Reflections on 2021 (So Far)

It’s now June, the sixth month of the year, which means it’s also halfway through the year. Hard to believe we’re already here. I thought I’d take this moment to do some reflecting on the year so far. I didn’t set goals or New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 at the end of 2020. It had been a difficult year with the pandemic, and I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on myself. We were all just surviving and that’s enough. While I don’t actually have a record of my thoughts on the year ahead from the end of 2020, I still think this mid-year point is a good time for reflection.

From what I can recall, my biggest goal this year was hitting a number I had in mind for my emergency fund, which I did. I think this is even more impressive because I was working off of reduced hours/income during the pandemic so it was not an easy thing to do, but I did it. Aside from that I was really hoping to find a new job this year. I didn’t know if it would happen because of the pandemic leading to so many lost jobs, meaning more people were looking for work, but I did get a new job (for more money, which was my other goal). My job search was up and down for a while, it started out well and then I let my experiences from my job impact my confidence which was hurting my job search, and that took some time to overcome. In the end, I achieved three big goals. 

Aside from achieving those goals I had set for myself, I don’t think I had many other notable accomplishments in 2021 (other than getting back to this lovely blog). I think the largest accomplishment/area of personal growth is that I learned to not let things at work get to me. I used to let the stressful things I had to deal with at work impact me outside of my work, and control my emotions in a way that I no longer do. I’m able to have that healthy boundary of separation between my work and my emotional state. 

Moving forward, I have two goals I’d like to focus on for the rest of 2021. The first is that I’d like to keep up a healthy routine. In my last job things had been stressful for the last couple months, and with that schedule I had trouble keeping up my workout routine and struggled with healthy eating. I am trying to commit to working out for a half hour every morning before work and prepping healthy meals for myself, so that I can keep up a healthy routine working this new job. My second goal would be to have more fun. I have a lot less free time in this new job but I don’t want that to keep me from getting out and doing things, especially since we’ve mostly been stuck at home for the last year and a half. I don’t want to let my precious free time go to waste. 

If you’d like to reflect on your year thus far, here’s some questions to help you get started:

• What were your goals for this year? Where are you in working towards those goals?
• What have you accomplished in 2021?
• What were the challenges you faced in meeting your goals?
• What have you learned this year?
• Have your goals changed? What are your new (or modified) goals?

I hope this helps you think over your 2021. If you’d like to share, I’d love to hear how you answer these questions in the comments! 

Until next week,

Livvy