IT Work, and Creative Problem Solving, End of Year Reflections on Learning

It’s the end of the year. Christmas time.

That strange pause where everything slows down on the outside, while inside you are still moving.
I feel tired. Not burned out. Not dramatic. Just that deep end of year tired that shows up when you finally stop and notice how much you have been carrying. And still, the work continues.

I am sitting at a desk that looks exactly how my head feels.
Three computers. Three keyboards. Three mice. Three different problems.

One machine is installing Windows 11.
Another is running backups. The kind you hope you never need, but you would be careless not to run.
A laptop sits open next to them, half fixed, waiting its turn.

The desk is a mess.
Cables everywhere. Notes. Tools. Coffee cups that should have been cleared hours ago.

It is not pretty. But it works.

I have learned to live in this kind of controlled chaos. From the outside it probably looks overwhelming. From the inside, it makes sense. I know what is happening. I know what comes next. I know what can wait and what cannot.

Some days I am designing.
Some days are design focused. Other days are deep in IT work, fixing systems, running backups, and keeping things moving.
And some days it is all of that at once.

Curiosity still drives me. I want to understand how things work and why they break. I want to get better, not just get through the day. And if I am honest, there is still something I am proving. Mostly to myself.

I do not always have clear answers.
But I have learned that clarity often comes after you start, not before.

So I keep going.

The year ends the same way it ran. Unfinished tasks. Open tabs. Messy desks. Progress that does not always look impressive from the outside. But it is real. It is earned.

Next year will bring new problems and new things to learn.
Same curiosity. Same stubbornness.

And that feels right.