2024: A YEAR IN REVIEW
A couple years AGO, I bought a cactus.
It was a tall, skinny, awkward-looking thing I picked up at a garage sale somewhere in the desert. It wasn’t sturdy or majestic—just this impossibly tall yet flimsy plant strapped to a long stick for support. I bought it because it looked too tall and too thin at the same time, but from then on, I didn’t think much of it. I stuck it next to some other plants and moved on. It was just a cactus. But as this last year unfolded, I realized this flimsy little desert survivor was the perfect metaphor for everything I’ve been going through.
Six months ago, for some reason, the cactus started to die. Its base was turning brown and shriveled and seemed to be spreading upward. So, I cut off what I could and stuck it in water, hoping it would grow roots. A week of suspense passed, watching it sit there, half-dead in the jar, until one morning, it sprouted. Feeling like a mixture of proud father/ER surgeon, I replanted it right away. And then? It collapsed. Immediately. My first instinct was to grab a stick, prop it back up, and make it look like it was standing—because that’s what it needed, right? But I stopped. I thought about how cacti don’t get sticks in the desert. They’re supposed to stand on their own. So, for some reason, I let it flop and waited.
Over the next few months, I watched it slowly start to right itself. First sprawling sideways, then one of its little arms flopped the other way as if using its own weight to pull itself upright. Very slowly, itt adjusted, found its balance, and now, months later, it’s standing all on its own. A little crooked, a little scarred, but upright. No stick. Just its newfound sturdiness.
And that’s been 2024.
This year wasn’t about big wins or easy progress. It was about cutting off what wasn’t working, collapsing under the weight of change, and learning to stand on my own again. There were hurricanes of fear, moments of chaos, and long stretches of uncertainty where everything felt crooked. But instead of reaching for old crutches (faking it til I make it), I stayed in the dirt. I let things get messy. I let myself rebuild.
That process led to Alchemy Union, a creative collective born out of this messiness and reinvention. Alchemy is transformation—turning base materials into gold—and that’s what this year, this work, and this collective are all about. We’re a union of independent creatives, builders, and thinkers who know that great work comes from the chaos of process: the failures, the starts and stops, the moments you have to pull yourself back up inch by inch. Together, we bring brands, products, and ideas to life. Alchemizing every hard lesson into reliable stratgies for our clients, and for our own passion projects.
What passion projects you ask? Keep an eye out for Kill the Lizard— a podcast about burning away fear and the voice that tells us to stay small. Good Standard where we innovate accessible products that combine technology, mental health tools and spirituality to support growth, introspection, and small, meaningful steps. And lastly (for now) Todd and the Uncanny Valley—a story about creation, chaos, and uncertainty—reflected back at me every time I sat down to figure out what’s next.
These projects are pieces of a larger whole, and they’re coming soon. Each one explores creativity, fear, and transformation in its own way—threads of the same story I’ve been living and building this year. Together, they’re a reflection of everything I’ve learned: that growth isn’t always pretty, but it’s worth staying in the dirt for.
The Year of the Cactus taught me this: Sometimes standing back up isn’t about perfection. It’s not about brute strength. It’s about letting yourself sprawl sideways for a while, pulling yourself up inch by inch, and trusting that even when it feels slow and crooked, you’re finding your way. And when you do stand, it’s not because something is holding you up—it’s because you’ve built something solid enough to hold yourself.
So here’s to the next chapter. Here’s to the messy process, the crooked cacti, and the gold we’re all trying to make.