Today, I received an email from LinkedIn, congratulating me on 14 years of being a member of the community there.

My first thought was, “What? That can’t be right! I only joined a few years ago.”

I mean, 2010 seems like such a long time ago.

And it is.

I looked at what happened in 2010, and it all seems so long ago, yet at the same time also not THAT long ago.

2010 was the year of the big earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the eruption of Mount Eyjafjallajökul (which disrupted air traffic in Europe for quite some time and even made it into a movie).

In 2010, the first iPad was released and Instagram was launched (can you even imagine?).

The Burj Khalifa was opened in Dubai in 2010, and the Winter Olympics took place in Canada.

Comet Hale Bopp was found again in 2010 (the last time before that was 1997), and Julian Assange and WikiLeaks first came to the attention of a broader public.

Also in 2010, I concluded my first official full year as a freelance translator and interpreter, and it had gone so well that I was able to give myself a bonus – a motorcycle. 😁

Now, that REALLY seems like forever ago.

Looking back, I can say that my decision to go freelance was the perfect one for me, and despite some setbacks and difficulties, I have not regretted it even for one day.

And that is probably something not everyone can say after 14 years on the same job (which is anything but the same over time, but that’s another story).

So thanks for the reminder, LinkedIn!

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