2 thoughts on “2021 Creative Annual Review”

1. Second shot!
   2021 felt like it went on forever, even as that time flew by. We started off with a horrifying insurrection against the US government that has gone essentially unpunished, nearly guaranteeing us a future repeat. Even after Biden was inaugurated, Trumpers continued to claim that he was secretly acting president or would take office at some other special date. The politics and strain of 2020 and early 2021 left me wrung out, but fortunately I was able to make some changes and get support that helped. The rest of the year hasn’t helped — doom punctuated by a few moments of shared levity — but I’ve been in a better headspace to manage it.
   We were all about the risk mitigation this year, so the grand highlight of the year is that we successfully did not get COVID! I continued working from home, going through an accommodations process to keep telecommuting over the summer when my work reopened in the midst of the Delta variant surge. We’ve continued to remain cautious about seeing people in person, and I spent 80 hours on video calls for fun or personal projects. In an unexpected yet seemingly inevitable turn of events, we’re finishing the year as we started it, sheltering in place from the Omicron strain this time.
   Highlights of 2021

   Got vaccinated and boosted!
   Did not get COVID!
   Got to see some friends and family for the first time in years!
   Finished my novel rewrite!
   Tackled health issues and got some diagnoses!
   Ate a lot of brunch!

   Creative Time
   
   I spent about 240 hours on creative work (Scrivener, blogging, and photo editing). I decided not to technically participate in NaNoWriMo this year, but instead adapt it to myself with a daily time goal instead of word count goal.
   See my 2021 Creative Annual Review.
   Play
   Reading
   I read 175 books in 2021. See my 2021 reading review.
   Music
   
   I listened to the most tracks I ever have in a year. I feel more comfortable listening to music at home than at work, even though I could wear headphones at the office. My bluetooth speaker also makes it convenient to listen while I’m doing other stuff around the house. See my 2021 listening report.
   Joy
   
   I love brunch, so I decided to take advantage of never having plans by making us a variety of delicious brunches on Sundays (and some Saturdays).
   
   I tried to appreciate the beauty in my garden throughout the seasons, and thanked my past self for the gift of early spring crocuses. I’ve paid that forward again with a garden bed full of bulbs that should bloom from February through June.
   Fun
   I got more and more into the IndieWeb and my own websites. I realized that blogging and doing things on my website is something I barely even consider a task, and what I tend to turn to when I don’t want to work on something else.
   Friends and Family
   
   I started going to Homebrew Website Club meetings pretty regularly, and made friends with other website geeks around the country.
   
   I got in a couple friend dates doing outdoor activities, like blueberry picking and visiting the pumpkin patch. We played a Masks TTRPG game for a few months.
   
   We were able to see my parents twice and my sister once briefly, for the first time in four years. We went to my cousin’s (rescheduled from spring 2020) wedding on the peninsula (even though I only felt comfortable staying for about an hour).
   
   I took a couple gal pals on an introductory low-key backpacking trip in the fall.
   Dates + Vacations
   We didn’t really get a vacation in 2021 😥 A disappointment after the hope of vaccination — though staying safe (and keeping others safe) is a much higher priority, and I recognize skipping vacation is a very privileged problem to have.
   
   We took a week off work in late August but stayed home except for a quick overnight to Port Townsend at a tiny hotel that had no reception and only two other rooms. We had another week off in December, but had to cancel an AirBnB stay in Ocean Shores because of an unusual snowstorm and record cold temperatures.
   
   Before we were vaccinated, I didn’t feel safe going anywhere, even outdoors because I was worried about how many people would be out and whether they’d keep their distance and wear masks. Once we got our double shots, we started doing day trip excursions to outdoor locations. It was good to get out of the house a few times at least! Compared with 2020 I was very happy to feel comfortable going anywhere.
   
