2021: A year in review

2021 is finally coming to an end, and like I feel every year, that went by way too fast. 2020 was such a disappointing year,, and I was still bitter by this fact. I had no expectations in 2021. I wondered where I’d be in a year’s time. Looking back at the year while recapping my year so far,, I see there are actually lots of things that happened and lots of changes in me which I just realized while writing this post, and I then made peace with myself. Your twenties are just weird.

 

Career 

I am where I saw myself would be at the beginning of the year, alhamdulillah to that. I quit my previous job as it gave me so much anxiety and affected my mental health, and I was so happy when I started my new career in the mid of 2021. It might not be my dream job, but I love it for now. Looking at the bright side, I had more time to myself, explored new hobbies, and was also able to save more money for the future.  

Hobbies  

+Reading 

In 2021, I read more books than I’ve ever read. I started reading in July, my goal was to read 15 books, but I managed to finish 31 by the end of 2021, exceeding my target with more than twice. I shall give Michelle Obama credit because Becoming hooked me, and I fell in love with reading. For more than a year, being stuck at home and escaping into another world brought me so much comfort. I explored different genres, met beautiful characters and their stories, read authors’ thoughts, and discovered many things through reading, and I am thankful for that. Up to a new challenge, I set my goal in 2022 to read 50 books a year. Well, let’s see where it leads me.  

+Personal Collection 

CD Albums  

Collecting CD albums has become a hobby at this point. Before starting my work, I usually put my CD on my CD player and blast my music. It’s therapeutic in a way that makes a cozy moment out of it. I wish Korean artists would release albums as LP records. Playing the LP record on the turntable, somehow it gives you the classic warm energy and is gratifying, don’t you think? 

 

Books  

As I am into reading nowadays, I don’t want to miss out on a pretty edition of a book I loved. I started collecting various editions of books, especially classical literature though I don’t even have an official bookshelf to place them. At first, I fell in love with Penguin Classic Clothbound Editions, and I thought I should collect them all, but then Chiltern Classic Editions are perfect for romance with floral cover, and it’s hard to resist, Oxford’s World Classics have the white spine and give the aesthetic vibe, but I have my eyes in Collin’s Classics too as it is cheap, cute and mostly available at Bookxcess. Oh, I can’t decide.

Travel 

 After being trapped at home for almost two years, a getaway is everything I need. Once in a while, hanging out with friends made things bearable, but 2D2N escapism with my friends is what I desperately needed. It was a splendid staycation after two years of not seeing each other since we graduated. I might not travel this year as much as I did back then in 2019, but one staycation in 2021 made the whole of 2021 different than the previous year. 

Health 

 I changed my health lifestyle 360 degrees this year. I bought a fitness tracker and kept track of my steps. I don’t even remember when was the last time I went for a jog and started jogging this year once a week, okay, to be fair, I’ve been neglecting this routine lately due to rain. But, I would still say it was a drastic change since I’ve never even sweated the past five years at least. I used to not know how to skip, but I broke my personal record 350 skips day this year, which was a great accomplishment for me. 

Misc Projects 

+Room major makeover 

 I’m sure I have shown it somewhere here in one of my posts, but I started my room makeover last year and finally finished and was satisfied with my makeover early this year. My wallpaper in my room used to be a dark purple with dark wooden furniture, and it somehow affected my daily mood. So I made a significant change, painted it to a light grey, changed my bed frame and study desk to white, repainted my wardrobe and vanity table to white, bought a long mirror that I’ve always wanted and some pretty props and accessories. This was a project I had been wanting to do for ages, and I am happy with the result in the end. 

+Open a new Instagram account 

I like Instagram as it was a splendid source for inspiration, like Pinterest is but I afraid my main account disturbed my engagement with my friends, so I created a second account. I discovered the book community on Instagram and fell in love. So many terrific people sharing their reads with aesthetic photos and their reviews of books made my life easier whenever I needed to decide to pick up a book. It is also fun to share stories and snippets of my life without being insecure and worrying about anything. Here are a few of my stories that I shared:

I also wrote and blogged more in 2021 and improved my journaling habits. I used to have one journal the previous years but started two new journals, making it three this year. Gosh, I wonder what did I journal about. 2021 is finally coming to a close, and it has been a blissful year. Let’s make a fresh start to 2022. I wish we would laugh more in 2022 and only be full of happy things. 

How’s your 2021?