Year in review 2021

It’s that time of the year again!  Happy end of 2021 and I can’t believe we are heading into another year so soon?  I’m not ready for a new year yet as it feels like it’s been much of the same for 365 days.  For the first time, I wasn’t mentally drafting this blog post ahead of time.  Usually by each summer, I’m thinking of the things I want to write about, but I guess there wasn’t much to warrant brainstorming this year (or just too tired from being a mom).  Anyway, here is a recap of my 2021:

We spent basically all of the year indoors at home.  We ventured out for dine-in restaurants once the provincial restrictions were lifted.  We also drove to Peterborough for a first road day trip with the little one.  Although we wanted to try for a staycation somewhere in Ontario, I never felt safe enough to do so.

I pumped breastmilk for my daughter for 15 months in total.  Pumping daily three to four times was my daily routine for 2021.. really surreal to think about.  When I had mastitis in January, that was when my breastmilk supply started dwindling, yet I still consistently pumped until just two weeks ago.  This was an achievement.

When it was safe to do so, we made appointments with our real estate agent to view properties and also tour open houses when further restrictions for lifted.  Happy to announce and include in this year-in-review that we finally are homeowners! 🥳  It’s been about a year and a half in the making (as we started to look at properties last spring).  We are very thankful that we were able to purchase a home to our liking in the red-hot competitive housing market amidst pandemic restrictions.

Since we spent so much time this year indoors, a lot of it for me was learning to cope with balancing “me time” and responsibilities and cohabiting in our living quarters.  Staying indoors for such a long time is not difficult for me personally, but it becomes a challenge when I also have to juggle the caretaking of a growing toddler, a working-from-home husband, and an always-there mom whose social events have all been reduced because of the pandemic.

I started taking on transcription work in March and have been regularly working since then.  I actually didn’t anticipate working so soon after giving birth — it hadn’t even been one year yet since the birth and most Canadian moms take the full year off.  However, I realized that stenoing and producing transcripts gives me so much fulfilment and joy.  I love having the time to myself and have an “excuse” to be away from the toddler.  I’m glad that I have this avenue of work.  My reporter friends and I were able to successfully negotiate new rates at our reporting firm.  We spent so much time discussing and planning our plan of action, and I hope that regular increases will occur throughout the reporting industry.

I continued decluttering all year long.  I cleared out 700+ items by giving it away for free or selling it on Facebook marketplace (and Kijiji) and made over $2.5K (just from stuff sitting unused or unwanted in the house).  It’s absolutely incredible.  I will continue to declutter and list items on sale and always cross my fingers that the items find a new home sooner than later.  It is such a mentally exhausting and time-consuming process, but I do it because I feel it is the most responsible way of getting rid of my items.  Throughout this entire year, despite barely having any social events, I have been communicating and socializing with so many strangers nearly daily that I have dealt with the best of the best and the worst of the worst — people who are polite and considerate and friendly (one person gave me a handmade thank-you card and another a box of crackers in exchange for my free items), and then people who ghost, shift the blame back on you when they wronged, are rude, are plain ungrateful, overly drawn out pickups.

This year, a serendipitous event happened such that we can start resolving a 17-year-old dilemma.  It has just begun but now that we have a method of breaking it down, I hope that we can tie up the loose ends once and for all in 2022.

A vaccine for the COVID-19 virus was developed and I had two shots plus a booster.  I’m thankful that we had access to the vaccines.  I hope more people around the world will be able to get it too so that we can stop the virus from mutating.

In 2022, I hope that we transition smoothly into our new home, establish happy cohabiting routines, continue to learn and practise efficient communication with each other, stay safe and healthy mentally and physically.  I’m excited to see my daughter continue to grow, especially when she starts talking and hearing what she has to say.  I want to take her on more new adventures like swimming, visiting the aquarium, going on longer trips, meeting more friends and relatives, and growing up without worrying about if someone has a contagious respiratory virus.  I hope that the pandemic subsides and that we can no longer be fearful of going out and regain that pre-pandemic freedom again.

Happy New Year, everyone!  Thank you for tuning in. 🙂

Post-publish thoughts/things I want to manifest into the universe for 2022/and beyond:

– Make new/more like-minded mommy friends who are at the same stage of life, for life.  I realize who once again who has my best interests at heart and who is just “there” (you can tell who is a true friend by how happy they are for you when you have good news to share).  Can I combine all of my current friends’ best traits/compatibilties and build a super friend for life?  Or nourish current friendships into closer ones, ones I’ve always dreamt of?  Do I need to learn how to be a better friend?

– Correct my body, understand why it’s bloating all the time. Wish to get a food sensitivity test or DNA test to find the true reasons why.