Year in Review - 2021 Edition

 Holy buckets, 2021 went by quickly. Felt like 6 months! It's been a very rollercoaster year, but here we are, about to reenter the start/finish line and preparing to start another year. Starting off, we are still going through this pandemic, that has had an impact on my goals and aspirations, more on that later. Regardless, on to the review section. Looking back, I didn’t ever publish my 2021 goals, LOL. My general ideas were to stay healthy, and read a book per month.

• I read a lot more this year, reading 10 books (2 shy of my goal of 1 per month), and even enjoyed a few non-fiction books this year.
• We built a house and moved to a new town (still near Madison) and have really been enjoying the quieter life and funny enough my walking score here is way better than when I lived on the edge of the city. This was pretty huge part of the first half of the year.
• My kiddo started preschool and is really having a lot of fun.
• I did a bit of working out, more on that later.
• I took on a new role as Senior Engineering Manager at Grafana Labs and I'm delighted to say it is super fun and rewarding.

Goal #1 for next year, no major life changes 😅😂. I know I say that every year, but this year I mean it.

Goal #2, a more complete workout regimen. I did a lot of running and biking but not a ton of workouts. Furthermore, as far as my athletics go, I did less than some of my previous years but hey, it was a busy year!

As a part of my new gig (at Grafana Labs) I'm exposed to a bunch of cool new tech with metrics and graphing. So, there is a Strava <--> Grafana integration, here is what my year looked like.

I had a few waves of good running habits, and about 10 runs per month (if you include virtual runs), not bad! Walks were my jam this year, during the lovely summer days we walked as a family almost every day. The gap in November was me trying out Apple Fitness, and not really enjoying that you can't extract your data (no friendly API). Next year I'll be sticking with Strava.

My goal for 2022 is to run more, do more CrossFit/workouts (trying out streetparking.com full time!), and more bike rides with Strava. I'd love to run a race or two as well. We'll see 😃

As far as professional growth, my goals are evolving. I'd really like to grow more of my project management skillset, so I'll be taking a few courses and reading a few books on different strategies. I'd also like to start mentoring other people and sharing my experiences in an effort to learn from their experiences.

As far as hobbies go I didn't do as much as I wanted but still got quite a bit complete. I dug deeper into my woodworking. I've loved getting into the workshop (garage) and getting my hands dusty. Here are some of the things we built this year.

Kid kitchen, she loves it

Shelf for soundbar

Fish tank stand

For next year my goal is a kitchen table and a coffee table for our new house.

That all being said, I won't lie, this year was not all rainbows and butterflies. We had some rough patches as well. I had some challenges with burnout (but I learned a lot), my family got COVID (still recovering, warm thoughts welcomed), we lost one of our cats (2 years old, far too young), and I lost track of my mindfulness practices. We will move on from these events, but they will leave a lasting mark that will last forever.

So in summary, 2021 was a whirlwind, and 2022 will be full of opportunities!

Goals for 2022

1. Read 12 books (I can do it!)
2. Take 4 classes to better me and explore my curiosity
3. Practice Mindfulness daily
4. Enjoy the journey
5. Run 2 half marathons
6. Complete the 52-week endurance challenge on Street Parking (1 endurance workout per week).
7. Build 2 woodworking projects

What will be the key to success? Consistency, running/training so I can train tomorrow and enjoy the journey.