Personal & Bookish Reflections on 2021!

Hello, 2022! Goodbye, 2021! As the new year begins, I’d thought I’d take some time to reflect on 2021 on a personal level, share some highlights, and discuss my bookish habits of last year.

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2021 was a difficult year, and I know I’m not the only one that feels that way. While things started to open back up, I think it has been a continual adjustment during the age of Covid. While there is some relief with the vaccine, there is still a lot of hesitancy and uncertainty lurking in the air. I’ve come to accept this in a way and I’m working hard on taking each day one at a time as I head into 2022.

I was stressed, sad, anxious, and kept trying to adjust to our world the best way that I could. While I started out the year working from home and I made the transition to go back into the office full-time. It was a major adjustment for me and is one I still struggle with. This was the first time I worked from home full-time and I liked the routine of it very much so it’s still difficult for me. I think as a whole (and like in 2020) everything started to fuse together and it only added to my overall stress levels. I’m doing my best to put more focus on myself in 2022 and not only elevate myself but also focus more on self-care. I’ve gone back to doing more of the things that gave me comfort (ex. crafting, pen pal letters, watching my favorite shows). I definitely could use more balance in my life and I’m trying to do things in a way that helps me.

On the positive and the biggest point of excitement was writing and releasing my first book during a pandemic. I won’t lie and say that it wasn’t scary but it felt so exhilarating overall. I’ve been a reader and writer all my life, but to finally accomplish my dream of having a novel published is so amazing and surreal. I thank each and everyone in my life who has supported my writing career and helped me get to where I am today!

I also have been working to grow my Etsy shop which I’ve learned so much from being a new small business owner. I’ve continued to pursue some writing projects and got the chance to do some fun write-ups for various websites as well as write for some bigger publications that I never even dreamed I would be writing for! It’s still hard not to see friends and family much. Keeping in touch via Skype, hosting movie watch parties (online), and writing letters to pen pals has been very beneficial during this time and it’s helped me to stay more connected.

I don’t set New Year’s resolutions anymore, but rather personal goals that I’d like to achieve throughout the year. I’m continually working harder on putting myself first, practicing more self-care, and trying/learning new things. My word for 2021 is “energy”. I want to focus on myself and in the words of this quote ” The energy you project onto other people is the same energy they’ll give back.”

What about my 2022 bookish goals? I‘m continuing to purge a lot of books from my collection and tried to tackle some of the books that have been sitting on my bookshelves for the longest. I want to read more audiobooks and finally share a bookshelf tour on the blog which I still didn’t do in 2021! I plan on adding more new content this year.

I set my Goodreads goal to 180 books and completed the challenge even though Goodreads says I didn’t. I also forgot to mark quite a number of books as read. This year I’ll be trying to read 150 books! I wanted to lower my goal so I wouldn’t put pressure on myself. I also won’t be doing any kind of reading challenges this year at all. I just want to focus on my backlist TBR and anticipated reads.

And as always thank you to everyone who read the blog and helps me to keep this blog going. Your support is everything!

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To end my post, here are some of my highlights from 2021!

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For the spooky season, I went to Canterbury Village for their annual Halloween stroll. No tricks or treats this time around, but plenty of cool Halloween decor to look at.

Also during the month of October, I saw my first shadow cast show at the Redford Theatre. I love the movie Beetlejuice and this was a very cool live performance of one of my favorite films.

I love all things dino related so in the spring I went to Canterbury Village to check out the Dinosaur Stroll. It had some amazing life sie and gigantic animatronics (very high quality). It felt as if I had been transported to Jurassic Park!

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In the summer I went to the Immersive Van Gogh Experience. I have always been fascinated by his artwork so it was cool to see a variety of his pieces in an interactive show. It was a nice show!

Summer also brought back the Detroit Festival of Books except that this year it was was scaled down due to Covid. I found some great deals on books and found some new indie bookstores to visit in the future.

I also visited Greenfield Village as I do every year. It was nice to see more of the exhibits opening up again. The weather was nice and breezy compared to the heatwave we had during the Summer months.

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In early Autumn, I went to a wedding for one of my longtime friends since childhood. I was so glad to be able to see her special day! Held at a venue off of the Detroit River it had some awesome views of the water. Plus I got to bust a move on the dance floor.

If you’ve checked out my Instagram you’ll see that I got to check out a few new local Little Free Library. I always feel like I’m on a treasure hunt when I discover one.

I also spent some time in Eastern Market, picking up groceries and local goods. They always have some fantastic murals including this picture of a Detroit Lions fan which makes for some great scenic views.

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What are your reflections on 2021? Have you set any goals for 2022? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below!