Road to 2022

Let’s close this chapter and write a new one

Long time no write until I arrived at the end of 2021. In a blink of an eye, we are now entering a new year with new hope and more optimism compared to last year — based on my personal view. Looking back in 2020, most people are shocked with the rapid and unexpected change, whereas in 2021, people are used to it and become better in adapting to the change. I personally went through a lot of up-and-down moments, yet I believe everything is good at the end of this year. I am grateful for everything that happens this year.

As a reminder for me, I would like to create my 2021 recap here through this writing. Here are my 2021’s highlight and lesson learned:

1. Starting my own small business

At the beginning of the year, there was an urge from me to create my own brand. Luckily, I saw a little opportunity to make money from something that I love — buying stickers. I paired this with the most popular things to buy: hand sanitizer and voila! I sold some hand sanitizer with cute stickers on it. It was a simple idea but it was really fun and valuable experience. Even though it wasn’t sustainable *yes, I have stopped selling them because I lost from competitors*, I would say it was still a fun thing to do in 2021. Now, I consider creating a new business in 2022. As one of the Indonesian e-commerce’s tagline said: “Mulai aja dulu”.

2. Start investing in stocks

I had zero financial literacy until my dad and my boyfriend taught me about stocks, market funds, and other forms of investment. I started investing in stocks this year and managed to get some gains, even though it’s not that significantly high increment. However, it is still a good start for me to manage my finance better. I think I should read more books and articles about investment in 2022.

3. Dealing with uncertainty and anxiety

2021 makes my anxiety hit the peak and there is a time I feel like I am out of control. My anxiety is shown from losing weight and the mild depression that I face especially from the middle of the year. However, I am forever grateful to have a very supportive family, friends, and partner that I can lean on. This makes me realize that it is not all about quantity but the quality of people around you. Treasure them all as best as you can.

4. Be more grateful

I am a forever grumpy and complainer until God gave me a reminder to be more grateful for the simplest thing: free oxygen and have fulfilled my primary needs — food, home, clothes. I got hives all over my body in this middle of the year and it was quite severe. Turned out it was caused by a worm infection which I never thought about. Well, this incident hit me hard and since then, I became less complaining and be more grateful for whatever I have currently.

5. Reunited with my long-lost boyfriend

LDR is hard, yet coronavirus is like a perfect pair for LDR to make it even more challenging for me and my boyfriend. Struggling with a lot of uncertainties about when we could meet and our future, yet our patience was paid off when we finally met together this month. It was a perfect Xmas gift that I wished for and it came true.

6. (Almost) got a chance to work abroad

Working abroad has been one of my career goals and I almost reached that goal this year as written in my 2021 goal. Late this year, I got an offer from a global tech company in one of the countries in SEA and I was super excited. However, I was torn between the option to jump on to this new opportunity or stay with my current job to achieve a higher goal. It was the most difficult decision that I’ve ever made in my life honestly and at the end of the day, I chose to stay with my current job. I lost my chance to become a full expat, yet I still got the opportunity to build something exciting abroad. I wish I can do my best in 2022 to achieve my main goal. Wish me luck!

To conclude my writing here, I just want to say “Happy New Year” to anyone reading this post. My wish every year remains the same: “I wish forever healthy and happy, and more amazing opportunities ahead in 2022. Never lose hope.”