   Health
   My mental health was in a bad place in January 2021 — worse than I realized — and I decided I needed to make changes. My health coach for the first six months of the year helped me follow through on things when I was having a hard time. After a long wait, I finally was connected with a therapist. I started to meet a friend for masked walks, after not seeing anyone I knew besides my husband for more than six months, and none of my friends since March 2020.
   At the start of the year, I tried making myself take at least one weekend day off from doing anything work-like, and discovered that instead of helping me relax and recover, it was agonizingly painful.
   I endured an insomnia cognitive behavioral therapy program in the spring, which was utterly miserable, and garnered mediocre results.
   We got vaccinated as soon as we could, with the second shot taking effect at the end of May. I was thrilled to get together with more friends in person as soon as they were vaccinated in June. Like everyone else, I looked forward to a slightly more normal summer, and even hoped we’d be able to take a vacation down to the Oregon Coast. I was able to see my parents briefly. Then Delta hit.
   I got more and more stressed as the day to return to work approached, and suffered from some terrible stress-triggered ailments. My workplace opened basically right as Delta was cresting. I panicked and realized I couldn’t do it, and requested accommodations — so I have been continuing to work from home, although that process turned out to be VERY stressful and anxiety-inducing and made me feel even worse for a while. For now I am good through February 15, and will have to resubmit to keep staying home, so I feel that looming over me. It’s really frustrating to feel up in the air for months.
   I got boosted as soon as I realized being overweight counted, in mid-late November, so should be as protected as ever currently — just in time for Omicron. I’m getting worried again, and still really hope not to get COVID quite yet. I know we’re all going to get it eventually, but I’d like for us to know more about long COVID before I resign myself to my fate, if it can be avoided.
   Over the summer I began to tackle a bunch of other health issues, seeing a nutritionist, a cardiologist, and another specialist, which led to new diagnoses and medications. Finally in late fall this year, I felt like my medications were in a decent spot, with more minor tweaks happening now.
   Household
   At the start of the year, I created a new reading space for myself downstairs.
   
   Over the summer, the blackberry in our backyard erupted, and we brought in a team to raze it to the ground.
   
   Then we used Yardzen to create a plan for the backyard, which we’re hoping to get installed in 2022.
   
   Spending and Saving

   House payoff – on pace for March 2035 assuming no extra principal payments
   Saved ~25% of our gross pay in long-term savings (I’m including extra mortgage principal payments, retirement accounts, and our joint investment account)
   Saved ~12% of our take-home income in short-term savings

   Meta
   I continued doing quarterly reviews this year.
   This year I moved my reading report and listening report over to my other site since they are intake-focused rather than things I’ve made or done.
   I continued using the Kanban method to track tasks and keep them front-of-sight in 2021. For part of the year, I used stickers on a calendar to track whether or not I’d exercised and written, but that habit fell off. I also stopped logging all my workouts in my notebook.
   Reflection
   Although this year sucked, I feel like we did as well as we could considering our personal imperative to not get COVID. If 2020 was a year of survival, 2021 was a year of adaptation.
   I took advantage of telecommuting to follow up on a lot of medical issues, since remote appointments use up a lot less time and energy. I hope we can keep remote medical appointments for anything that doesn’t require a physical examination. I made a lot of headway on my medical issues (my therapist called me out on trying to fix everything at once, she was not wrong 🤷‍♀️). Getting a diagnosis has been somewhat life-changing, helping me improve the way I think about things.
   I put in a lot of work on boundary-setting this year, and am proud of myself for realizing that I didn’t feel safe returning to the office (causing stress which triggers other physical ailments), and asking for the help and accommodations that I need to stay safe and healthy. I have also gotten closer to several of my friends after pushing through more personal and frank conversations.
   So I’m coming into 2022 in a much better place than a year ago, even if I still struggle sometimes. I’m working on accepting myself and learning to let myself be bad at things, and trusting people not to bail on me because I’m not perfect. I have no idea what the year ahead will bring, but the work I’ve put in over 2021 should help with whatever it turns out to be.

   Reply ↓

2. I’ve looked back through the past year of notes in this mind garden and collated all the advice and ideas from the books I’ve read and articles I’ve saved in three posts:

   Questions for reflection
   Things to try
   Household changes to make

   There are so many tools that are intended to help plan for the year ahead that it feels a bit overwhelming. A friend sent me the Year Compass and someone I follow made Find Your Word and a few years ago I made my own Craft Your Life Planner which I liked when I made it, but now have seen so many other ideas I somewhat suspect it needs to be updated… But that thought leads me to…
   If what really works in goal-setting and habit change is being unambitious and changing one small thing at a time… maybe doing a full-life assessment and planning is not super useful? Maybe we should start with a pain point, or one little thing we’re able to do now? Frankly, don’t most of us already know what would make our lives better? (More exercise and more sleep for pretty much all of us 😎 More time with friends is probably the next step.)
   Do people come up with dramatic lifestyle changes (that work) out of a long, in-depth self-assessment process? Picking one or two questions to ponder at a time could be a better approach. Maybe this is what I should work through with my health coach 🤔 I liked the question she asked when we met on Monday, how would I like to feel different at the end of the year compared to now, and what one thing could I focus on to help me move that way?
   I find it funny that I’m feeling this since I have (Exhibit A) made myself a planner and (Exhibit B) do multiple reviews (albeit with less reflection) and a broad range of goal setting most years.
   But, maybe we all do the big burst annual planning because that’s when we have the energy and inspiration for it 😉 And, maybe it’s useful to let ourselves dream? I can also see that the process of introspection can be challenging and emotional, so having a guide or a tool (and limiting it to once a year) can make the process more doable.

   Reply ↓

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