While I will be writing about my own year in this post. I encourage you to reflect on your accomplishments too. I would advise against JUST thinking about it. Write it down! Trust me, once you starting writing things down, you’ll start remembering things you have done that you have forgotten about! I wrote this post out in multiple sittings over a couple of weeks – things would come to me. ✨
I know there are people out there, maybe it’s you, who are feeling down and telling themselves that they did not do enough these past 12 months, they should of done this, they should of done that… We can spend our time thinking about all the things we wish we did or did differently… but why not choose to celebrate what we did do instead? You have the power to choose what you believe about yourself.
A year, while it seems to have just disappeared in the blink of an eye, is a long time. I’m confident that you have done at least one thing that you are proud of.
AND, please, while reading this, do NOT compare what I have done with what you have done or not done. We all have our own journeys, they are our own experiences and no one can take them from us, nor can they fairly be compared to anyone else!
Invested
Finally, for the first time I invested some money into stocks. Also, cryptocurrency. This is for long-term income. I kept putting it off for so long even though I knew inside that I had to at least try. Sure enough, once I took the time to do so… I was super into it!
The cool thing about investing into companies is that you get to choose what companies you put your money into. Successful investing requires research. Surprisingly, I found the whole experience empowering. Every now again, I check in on my investments, but I mostly sit on them and wait!
Moved into a new apartment
At the end of 2020, I started looking around for bigger apartments. I loved my little place downtown but it was getting tight in there! I found an apartment in a building I had cleaned in before (I was a maid from 2016-2020) so I was familiar with it and remembered the fantastic view! The price, although was $300 more a month than what I was currently paying, was cheaper than I expected a place like that to be. It was manageable and I had the urge to check it out – so I did.
I fell in love instantly, of course. And one of the walls had Victorian wallpaper – something I had always wanted. I took that as a sign. I did take a couple days to think about it. I wrote down why I wanted it and why I needed to move there. I felt that I needed the space to be more inspired, energetic, and productive. I successfully convinced myself to sign that lease. And I did.
One side of the apartment was just windows and they went from the floor to the ceiling so there was a lot of light. Being there did give me energy, I was waking up earlier and feeling better.
I did not capture it on camera, but my favorite moment in this apartment was waking up at 3AM to a full moon shining down on me. Oh, and witnessing a sun shower one summer evening! ☀️
— Oh, and I buzzed off my hair in February… it always feels good to do this. 😁
Ended a toxic relationship
I don’t think I am going to write much about this. But it’s noteworthy enough to be listed. For anyone out there who is in a relationship that they feel deep down isn’t right… know that your are NOT alone. Know that for some of us, it does take time to break free. Don’t beat yourself up over this. You’ll leave when you’re ready.
Became an assistant to a life coach
Earlier this year, GeekPack opened a new program called GeekPOWer which we run with Helen Henley. It is a group coaching program. I was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to work alongside her. So far, we have done two rounds. Third round coming up in the new year! So far, my role has been her assistant, managing the Facebook group and the Zoom calls… but the goal is for me to shift more into a coaching role next round.
I did have some opportunities to lead sessions but I would say they did not go so well! 😅All of my training and learning on coaching so far has been on 1:1 and the emphasis with 1:1 is to let the client do most of the talking. As the coach you listen and ask questions. With group coaching, though, it is a bit different and I only just understood my problem with it a couple of weeks ago. In a group, you can also teach… I did not realize this. But this simple realization, I think will help me moving forward.
Spoke up
While most of the time I do not speak politics on my social media, I did share my opinions on some current issues this summer. My only regret is that I was bit fiery at first when expressing myself. But overall I put a lot of thought into what I expressed and did so over a period of several weeks to try and be clear as possible. In the end, I gained much more than I lost. I made more friends and strengthened existing relationships.
While at times, I felt bad and felt regret for doing so… In the end I learned a lot from this experience. By putting it out there I have been able to see my opinions more clearly so I could critique them and further develop them. While I did speak about specific issues, I wanted to just include some of the ‘bigger picture’ ones here:
Tried a Dating App – Met someone
I am not sure why, but I had be a skeptic about meeting someone online. Despite having close friends + family who have had success meeting their person this way. I browsed dating apps a few times before, but that was the extent of it. I browsed but I did not initiate any interest or contact in anyone.
