3 New Years Resolutions That Will Stick in 2022- An Open Letter to 2021

Can you all believe that 2021 is almost over? Today doesn’t even feel like it’s already the new year so the fact that a whole new year is upon us is truly mind-boggling. It’s time to reflect on a crazy year that we just experienced and how it has probably changed us for the better. This time last year, I was excited to welcome 2021, as everyone does for the New Year. “New year, new me”, same old same old- we need New Year’s resolutions that will stick in 2022. Something that we won’t give up on after a week. I suck at making new years resolutions. In fact, I don’t think I could say that I have ever stuck with any of my resolutions for an entire year. It’s too much pressure and hard because life just happens. We need to acknowledge that we are only human but there are 3 things that you can stick to within 2022. Ready to hear them…. let’s go!

1. Use Your Passions to Change the Narrative

As you guys know, it hurt every bone in my body that I could not finish my study abroad trip in 2020. It was something that I had planned since I was a sophomore in High School and, well you know what happened. It sucked. Traveling is a huge part of my life and this was supposed to be my year! To accomplish crazy adventures and see the world without any worries. Well, that’s life. Sh*t happens and the world doesn’t revolve around you. I hate to be blunt but someone has to tell you! So, what are we going to do about it? For the new year, find your passion and stick to it!

Everything is easier said than done, but I stuck with my passion and changed the narrative. To say the least, it was HARD, but blogging got me through it. Working on my blog and ways to better myself helped in more ways than I would have expected. During quarantine, I was blogging about my previous adventures and it kept the energy fueled inside me. It was a great feeling to be stuck in my room, but imagine I was elsewhere. When life knocks you down I know how hard it is to be stuck. The process of changing my website from Squarespace to WordPress took over one month and in that time, I lost my passion. I’ve never watched more tv in my life than during quarantine. I am talking 5 hours a day…. sad right? Once the travel blog was up and running again, I had that passion to fuel me! Yes, travel has had a significant impact on my life!!

Throughout 2021, I was able to take advantage of local adventures and travel domestically. I have visited the U.S Virgin Islands in January, skied my heart out in February and march, Visited the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C in April, and then had an awesome summer as well! Even though I had canceled my trip to Spain in the summer, I still kept a positive mindset because travel is going to come around. These destinations are NOT leaving anytime soon I promise you!

So how can you change the narrative in 2021?

Find out where you want to be in one month, six months, and a year: for myself, I wanted to travel the world and experience more of Europe. Learn the language and overall have fun with being in unfamiliar situations.
Find out what is stopping you from achieving said goal: the pandemic for one stopped me from traveling and I wasn’t able to have those experiences
Find the light at the end of the tunnel: Positive aspects from this were that I got all of my money back from flights, travel was just on a temporary halt for the time being, and I am an experience, well-traveled individual that has been across the globe before. In essence, my problems were not that serious.
Be creative: I spoke with my friends from Spain almost every day. No joke, Communicating was key and I am so fortunate to have those friends in my life to keep me in good spirits for when the world does open up again. When my travel blog wasn’t up yet, all I would watch was Spanish shows and that alone improved my fluency a great ton.
Use your passions/hobbies to help you when things don’t go as planned: Just because I couldn’t travel across the globe, did not mean that I was restricted from traveling domestically. Living upstate in New Paltz allowed me to use my adrenaline-junkie tendencies to hike, go paragliding, and even complete a 400-mile bike ride in a month!

2. Stay Hungry

Let’s start off where we are wired to not give ourselves enough credit. We went through such a depressing time of having nothing going for us to now doing our best and that’s what matters. Everyone is going through successes at different times, but let’s appreciate the good that came out of this pandemic. For the new year, Stay Hungry!! I promise you that if you find opportunities and keep your energy up, opportunities will come to you. Your persistence is what will shine through.

If it weren’t for the pandemic….

