21 THINGS I LEARNED IN 2021

2021 was a strange year. I created a vision board with a number of goals that I wanted for myself, set intentions, and set about working on them. After stumbling a bit after the first quarter, when one of the major goals I had planned didn’t work out as I had hoped, I fell into something of a lull. I managed to achieve a number of the goals I had, however, and unlearned some limiting behaviors. In that way, it was a clarifying year- a year of realizing things, if you will.

It taught me to set goals that were based on my input rather than external factors outside my control and to reframe the things I wanted to achieve in that way. I learned a lot about pivoting and working with what you have while investing in the ideal. Overall, even though I don’t remember much of the year (it always feels like a blur), it was a time of slow realizations and changes that compounded over time, and of growth and honest self-assessment.

I have put together a list of 21 things I learned in 2021, and I’d love to know your lessons as well!

21 LESSONS FROM 2021

Finished is better than perfect.
You can only plan so much, simply do more.
Routines are essential to your overall well-being.
While you won’t always feel like it, do the workout. You always feel better for it.
Nurture your gifts.
You are ‘someone who xyz’. Release the need for a tidy catch-all noun as a label.
Every day you change a little bit, and you can choose that change.
We overestimate what we can achieve in a day, and underestimate what we can in a year.
Embrace all your emotions.
Love is a verb.
You can teach yourself pretty much anything.
Invest in yourself.
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Try everything that interests you.
Take intentional breaks.
Use Notion, GCal, to externalize your organization. You can’t have great ideas while frantically trying to keep track of everything.
Eliminate small decisions in your mornings. Having your workout clothes laid out, breakfast decided, work clothes prepped leaves your mind uncluttered.
Sometimes relationships run their course, don’t hold on when they do.
Success is a numbers game so create as many opportunities as you can.
Feel impostor syndrome and do the work anyway.
There will always be one more thing you need. Don’t wait to start.
Build a network around you, and around your work. You don’t need to do things alone.

My lessons were mainly centered around releasing the story I had told myself about what was an acceptable version of myself. In 2021, I think I finally learned not to stifle who I wanted to be because it held more uncertainty, was more non-conformist, or even felt less safe to pursue. I am entering this new year with much more confidence in myself and my ideas, and in the dreams, I have for myself. I think I’m finally giving myself permission to live.