that it was filled with some pretty remarkable failures, yet looking back, the year feels like anything but a failure. I had excellent times with friends (old and new) and family, learned and grew an incredible amount, saw interesting parts of the world I'd never been to, and accomplished at least a few things I'm proud of.

The year started off inauspiciously as progress with Levate, mine and Ethan's young startup, was at a standstill. In the meantime I went on a disastrous three month trip across Europe. After that, I took a job in Bangladesh with a local company there that, to put it briefly, went horridly.

Yet eventually the startup got funded, I turned the disastrous Euro-adventure into a new creative project, and travelling to Bangladesh allowed me to meet and get to know people and places I'd not have had the opportunity to see otherwise. Call it New Year's optimism, but what seemed like failure was really just part learning experience, part waiting game, and all entertainment (if only to be able to laugh at my mistakes in hindsight).

And there was plenty more for me to be thankful for. So in no particular order, here are some of my favorite things about this past year.

• Saw my last sister get married in Omiya, Japan, to a great guy (and now my brother-in-law!). Now I'm the only one of my siblings still unmarried. Anyway, we spent a week travelling around Japan before the wedding, which was great, especially because I'm in love with Japanese food.
• Lived for five and a half months in Bangladesh, a part of the world I never imagined myself seeing anytime soon. I took the opportunity of being in the region to take a weeklong vacation to Thailand, where I went to the legendary Full Moon party on Koh Pangan.
• Bought, and crashed, a motorcycle in Europe; but got to see a lot of good friends in the process.
• Began learning French and got to the point of being able to have some conversations with my French roommates in Bangladesh. Also got the opportunities to practice my other languages, mostly during my trip across Europe.
• Found funding for Levate, the startup my partner Ethan and I founded! I know I mentioned this before, but I couldn't leave this out of the list of highlights. We were able to use the funding to begin work with a fantastic product design company that will finish the development for us and deliver an excellent final product that we can take to market.
• Wrote a book, which I'll hopefully self publish sometime early in 2016. It's about the disastrous trip across Europe I keep mentioning. I have already started a second book, about a completely different topic- higher education reform.
• Went snowboarding for the first time at a good friend's bachelor party in Breckenridge, Colorado. We'd been planning the weekend for months and it paid off, with the weekend being a huge success. His wedding on the 27th of December should be awesome, too.
• Vastly improved my swimming with the Total Immersion method. I'd never been a strong swimmer, so I'm excited about having gone from swimming 50 meters to swimming a kilometer or more.
• Taught Lean Startup and Digital Marketing courses in 4 continents
• Read some amazing books. Some of my favorites from the past year include (but aren't limited to!) The Last Lion trilogy, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Natural Born Heroes, The Etymologicon, Shogun, and Man's Search for Himself. 
• Since I mentioned books, I'll also mention the top three best movies that I saw in the past year (though none were released in 2015, I should say): La Grande Bellezza, Le Samourai, and finally Pierrot Le Fou.

Thanks also to all the friends and family who have vastly enriched my life. Ana, Jessie, Madison, Mom, Dad, Lisa, Katsuya, Justin, Zach, Ethan, Michael, Ryan, Matt, Andrew, Blanca, Tristan, Eva, Elena, Nail, Su, Milad, Adrien, Pierre, Maha, Susan, Margherita, Laura, Leonardo, Saideed, Rhiday, and all the rest I'm leaving off without meaning to.

It's saddening to see both how so many college friendships have faded since I graduated in 2013 and how difficult it is to find truly meaningful friendships when one no longer has social institutions like universities or work environments to help. One of my goals in 2016 is to show my appreciation more often and more meaningfully to the friends in my life and to more consciously seek out new friendships.

Beyond that, I want to really dive deep into my writing and make that a regular, central part of my day-to-day life and work. I'm hoping to go on one big adventure early next year, then come back to Oklahoma to move our startup forward with Ethan right around the time our product, the wheelchair lift, will be ready to bring to market.

I'm excited about 2016. I feel focused and motivated to see my current projects and plans through in a way that I've never felt before, as I've typically been one to bounce around from idea to idea without ever finishing much. It took a lot of experimenting, trial and error, and exploration but I've found inspiring work that I enjoy and, hopefully, the maturity and experience necessary to make the most of those opportunities.

To a most excellent New Year,
Dillon Dakota Carroll
Prague Oklahoma