I'm never one for big New Year's Resolutions or anything like that, but I do think that it's worth it to take a minute at the end of the year and take stock. Things that happened over the past year, things to focus on going forward. I think it's more of a useful exercise than anything else, the end of the year isn't a definitive benchmark in any sense, but it can be a useful one.
A small list of accomplishments that made up 2021:
1. I have basically moved in with my partner! It's the first time that I've done this, and even though it's very personal this is still a big step and that's worth acknowledging.
2. I finally am an author on a scientific paper! I only did one experiment for this and somehow ended up as the third first author. I've been doing research since 2013 and haven't managed to get published since now, and this is probably my biggest and proudest achievement this year.
3. I got the COVID vaccine this year, it started last January when I got the original two doses and I've already gotten my booster! Very exciting, and a step towards making it safer with the pandemic.
4. I re-entered the acting world by playing Balthasar in "Much Ado About Nothing" this month and it was such a wonderful experience that I really want to do it again. It reminded me what I love about performing and gave me a lot of energy going into next year.
5. While on the subject of performing, I'm still very proud of this leviwand video that I made last spring. I learned so much about video editing for this and I think it came out looking really good!
6. Neo: The World Ends With You came out this summer! I finally was able to play the sequel to my favorite video game of all time, you cannot tell me that this wasn't exciting for me personally.
A small list of things that I want to focus on in 2022:
1. Not letting imposter syndrome drag me down, it's very easy to feel like I'm not doing enough and I'm not smart enough as a PhD student. Pretty frequently even just this fall I felt like I wasn't doing enough because I wasn't attending as many in person events. I don't want to dwell on this as much next year, I'm doing a lot and my best and that is going to have to be enough!
2. Making art, whether it's just doodling on my phone or putting on a performance. I want to feel like I'm making things and exercising my creativity again. I think this spring will be super productive and busy, and I'm looking forward to it! But even if it all gets cancelled, I want to keep thinking of things I can create and put my energy towards.
3. Not losing hope, I think it's very easy to feel depressed and as though nothing matters anymore. COVID is still ravaging the world, climate change is here to stay, and people just don't seem to learn. Regardless of all of this happening on a global scale, I want to have to keep believing that the things that I do matter and make a difference. Maybe just to one person, but that one person matters!
4. Consuming art, I want to read more books and watch more movies and play more games in the next year! Is this a high bar, yes, am I going to pull it off, likely not, but I want to keep this drive to keep experiencing things and learning more.
5. I don't want to get my hopes up but I think that 2022 is finally going to be the year that I get to go to a concert! I have tickets to see my favorite band, The Wombats, in the end of January and I could not be more excited! (Please don't wreck this COVID, please don't wreck this COVID...)
6. Focus on my friendships worth keeping, it's so hard for me to stay in contact with people. I've managed to keep the ones that I really like around and I want to keep that up! No class or program is worth losing my long distance friends over, or even my short distance friends as we all get busy. Keeping my friends close in 2022!
I think that's enough for now, happy end of 2021! Hopefully this next year will be better and brighter!
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