One Year Later: How Far Have You Come?

Wise, old owl photo taken at Henry Doorly Zoo

New Year, New You

School starts this week, and the start of the 2021 school year prompted me to reflect on the last twelve months. It seems like a long time since we were nervously sending masked warriors off to school or gearing up for online school. Like a year-end, media montage, an unbelievable amount of wonderful and awful things happen every year. So what growth and what good has come since last year? Here are some of my important highlights. I hope you can identify your highlights as you read this. I’d love to hear about them.

Career Change

One year later, I can say I’m in a better place career-wise. Although I haven’t increased my salary and I don’t have a new promotion on a career ladder, I am happier and making a lot of progress on my next move. I have learned so much personally and professionally through this change. It has been a challenging journey, but one I’m glad I’m on.

I have a view into many new career paths and professions. I’m more confident to try new things and more confident in the skills I already have. I’ve met and worked with a career coach for many months now, and it’s been a great experience to have this guidance. I’ve joined new communities of professionals who provide support, ideas and opportunities. I’ve had many conversations about potential roles and work, and like dating, some of them help you understand what you don’t want, and some are nearly love at first sight, or at least interesting enough to go on a second date and maybe meet their friends.

If it wasn’t for Covid, I never would have realized how much I enjoy writing and I wouldn’t know it can resonate with others. I wasn’t writing a blog a year ago, and it is something that brings me so much joy. Sharing my journey has led to connections with people I never would have met otherwise and it’s helped to renew old connections. I plan to continue working on my writing no matter my next job or as part of it. I appreciate everyone who has encouraged me, laughed at my jokes, provided feedback or reached out to tell me they are feeling the same things.

Personal Life Improvements

In the last year, there have been big and subtle moves in my personal life. Prioritizing my family and those relationships has made a big difference. I have been more present for the small and big things. Crap still happens all the time and it’s far from perfect, but I am more aware of what really matters and committed to working on making it better. I’m also committed to enjoying it more.

I’ve added new, helpful habits including regular yoga and long walks with podcasts. I’ve also had time to shore up my retirement investments, purge clutter and learn how to sell stuff online. I remodeled both of my kid’s rooms and grew a successful garden. Thanks to my boys, I’ve improved my fishing skills, my war history knowledge and gotten somewhat better at not being embarrassing.

I am a work in progress and hopefully will always be. When you have time to reflect on your life, it’s important to acknowledge what you find and cut yourself some slack. Like P!nk sings, “People will pretend, baby girl, but nobody knows.” We are all just practicing every day, hoping to get better.

Natural Disasters

There were many storms in the last year, both actual and metaphorical. Storm repair is ongoing, but every storm eventually passes. In our extended family, there were cancer treatments, surgeries and survivals(!!), dead cats, a Covid hospital stay, a fatal car accident, a serious boating accident, a sprained ankle, a hard life-lesson in sports, tough months of soul-searching, vertigo and a raccoon in the roof. Also, my pants are tighter than last year. I’ve fought the good fight all year, but I’ve lost the recent battle. I guess I’ll have to cut back on donuts now. I like to feel successful when Dec. 31 rolls around to avoid the guilt-ridden, new year’s resolutions. But in the context of all the other storms, this is small potatoes (now I’m thinking about potatoes and gravy).

It’s humbling and also impressive how much we get through in a year and how much we can improve and learn amidst (and sometimes because of) all the chaos and struggle. To all of my people who got through the storms like Captain Dan on a shrimping boat, I see you! Thanks for showing the rest of us how it’s done. I’m walking forward remembering how good it is to have great people in your life and how good it feels to see and hug them, even if it takes a hurricane to bring us together.

Guidance From History (Subtitle: I Love Books!)

Whether as an escape or a place of guidance, the Covid pandemic peaked my interest in world war books. I’m pretty sure marketers identified a connection with the pandemic and current political tensions and previous world upheavals because Barnes and Noble featured this genre, and I was a willing consumer.

Although it’s uncomfortable to compare Covid to past wars, it seems natural to be curious about historical survival during difficult times. We can learn from the stories of resilience, innovation and the power of love in the face of some pretty terrible things and also see the warning label on life and humanity. These stories gave me perspective on the difficulty of today’s world versus the past and provided opportunities for gratitude, especially on having a warm, safe place to sleep, having loved ones safe and healthy and having enough food. People are always eating the worst things in those books or not eating at all (sadly, this isn’t just past tense in books).

Here are a few of the books I’ve read and enjoyed the past year:

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer — A unique viewpoint of the fate of a Polish family during the invasion of WW II

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah — An unlikely heroine leads fallen allied pilots out of France to Spain

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott — A tense, female spy novel set during the Cold War

Three Hours In Paris by Cara Black — An American riflewoman is hired to assassinate Hitler in Paris

A Long Petal Of The Sea by Isabel Allende — A pregnant, female pianist flees Spain during the Spanish Civil War and ends up in South America

One Summer (1927) by Bill Bryson — Although not about war, Mr. Bryson shows us how history repeats and answers the historical “why” on many American topics. I found it relevant.

Not Easier, Just Better Equipped

I dropped my kids off at school today. Although the world is still swirling around us, I feel calmer, wiser and better equipped to handle what this next year will bring. There will be more storms, and also many more highs. I’m focused on the quote hanging in my office: “What does success look like in 2021? What do I want to look back and say at the end of the year?” With four months left in the year, using my current criteria, I can already say this year has been a success.

I’m working on next year, thanks to my corporate mindset, and let’s face it, donuts, er… I mean vegetables and whole grains aren’t free. Neither are soccer shoes or vacations or raccoon roof repairs or ironic T-shirts on Facebook. There is more work to do, but for today, as I give thanks for the teachers who showed up at work today (whew), I’m celebrating progress.