My 2021: In Review
Highlights:
Values and Resolutions
2021 was another year of strange and bizzare events. However, I think at this point we’ve all accepted that this is our new normal and we can stop reminiscing on the days we would stick our fingers into a publicly shared bowling ball and then eat chicken tenders immediately after like maniacs.
Someone recently said we’re entering season 3 of 2020 and (unfortunately) it feels extremely true. Covid numbers are back on the rise, people are still treating it like a joke, and I can’t control any of it. (If you weren’t already aware, I’m a massive control freak) So watching people I love go unprotected in the deadliest pandemic since the spanish flu is HARD. It’s hard not to shake them or yell or cry, because how could they not recognize the risks and danger??
“It’s just as deadly as the flu.” From 2018–2019 about 34k people in the US died from the flu; in 2021, 406k people in the US died from covid. That makes covid 12x more deadly.
“The vaccine effects are worse than just getting covid.” Most people who will have side effects from the covid vaccine will have them within a few days of the shot. We still don’t know the longterm effects from having covid. What we do know is that not being vaccinated significantly increases your risk of hospitalization and things like respiratory issues, fatigue, brain fog, loss of taste or smell, organ failure, etc.
“It’s my choice and not your business.” Honestly, your decision affects everyone around you. Do you know how many hospital bed are available in the US? One million. And when they run out of beds, they don’t just stop admitting covid patients, they stop admitting everyone. So why is it my business? Because hospitals are almost back at maximum capacity thanks to omicron. And if Tyler gets in a car wreck on his way to the gym, or my dad has a heart attack, or my friend has unexpected complications with her baby, and the hospital doesn’t have open beds, they can’t get the medical help they need. If you just read that and still think being vaccinated is a personal choice, try reading it again.
I could probably write a 10 page rant about this but I’ll stop here. Some days I feel like I’m going to explode from how enraged this pandemic has made me. I’m trying so hard to replace my anger and resentment with love and understanding, but I think I’m failing miserably.
Thankfully, Tyler does such a good job of balancing my raging fire. If I’m flames, he’s waves: soothing, steady, symbiotic. And even though he keeps my fire in check, he never tries to extinguish it. He shelters it from storms and finds me more logs when I’m close to burning out. I think that’s part of the reason our marriage is so fruitful; it’s not that we are opposites, we are just complimentary.
I guess something positive to come out of 2021 is that I finally feel less fidgety in life. A lot of that is probably thanks to some very permanent roots in the form of our house, but I think some of it also has come from realizing that not everything needs to be figured out today. I can want babies one day and not want them the next; I can love my job one day and decide to quit the next; I can feel all the highs of life one day and be perfectly melancholy the next.
Anyways, I think this was far less introspective and growth minded than my last year’s reflection, but it’s my post and I can say what I want.
2020 Goal Check:
Please see my full 2020 In Review post for a full breakdown of these goals
✗ Stop buying so much Starbucks. I’m officially retiring this goal because I’ve learned that some things in life are worth shelling out $5 for.
✗ Only one online splurge per month. OK FINE some things in life are worth shelling out $200 for also. LET ME LIVE.
✓ Learn how to DIY. Perhaps my biggest win. I can use just about any power tool you put in my hands and even dabbled in some basic plumbing and electrical.
✓ Take an online course on [insert topic here]. I didn’t take any official online courses but I do feel like I learned a lot this year via the internet so I’m taking the W.
✗ Teach Eevee to stop jumping 2.0. hahahahahelpme. Retired.
✓ Read 75 books. Very proud to say I finished 82 books. That’s one book every 4.5 days.
Stop feeling stressed about what I should be accomplishing “at this stage in life”. I’m honestly not sure how to mark this goal. I think I’ve finally released some of this anxiety back into the universe, but I absolutely still have days where I stress about the “what’s next” in life.
Find more ways to show Tyler how much he means to me, both big and small. Again, I don’t feel right giving this a check mark since I always want to be improving on this. If you ever see a checkmark here, I’ve been kidnapped and it’s not me typing.
2021 Goals
Read 100 books. Just 18 more than this year so it’s probably fine?
Get 100k followers & make money from a brand partnership. Before you hit me with the “omg ew, you care about social media??”, yes, I made a tiktok and yes, I really enjoy it. I have 70k followers and I’m extremely proud of it.
Get Promoted to L6. I am so freaking close I can taste it. (plus I always dreamed of hitting L6 before end of year 6 which is in June so...)
Learn Sign Language. Could be extremely useful in many situations: interacting with the deaf community, communicating with future babies before they can talk, signing dirty things to Tyler across the gym, etc.
Find more ways to show Tyler how much he means to me, both big and small. You know it, you love it, it’s the eternal goal.
Be more honest with people, but not unkind. I think a lot of women (especially in the south) have been taught to keep their mouth shut about what they actually think. I don’t want to have unauthentic conversations because I’m worried how people will feel about what I actually have to say. This applies less to friends (because they will tell you I have no filter) and more to the older humans and strangers in my life.
