My 2021 Annual Review
2021 has been quite a crazy year, and like every other year, it has gone by extremely fast. It feels like only yesterday when I was typing out my very first annual review for 2020.
Just like last time, the questions I’ll be answering in this review are:
What went well this year?
What didn’t go so well this year?
What did I learn this year?
1. What went well this year?
Academics. My Spring semester as a junior consisted of 7 classes in one semester and I was extremely relieved to see I got all A grades. My Fall semester, as a senior, was only four courses, but still quite difficult. I still managed to maintain my 4.00 GPA (although I cut it quite close for a couple of my classes). I’m on track to graduate with my double major next Spring and I’m feeling quite good about my last semester!
Career. I landed an internship as an Insurance Analyst with CSAA over the summer that I really enjoyed, and I have a position secured as a Junior Insurance Analyst once I graduate. I also expanded my network on LinkedIn quite a bit and met/interviewed a handful of business professionals to gain more insight about their experiences in their field!
Friendships. I’ve made two really close friends this year that I’ve thankfully had the chance to meet with in person and hang out with! I am really happy with my close circle of friends at the moment; I’m really glad I was able to connect with more cool people, even if it was virtually at first.
Personal Fitness. This one is a bit of a rollercoaster. I gained some weight at the start of this year, but the second half of this year has been very productive in terms of learning about personal fitness. I’ve been actively working on taking roughly 10,000 steps daily (most days) and keeping an eye on my portion size. I also have begun playing badminton, pickleball, tennis, and going hiking on a regular basis!
Creative Projects. Aside from keeping a regular upload schedule on YouTube for most of the year, I tried out some new video styles as well (such as the Sister Tag video and my 21st Birthday Video). I also released my first official composition, “Orphic”, which I’m really proud of. I’ve created a few drafts for some future projects as well which I hope to get started on in the next year.
Chess. Although I’ve grown up playing chess with my family, I developed a great interest in the game once again over the course of this year. I took some time to learn strategies and principles and I’m currently at an ~1,100 rating on the Chess.com app. I’ve never been able to beat my Dad at chess, although we did get to a draw in one of our games this year!
Star Wars. Oh boy! I became a huge Star Wars fan this year after watching all 9 movies in May. I’ve watched Revenge of the Sith six times this year and haven’t gotten tired of it (yet), and I got a new lightsaber for Christmas! I’ve learned a handful of saber tricks, including the Obi-Ani from Obi-Wan and Vader’s duel on Mustafar. I don’t really know what got me so obsessed with Star Wars this year- I had watched all 9 movies a few years back but they really hit differently this year. I also started watching The Clone Wars TV series which I was a bit hesitant about at first, but I’ve come to love it.
Return to “Normalcy”. The pandemic hasn’t gotten much better compared to last year, and I’ve been pretty cautious about the whole thing. Last year, I only saw friends a handful of times (outside and socially distanced). I was fortunate enough to get vaccinated this year and it’s been really nice to go back to some of the things I wasn’t able to do in 2020.
2. What didn’t go so well this year?
Spending Habits. Although I was ecstatic to start eating fast food again after quarantining for so long, my spending habits went a bit out of control. Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and Dairy Queen became frequent locations for me, which wasn’t ideal for my bank account (or my health, really).
French. Just like last year, I didn’t prioritize French lessons much as I would have liked to. While I did use Duolingo in the earlier months of this year, my skills plateaued and I eventually stopped practicing. I have been working on it a bit more in December (using Google Translate to work on pronunciation, especially).
Music. Similarly to French, honing my musical skills wasn’t a priority of mine this year. There are a handful of instruments that I haven’t put much time into (trombone, piccolo, and cello), and I haven’t focused on many new techniques for the instruments I am more comfortable with.
Mindless Screentime. I spent more time than I would have liked to just scrolling through my Instagram Explore Page or YouTube Shorts. While I did develop some strategies (social media cleanse, phone on black & white, and blocking websites off my phone), I have still found it very difficult to get out of the endless scrolling loop.
3. What did I learn this year?
ETFs are better than individual stocks. At least for me. For my personal goals, I’ve felt a lot more comfortable holding ETFs and mutual funds in my portfolio, and for the most part, they’ve had better returns than the individual stocks I hold from companies.
Adventure is out there. As dull as some seasons may seem, there is always more around the corner to look forward to. There are lots of people to meet in the world, and I made great friends this year by opening myself up to that reality. Some moments are darker than others, but there is truly always something better coming up.
Don’t trust the stock market too much. My returns since the pandemic have skyrocketed, and I became used to insanely optimistic returns of 20% or higher. However, the second half of this year has been extremely rocky. I’ve learned not to put too much trust in the market as it truly is unpredictable at times.
Physical activity makes all the difference. Once I started taking 10,000 steps a day and working out, I’ve noticed huge improvements in my everyday life. My legs aren’t as restless at night, I sleep much better, and I know my long-term health benefits tremendously as well.