Posted: 23/12/2021
Summing Up 2021
2021 has been a mixed bag for me:
- COVID
- Home schooling
- Continuing to deal with grief
- Building my office
- Starting a new Remote role.
But here we are, at the tail end of it, and I suppose its time to reflect.
Its time to take stock, and reconsider the future.
I enjoyed home schooling my Son for 3 months at the start of the year, it gave me a chance to understand how he was being taught in school, and what educational challenges he faced. It was very enlightening, and a great way to connect to that new part of his life.
But BOY am i glad it did not last long, he is a smart kid, and some of the tasks set were difficult to keep him focussed with, I do not envy teachers. We made it through, and found new ways to teach and learn, and we as a family came out of that time better than when we went in.
He was a better writer, reader and mathmatician, and I was a better Parent, Teacher and listener too.
Once the lockdown was over, back to school he went, and oh boy did he enjoy it, making some very firm friends.
This gave me time to focus on a task I have been wanting to do for the 10 years we have lived in this house, build myself a Man Cave! But wait, with working from home a real long term prospect, it now becomes an Office.
So I spent several months, researching, designing, planning, digging the foundations and building the floor for my Office. It is still an ongoing project, because after a few months, money started to dwindle & supplies became harder to get. So the Office got shelved for now.
So onwards to finding a new role, a Remote Only role. Talking with recruiters, and interviewing I realised what type of role I wanted, and focussed into that setup, eventually landing a role which ticked all the boxes. With an immediate start date, the Office was on hold indefinetly, as there was a lot to learn and focus on in a new team, in a new company, in a new product.
6 months later, the team is finally hitting its stride, we have changed a LOT of processes and procedures, and set some clear goals and focus for the software setup. Its been a very busy time with a complicated software environment. I hope we can gain some real momentum in the new year, and meet the needs of the ever growing list of customers.
As with everything, life goes on, and parenting never stops, my son is inquisitive and amazing, and also exhausting too, so despite being a year since I lost my twin brother, I have struggled with his death, dealing with his estate, my emotions, and not being able to draw strength from my family due to COVID.
This time of my life has and continues to be hard. I am suffering with increased anxiety due to COVID risks, not seeing friends and family, not going to an office to work, and sometimes feeling very isolated. I have always been introverted and enjoyed my own company, so add on anxiety I have not been able to be out in the world, so the isolation is both a good and a bad thing to me, one which I hope to break out of when we can be better protected from COVID.
So this year has been full of strange times, lovely times and sad ones. I have loved watching my son grown up into a sassy, funny and funky 6 year old, my heart has swelled with pride at his achievements with schooling both academic and social. But through it all I have missed my brother.
We all have different things going on in our lives, sometimes they are not visible. Be kind to each other, even if it is just with a smile. See you all in 2022.
Thanks for reading this post.
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