Reflecting on another year passed

 
This weekend I turned another year older. Whilst I slipped my birthday through the pandemic net in 2020, and got in a celebration just before the world shut down, this year I celebrated my birthday in lockdown.

I’m typically not really a birthday person – I celebrate milestone birthdays under the premise of “YOLO”, but usually I’m happy to just go for dinner somewhere and that’s at the absolute most, I would also be satisfied just spending my birthday doing what I do on any other day spent relaxing. Last year, I had my birthday in mind for a good six months as I planned what I wanted to do to celebrate the big 2-5; this year, it really just crept up on me, at times I even forget it was approaching. I’m also sitting on the cusp of the age where birthdays will soon be met with “dear God, please make it stop!”, so definitely a lot of the forgetting of my birthday was probably also me just trying not to think about it. It’s very different to the excitement that ages 16, 18 and 21 were met with once upon a time.

Whilst I cover my eyes with my hands as I try not to watch the clock tick forward to older ages, and as I zoom in on my selfie to confirm that shadow on my face is really a shadow and not a wrinkle, what I can say is that I am generally (and genuinely) happy with the way my life is moulding together as time goes on. Of course there will always be aspects in life where I would yearn for more, or yearn for something different, but overall, I am feeling positive about the path I am walking down and what the future might entail. Overall, I feel like 25 somehow ended up being a very formative year for me, despite spending the majority of it locked up. I was pushed in many ways which caused me to grow in confidence, I felt as though I solidified a strong support system around myself, and I settled into an overall clearer and stronger mindset with regards to many things. I started to feel like I was taking life into my own hands a bit more, rather than being swept to wherever life took me.

This year I want to continue along the same path but maybe walk a little faster. One thing I really want to do is take more risks – particularly when it comes to what I invest in. I want to invest more when it comes to money I set aside to go into funds/ISAs, more into side hustles, more with respect to paying off student loan… and I want to invest in things that don’t hold a clear monetary value too. Investing can also be the expelling of time and effort. I also want to invest more into myself, be it where I choose to invest my time, investing in my health and fitness, investing into my own ventures, investing into just treating myself, investing into more experiences (pandemic permitting). Investing typically also means taking on risks, but risks always have the potential to bring more reward, and I’m still young enough and with little enough responsibility that I know that now is a better time than any to take more risks (coming from someone who is very risk averse – I am really trying to push myself a bit more). At the same time, whilst I have all of these ambitions, I also just want to continue to prioritise enjoying myself. I want to enjoy my 20s and make memories that can still bring a smile to my face when I eventually do get a lot older.

And with that, I wanted to share the major lessons I learned over this past year in lockdown. Here’s to another good year which hopefully brings growth, one where my loved ones stay healthy and safe, and another year of living for the “now” – because whilst I joke about being old in my mid 20s, one day I really will be old in my mid 80s (ijn), and I don’t want to look back with any regrets…

The major lessons of the past year

• I learned how to put my foot down when the situation really calls for it
• I learned how to do more of what I want to do, because I can only live my life for me
• I learned how to really, truly and completely let go of sometimes long standing relationships, because life is like that sometimes
• …And in effect, I learned who I really value in my life
• I learned how to manage others better
• I learned that everybody has their own path, and sometimes what you want to do may not currently be right for you at that certain moment in time
• Finally, I learned how to embrace my natural hair!

Have a good week guys!