Despite now 3 months Unemployment - of which I aim to put right as soon as possible in 2023, my 2022 ends with deeply filled gratitude and pride at the 365 days which has come to a close, as stated below here and through this Instagram video.

Starting the year with the deepest sorrow possible after Kieran's loss, made me wonder how I would try and both concentrate and enjoy the challenges and opportunities ahead.

A challenge it certainly was and to be blunt: still very much is, in grief and personal change; not least through moving address after nearly 9 1/2 years on top of losing a loved one and the huge strain both things have placed on me and my Mother financially - an aspect which will sadly continue until a new Wage Packet is drawn.

Those three things have certainly affect my mindset right throughout this year and has naturally made many days feel long and upsetting. I wish for this not to be the case, knowing three months out of work has both bored me and made me a saddened man. Those post-Games blues have certainly struck.

Having said all that: the amount of positives one has banked and look upon throughout is enourmous, not least through the growth, the opportunities and friendship right throughout.

Without question, being part of Birmingham 2022, which included meeting His Royal Highness Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex, speaking in front of 1,200 people at Symphony Hall in launching the B2022 Festival, achieving an Apprenticeship alongside the role, play my part in a truly groundbreaking project in Critical Mass 2022, working with and becoming life-long friends with the most extraordinary set of people and at one point wearing three bits of accreditation during the barminess of Games Time: is my ultimate memory I can shout about with the greatest pleasure of everything done this year.

Birmingham and the West Midlands won't ever see anything like it for a generation and it thus makes me gleam seeing 5 former OC colleagues and 2 Board members be recognised in the 2023 New Year Honour's List, including the Director for Ceremonies, Culture and Queen's Baton Relay Phil Batty whose awarded an OBE for Services to Culture and Sport and fellow younger OC staff member in Bethan Stimpson, whose awarded a British Empire Medal for her stellar work on the Gen22 programme! It couldn't be more deserved and fitting accolades.

On top of the Euphoria of the Games, I took the next step on the road to serving Wulfrunians, with me giving the Conservatives AN ALMIGHTY SCARE in Tettenhall Regis on May 5th and ending my 3 year spell on the Young Combined Authority, which has been a mega important stepping stone in that journey. 2023's campaign in Penn is about to get into gear and I'm truly excited at it's possibilities for me and my Wolverhampton Labour colleagues, not least through West Midlands Young Labour's return in October and my involvement as Co-Black Country Representative.

Also on the list of things of shouting about was the Changing Our Lives book in Colour Between The Lines, being the 3rd publication I've been part of in 6 years and knowing this one is forever archived at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, indebts me with an awesomeness which will never go away.

Of course, my love and involvement at Wolverhampton Wanderers cannot be under estimated nether, with me having the honour of serving on the club's EDI Advisory Group. Lots of exciting stuff is on the horizon and representating the club at Birmingham Pride on September 24th, gave me both real comfort of who I am and the work in enshrining Equlity and Equality across Wolves will be longlasting.

Alongside all that, becoming a regular at Wolverhampton Parkrun - which included getting my first Volunteering Credit just this morning, making 4 trips to Silverstone in combining the joy of Voluntary Service and Motorsport as a Race Maker as in the above linked TikTok video, Volunteer at Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Pageant with NCS, raise £415 for the Molineux Sleepout and Cancer Research UK's Race For Life, be a Solutions for the Planet Big Ideas Judge for a 3rd straight year, attend West Midlands Train's annual Stakeholder Conference and be part of Health Education England's annual UK Disability History Month event: perfectly confirms just how much I've packed into these 365 days.

And I have no doubt, that all this could be a small reason why I was Highly Commended in this year's Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year, 7 years after being Joint-Runner Up in 2015! I most certainly didn't expect such a certificate to come through the letterbox on December 6th and I will treasure it with the greatest humility, with some across my city seeing me as a both a Role Model and Good Citizen - a thought which I cannot adequately repay in words.

I could say even more and some of the personal fun one has got up to, but this post would go one for hours and therefore I simply want to say THANK YOU to everyone whose been a small part, of this truly breathtaking Calendar Year and has given me guidance, support and kindness. Life IS A Rollercoaster and it certainly remains that way, but I feel blessed by the hundreds I know, of whose arms have been around the shoulders whether in person or interactively.

On that, I give you and your families all my wishes for a Very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful beginning to 2023 and in stating I will state my ambitions for the coming 12 months once it's begun next week: I sum up this year through the Lyrics of Midlands Child by SANITY, which formed part of the B2022 Festival album of On Record by Birmingham Music Archive - "Believe in the future, manifest, recieve it, Midlands Child, Dream BIG, Believe IT!"

And in the last full year of my Youth: I think I did that - and then some.