What I've Learned, Thus Far, From 2022?
What a year it’s been!
We are, on a global scale, working our way into our new realities socially, politically, and health-wise. But in the same way that we are growing, we are also regressing. Violence in the world is seemingly at an all time high. The hatred within the world is showing itself in more and more ways. And people are feeling less and less shame about contributing to the hatefulness, the violence, the selfishness, and the mutiny of this steaming ball of fire that we’re all spinning on.
I know… We’re off to a pessimistic but very real start, but this post will provide an overview of the many lessons that this year has taught me even if it is seemingly changing in negative ways.
Patience
Life has been a constant Groundhog’s Day lesson in patience for me, but this year in particular has been another tizzy in terms of this topic.
The weirdest feeling about my life has been that I’ve been working hard and waiting for something “good” to happen. What that something good is, I don’t know! But, I’ve been waiting for it (I explain this more in my post on dreams)!
Feeling as though I am constantly not obtaining goals or dreams has been a lesson in patience, perseverance and strength that I feel as though I’ve been learning for so long within my life and will be learning for so long into the future.
So again, 2022 has taught me peace within patience.
Perseverance
The art of “pushing through” is the most basic way to describe perseverance and, frankly, my life.
I do my best to not let situations that are in the past hold me back when it comes to accomplishing what I need to accomplish. I am far removed from any childhood situation that could alter my life’s trajectory; I am far removed from any negative person or negative path that has been crossed; and I do my best not to carry those things with me.
What does seem to stick are the themes that I’ve noticed throughout my life. Whether those themes are positive or negative is of no consequence here as the themes stick either way.
More than it being the situations of my life, it’s the themes that I’ve been shown that I generally have to overcome or work beyond. So, in terms of perseverance, that is generally what I am working to change or to overcome. When something disappointing or unfortunate happens to me, I tend to go straight to “sigh here we go again” mode instead of just assuming that this is a one-off event that I’ll just have to move beyond.
I no longer want to be in the mindset that sees new and bad things as a pile-on. I just want something bad to be something bad.
The lesson here has been that, sure I am and always have been pessimistic, but I definitely don’t want to be a Debby Downer so I am learning to change my subconscious associations so that a bad thing doesn’t turn into a bad day or a bad week. It’s just one thing.
planning/budgeting
I briefly mentioned this in my budgeting post but figured that it’s such a big and ongoing lesson that I’ll probably be learning this one for a while to come. For me, learning to budget includes getting my finances to a comfortable spot while reducing certain categories of spending and paying off as many things as possible (I’ll even be starting my journey towards paying off law school and grad school debts soon).
Oddly enough, I decided to really get into budgeting around the worst time: (1) the holidays and (2) a month after quitting my primary job! Not ideal if you want your family to have a good Christmas, and you need to survive on just your savings for a while.
Either way, the idea is on my mind to save, plan and budget, so I’m definitely counting this as a lesson (ongoing, but a lesson nonetheless).
TIMING
I am slowly learning that timing is everything while also feeling that [for some reason] I am running out of time.
Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, I am still learning a lot about myself: what makes me tick, what makes me happy, how it looks when I let my hair down and have my idea of fun, what brings me true joy from deep down, and so on. I am also still learning to be comfortable with my body as I age and all that I can say is that it’s all an ongoing, awkward process!
But while I go through all of this self-discovery, I need to continue to make a conscious effort to be cognizant of my time.
Life doesn’t last forever, so I need to learn to live now.
For 2023…
I’m going to start manifesting what I deserve, what I want, what I need, and where I need to be into my life.
I’ve taken the path of “working hard and waiting my turn” for years and before that the path of “working hard, watching doors slam in my face, and pivoting to other ones” and I know that that was how we were supposed to get through life: work hard and persevere, but I am starting to want a piece of this easy life that everyone seems to feel so entitled to (specifically around my generation and younger).
People are so comfortable in their “I deserve” after having done nothing. I want that blind and misplaced confidence for a day.
People are so entitled to everything: good grades, high pay, better this or that without doing anything to contribute! I want a piece of that shamelessness for an hour.
People are living so carefree in their ignorance and truly it looks like complete bliss. I just want a piece of that! I want to live in a more carefree manner for at least a little while. I’ll even be happy with a day (because I know that I’ll hate not working for what I have).
I’m not saying that I want to manifest more laziness or entitlement into my life, I’m just saying that the world is taking it easy, so maybe I should too.
We’ll see how it goes…
Overall
It’s been another weird one, but we’ve survived it!
I switched professions twice, earned one more degree, gained weight, cut my hair and gained two new titles: “therapist” and “professor”.
It hasn’t been a terrible year at all. I’ve been to Hawaii and back to DC (my favorite place). I hung out with my family and made some new friends (Hi Tyler!). And, I’ve recently made some decisions that will take me straight into next year, so overall I wouldn’t complain about this year but I will say that next year, I’d better have significant improvements to:
my living situation
my savings account
my debt (lowering as a part of active budgeting)
my social life, and
my work life
And through all of the changes, I want to see happiness at each stage, not ease, but happiness.