Philip Patston briefly looks back over 2011 and says goodbye to his Creative Collide blog on The Big Idea.

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In Impact through influence I started the year not with a resolution, but with an awareness of three things I wanted for myself and endeavours in 2011 - impact, influence and legitimacy. Realising I had always worked against the status quo, the laws and rules, which creates resistance and reduces impact, I felt different, lighter, freer, easier. Personal and business opportunities were flowing. I was intrigued and excited about what this year will offer.

A certain uncertainty explored how people invest a lot of time and money in creating certainty. Nature constantly shows us nothing is certain, yet we react with shock, fear and anger. The Christchurch earthquake exemplified our need for security, stability and safety but also how, in uncertainty, we discover how resilient and adaptive we are. We were also reminded that to live, we have to be creative, patient, resourceful, smart, enduring. We have to communicate, negotiate, navigate, reorganise, prioritise, in order to survive. Nothingever really changes — except context.

I confessed What I didn’t do at school while exploring 'unschooling', lamenting my own lack of creative education.

Then in Congratulations, you’re wrong! I looked at the power of being wrong and how good at it the creative community is.

Disability Arts and leadership looked at my challenges funding a personal creative project, starting a unique ability arts movement in New Zealand and rethinking funding processes for an uncertain future.

Stop communication letting (and getting) you down shared my experience that, when things go wrong, they often do so because of what was - or wasn't - communicated.

In Diversity and decay I revealed the discovery that diversity is less about helping people to grow, than letting them decay.

Finally I encouraged you to Play with diversity. in the same way that children play, draw a picture, dance off-beat to music and make up a stories that make no sense except the sense they choose to make of it. Diversity is a journey of discovery, led by imagination, possibility, opportunity and wonder. It's about accepting what is, who is, wherever and whenever it is. And enjoying that.

On that note I bid a final farewell to you, The Big Idea and this blog. I’ve been writing it for two and a half years and it seems fitting that, as The Big Idea celebrates its first decade — what an amazing achievement — and strives towards the next, I can declare the converse — that at least some, if not all, good things must come to an end.

My commitments next year include doing the Leadership New Zealand programme, so I’m preparing to do less and achieve more.

Thanks for your support over the years and I welcome you to follow my personal blog.

Go well.