One night, May 24th to be exact, I was in bed and unable to sleep. I felt an urge to check out Facebook Dating. I followed through on this urge and swiped through what was probably hundreds of profiles BUT this time I did swipe to show I was interested on several people. One of them was a handsome fella named Vladimir…
The next morning, I woke up to a new message “Howdy Miss 😊” and it grew from there. Now we are living together.
Saw the Milky Way
As a result of meeting the handsome fella mentioned above. I had the opportunity to see the Milky Way. Where he had been working was in a very remote outfitters in woods of Quebec. Very little light pollution. On the night of my arrival the sky was clear and I saw more stars in the sky than I have every seen before! 🤩
Took a plane to visit home
For those who don’t know, I live in Quebec but I am from New Brunswick. Two different provinces in Canada but they are next to each other. I hadn’t been home in close to 3 years, and when I’ve visited before, I’d take the train. The train ride is long, about 16 or so hours… Now that I have a cat that doesn’t like to be left alone, I had decided that I wanted to take her with me BUT – 16+ hours is way too long to be in carrier.
While of course taking a plane was more expensive than the train, it was certainly worth it. We were in New Brunswick in less than two hours, it was wonderful!
I don’t have much experience on planes, only a handful of times so far but I do enjoy it! Whenever the plane is about to take off and starts accelerating down the runway I get an adrenaline rush.
Moved…again!
When I moved into the apartment I mentioned earlier in January, I took over someone else’s lease. A lease that ended September 30th. I had a month before this date to decide if I was going to renew or not. My apartment was not quite big enough/laid out in a way that would have worked well for two people so we decided to look for an apartment together. (He had been working away so did not have a place of his own.)
Within a week of deciding to move in together I found a place, we checked it out and agreed to sign the lease. I am proud of myself for being so efficient with that – but heck, I do have the experience with apartment searching and vetting now! 😉
I absolutely love it here. It’s spacious but also has a lot of character. It was built in the 20s and a lot of the original flooring, wood, molding, and paintings are in tact. We have a backyard, we intend on building our first garden in the summer!
Started building consistent habits
With the except of a few days, over the past few months I have been consistently taking vitamins daily! I’ve also been drinking more water, being more mindful about drinking enough.
Another habit I have been working is reading more. I do have it my to-do list every day but it doesn’t always happen. I have been reading more and I am super excited about that! Reading daily is the goal.
AND, the latest habit I’ve been working on is daily journaling! I only started this a few weeks ago but I have been journaling every day. Even if I just a few lines in, it still counts!
Baked my first loaf of bread
This has been on my bucket list for a long time. It is empowering to bake your own bread and not have to buy it from the store. Vlad is a chef so I am fortunate to live with an expert. He regularly bakes bread and I finally tried it myself. I really enjoy this recipe so far.
Followed my intuition
Overall, this year, my biggest achievement was following my intuition. I felt a nudge to this, do that, despite sometimes it seemingly uncomfortable or nonsensical at first. I’ve been trying to let go of limiting beliefs and following what I feel to be right. While I have come a long way, I still have an even longer way to go, and that is okay with me. 🙂
Decided to become a life coach.
Over the past year I have been receiving life coaching from Viviana Coscotin. I had never received coaching before and it was not something I ever considered for myself. Initially, when I heard the word coaching, I only imagined it being for those in fitness and sports. As I started my entrepreneurial journey a couple years ago, I learned that having a coach was common place for every aspect of life.
With Viviana we started by working on finding my purpose and during out last session we worked on uncovering what my inner most desire in life is. To say my experience with her and learning about myself has been life-changing, would an understatement. I have developed a lot as a person and feel more clear on what I want to do with my life. Something I hadn’t been sure of in the 31 years of my existence.
One thing I have noticed, though, is that coaching isn’t as common for every day folk. In my network, most of the coaches target business owners/entrepreneurs. It got me thinking about how nice it would be to offer this life-changing magic to everyone else.
While my coaching journey is only just beginning, my goal is to at least have one program/offer that is accessible to everyone on a budget. I am actually working on my first program now and planning to launch in at least two weeks. I will be announcing here and on my social media when it’s ready – stay tuned!
>>> Feel free to contact me in the meantime though if you have any questions and are interested in working with me! 🙂 <<<
At the beginning of this post, I encouraged you to reflect on what you accomplished this year… please feel free to start that reflection here in the comments, I’d love to learn more about you 👇🏻
Happy Holidays! 💖
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