If you had told me 10 years ago that I’d be writing a blog post about hacking in 2025, I probably would’ve laughed… and then gone back to hot-gluing wires to my Raspberry Pi while my cat supervised from the toilet.
Yes, the toilet. I once trained my cat to use the toilet and even built an automatic cat toilet flusher v1 and v2. Was it necessary? Absolutely not. Was it amazing to not have to clean a litter box and deeply satisfying to hear that toilet flush all on it's own? billion%.
That was around the time I had just finished a robotics/electrical tech diploma. I took 6 months off to figure out wtf I most wanted and was hacking up a storm in our 1 br loft apartment. I was spinning up web servers (which I'm pretty sure were hacked, as I had no idea how to protect them), automating cat feeders, and generally living the maker life. I was broke, though, so when a startup offered me a job as their first employee, I jumped.
Suddenly, my life was web scraping, data cleaning, software development, and workplace politics, instead of soldering irons and home automation. We did have some extra random projects though like soundproof booths for sales calls and robotics contraptions for trade show booths. And helping to grow the business from the ground up was fun—until it wasn’t.
Without boundaries, I worked myself straight into burnout. Leaving Toronto and leaving that job wasn't a decision, it was necessary, and for years I’ve been piecing myself back together—learning how to say no, how to rest, and how to actually follow what lights me up.
Fast-forward to 30 days ago. I signed up for TryHackMe.
And holy shit—something inside me woke up. That hacker part of me I thought was long gone? She’s alive. She’s thriving. She’s grinning with delight and shouting “YESSSSS” at reverse shells.
It’s funny how easy it is to forget who you are when life pulls you into survival mode. I convinced myself that the “practical path” was the only path. But running through these labs, solving challenges, and chasing flags has reminded me of something simple:
👉 I love this stuff.
👉 I needed this in my life.
👉 It finally feels like I know where I’m going.
I’m not mad at past me. She built cool shit, met incredible people, and learned some hard lessons. But now? For the first time in over a decade, I wake up excited to open my laptop, break things (legally), and learn.
It's been over 30 days on TryHackMe now, and I’m not burning out! I've rebooted and back online!