My 2020 Year Review
This year was about redemption. It was also about resilience, focus, and letting go. I cannot say this year was very fun, especially given the current world’s climate; but I can say that it involved a lot of work.
Adventures this year:
- Doing a Pilates session
- Concious Slow Dating event
- New Room in Bristol (Museum)
- 5Rhythms
- Teaching kids French
- Running a football club for kids
Where did I travel to this year?
- 2 days in Bristol, UK
- 16 days in Lille, France
Total: 18 days
Statistics
Health — Gym workouts: 52x, Football: 2x, Cardio: 12x, Floats: 15x
Creative — Articles Published: 0x, Emails Sent to Subscribers: 13x
Skills — Books Read: 32x, Podcast Episodes: 28x
Friends — Meetups: 87x
Adventure — Movies/TV Shows: 86H
Career
At the start of January, I began a job working for a health supply chain distributor as a copywriter — a full-time job which I was seeking for a while. It was a brilliant company to work for, the people were nice, the culture was good, and I enjoyed my work — and I felt like I was thriving.
In the middle of the year, however, I got offered a scholarship at a London University to study a modern languages degree. When I got the offer, I planned to defer it to next year. I was happy in my job, I hadn’t been there long, why would I leave?
However, after lots of reflection, it dawned on me that this opportunity to do the degree might not be guaranteed next year — perhaps the funding would be cut for instance. Additionally, deferring would essentially mean that I’d be delaying my life by a year.
Given the situation with COVID at the time, it seemed sensible for me opt for stability and security instead of ripping off the band-aid. Perhaps staying in my job was the better choice. However, after a lot of going back and forth, over and over, I decided, or rather it was decided, that I ought to move on for the best outcome.
After 10 months in my role, I started my degree.
Opting to go down that path, in retrospect, was one of the best decisions of my life. I am now growing different sets of skills, feel more independent, and also earning more than I was before. Not only that, but I later found out that had I deferred, the funding would have been cut significantly. My brain, for the longest was telling me to stay in the job and that I shouldn’t leave.
In the end, I followed my heart, however cliche that sounds, and it’s worked out for the best.
Creative Writing
- I rewrote the guide ‘How to Live Meaningfully in a Digital Age’.
- I published a collection of poems titled ‘A Fragrance of a Golden Leaf’.
Funnily enough, as soon as I stopped tracking the number of hours I was investing each week for this work (as an experiment) half-way through the year — I just stopped doing anything.
This is a lesson for me — I need structure or some system of accountability with creative work, otherwise, it doesn’t get done.
Smartphones
I realise now that one of the reasons why my anxiety has increased over the last 3 years is down to smartphone usage. Although getting an eink phone in February 2020 was a step in the right direction — alongside uninstalling apps and using limits on social media, I’m afraid that the lure of the smartphone is just too irresistible, and no matter what I try I can’t help but use it more than I’d like to.
I’ve tried to make it work, but like in any bad relationship, you have to know when to say goodbye. So late this month, I bought my old phone — the Blackberry 9100 — the best non-smartphone I’ve ever had the privilege to own.
It’s the smallest device with a full-text keyboard that exists. I couldn’t see myself using a complete dumbphone due to the difficulty with writing texts. But this is the perfect fit.
On the Theme of Saying Goodbye: Things I said goodbye to in 2020
—Whatsapp
— Facebook — (Only using Messenger)
— Unnecessary meetups (COVID helped)
— Eating meat (eating fish only)
— Writing paper journals
— Wearing polyester clothes
— Wearing watch religiously
— TV Shows
— Audiobooks
— Multiple tabs (Use xTab extension with limit set to two tabs)
— Google products (Stopped using: Google search engine, Chrome Browser, Google Photos, Google Keep, Google Docs, Google Maps)
— Meditating with a backrest
A Change in Philosophy
I remember that I used to plan and write everything I wanted to achieve for the next year. Although this would give me some sense of motivation, it would also increase my anxiety.
And as someone who is already highly perfectionist, making elaborate highly tightly focused goals with deadlines, produces more problems than it solves for me.
So what’s the alternative? I now am focused on simply bringing awareness to whatever it is I’m doing and ‘could do’, with a focus on developing better habits. Admittedly, this is something that’s hard to do given the lure of the goal driven mindset — which forms the fabric of our western culture — but I believe it’s something I’m getting better at.
1. What movie genre would best describe the last year of my life?
Deep focus, redemption, and achievement
2. What two or three major themes kept recurring?
Success. Strength. Power
3. What are the three accomplishments I’m most proud of achieving?
- Getting a place at Goldsmiths University of London
- Completing 10 months at World Courier
- Completing 269 days of streak
4. What could I have done better this year?
- Played football more
- Writing more
5. What was missing from my life this year that I could potentially implement into the next year?
- Being out of the UK
6. What major life lessons did I learn this year?
- The power of a permanent role
- The implication of disc
- The importance of going for it
Summary
This has been a short year review and it’s been a real pleasure writing it.
Thank you for reading.
