Let’s get this out of the way—it’s been a crazy year. And I’m not making New Year’s resolutions.
A few days ago, we put on Netflix’s Death to 2021. It’s a mockumentary cum satirical commentary to real-life events of the past year. And like in 2020, we spent a good portion of it saying, “wait, that was this year?”
So now, with the first dawn of 2022 behind us, we’re posed with the age-old tradition of making New Year’s resolutions. New year, new beginnings. New year, new me. And so on, and so forth.
Forget 2020 Vision
Probably every year before 2020, we would post Instagram photos with the caption, “bring it on, New Year.” And we would mean it. We’d face the new beginning with determination and resolve. Our New Year’s resolutions were long and concrete.
In 2020, I made my own mental note of New Year’s resolutions. It was a lot of the usual. I wanted to work out more regularly. Tickets were booked so we could travel every few months. I resolved to stop waiting for deadlines to get motivated. We were going to have a huge beach wedding.
As we all know, most of that didn’t happen in 2022. Our resolutions were met with a super thick brick wall, and we were faced with situations we never could have prepared for.
2021 and Its Blows
So when 2021 rolled along, we were a lot more cautious about New Year’s resolutions. It was all about trying to survive in the new normal. We were looking at current events with trepidation, but still pretty hopeful.
But somehow, despite the wins we got this year, there were also a lot of blows. We got vaccinated, but we also got a new variant. Our economy started recovering, and then we were hit by a typhoon.
It’s hard to be optimistic after you’ve had to take so many punches. And honestly, every round felt like the final round, until there was something getting ready to hit you around the corner.
Looking Back to Move Forward
So yes, it’s incredibly easy to look back and mark 2021 as another horrible year. It’s easy—almost natural, really—that we turn to 2022 with wary eyes, because we know it’s going to bring its own string of surprises.
I know resilience has become synonymous to, let them take care of themselves. I am not for romanticizing strength and agwanta at all. But I will point out, 2021 has not been all about lows. I’m sure everyone has had personal highs this year that you might have never thought possible. You might have achieved things in 2021 that never made it on the New Year’s resolutions list.
As low as its lows might have been, I choose to look at 2021 as a good year. I got married in an intimate get-together with only immediate family and closest friends. And we finally started a project that was a long time coming—Keeta launched in April, with the best team I could have ever hoped for.
Bring It On, Me
I’m pretty sure 2022 will be bringing its own challenges. We will once again be pushed to our limits, to show ourselves just how strong we actually are. It’s not pretty, and it’s not ideal. But it’s the cards we’re dealt with, and we’ll just have to deal.
There’s really no New Year’s resolutions list that can help us prepare for what’s coming—because honestly, we don’t what is.
But maybe instead of making a list of little habits that we hope to pick up (or break), we should take time for introspection. Ask yourself how the year really made you feel, and prepare for another round of a battle that we know is coming.
Every January 1 before 2020, we’ve been telling each year to bring it on. We always thought we could take it. But maybe this time, it’s about telling yourself to do the same. Bring your A-game to the next year, and tell yourself that you will make 2022 better—no matter what comes.