I probably would not have been so passionate about biking. The pandemic brought out the biker in me more than I thought I had in me. I mean I biked 430 miles during September 2020 and 450 miles during September 2021. The support from all of you guys truly fueled me. I think it has been a therapeutic activity for me because when I am biking, I just get lost in my own thoughts. I listen to my music, jam out, and just relax, truthfully. I have noticed a significant change in my body and how I look and feel amazing. From a traveling perspective, I saw so much of my backyard. Learned from a navigational point of view about Brooklyn. It was incredible. I was traveling without even paying for flights or packing luggages. It was great! Some days when I feel like it, I’ll just go for a casual bike ride to The Brooklyn Bridge and fly my drone and just relax!
I probably would not have received a Summer internship with Hearst that ultimately led to my full time job. I jumped on every opportunity to and that internship was probably one of the highlights of 2020, my job being the biggest accomplishment of 2021. I am not kidding. I met so many amazing people along my journey and about my potential as a marketer and am so happy to work with such a supportive team.
I probably would not have graduated early in 2021 and got my masters IN THE SAME YEAR. Yes, I graduated Summa Cum Lauge in January of 2021 and graduated with my masters in December of 2021. I still cannot believe that. I hustled this semester to try to get it done because you never know what the next semester is going to bring.

Simple Steps to Staying Hungry in 2022

Physically and professionally, this year was the best year of my life and I want to show you guys that there are ways to stay motivated and want more.

Appreciate how far you have gone: Looking back at it, it is so easy to be your own worst enemy. I am Type A, OCD , and a perfectionist, yeah not a good mix if you ask me, but step one is recognizing your successes. Remember that we are only human. It is normal to have bad.
Never settle for less: Recognize your worth and acknowledge how much potential you have to do anything!! Try it, you really never know how it is going to go if you do not try! There will be people trying to bring you down, but take the high road on this one and ignore them!

3. Find Your Peace & Manifest the Future

Mental health is so so so important. Take care of yourselves because as daunting as 2020 & even 2021 were, 2022 is going to be a lot like these years in regards to restrictions and COVID. You will drive yourself mad if you don’t find your peace in 2022 so let’s find out what brings me peace! What makes you happy? Well, I am not a mind reader, but I love tarot cards and journaling.

Every day, I do a tarot card reading and learn more about myself. Reflect on the present and manifest the future. It’s a relaxing and therapeutic activity that I love to do if I am feeling empty.
Journaling also helps me to get my thoughts together and reflect on the good things that happen as I have a tendency to dwell on the negative aspects!
Surround yourself with like-minded people that will lift you up and inspire you.
NEVER SETTLE for less. I am sitting here with two degrees, I said it in my open letter and I will say it again, I won’t let it anyone waste my time because I am going places so you’re either with me or you aren’t.
Lastly, I hinted at it before, but MANIFESTATION is key. Where do you see yourself in the future? What do you envision yourself to become?

Tarot Cards

An Open Letter to 2021

Dear 2021,

To think about this year and take a step back, I would not have expected half of these things to happen but words cannot express how grateful I am. To think that there have been times I contemplated my own life is the reason why I always live in the moment and love to go extreme on adventures because you really just never know where life will take you. It’s poetic because there’s beauty in the unknown and I’ve learned to never take life for granted because people would kill to walk in your shoes-never forget that.

I seriously have the most incredible support system and couldn’t thank you all enough. To my family, I love you all so much. Thanks for being there for me when I needed it the most. To friends that I might not talk to all of the time (I actually find that genuine relationships don’t need constant reassurance). If you support me, 10000% I support you no questions asked. To those fighting silent battles I HEAR YOU, keep thriving and being the best version of yourself because your energy is unmatched and contagious.

Never let anyone dull your shine because honey when someone is intimidated by your potential, it’s a representation of their insecurities never yours. Let this be the year where you are unapologetically YOU and hey if people don’t like that, so be it.

I’ve made some pretty tough decisions down the road and you know you made a good one in your gut, I promise you. Trust your instincts, it never lies. You’re too good to have to explain yourself and prove your worth. With two degrees, I am not stressing over anybody that isn’t worth my time. End of story. Karma does the work so you don’t have to and it’s so easy when you don’t change a thing about you are genuine 1000% of the time. All you have to do is to be yourself.

Let 2022 be the year of personal growth because we all need to humble ourselves, take a step back and realize, “Hey I need to work on a few things”. I’m making it a goal to be a better daughter, sister, friend, sister, coworker, teammate, etc. Cheers to us everybody & Happy New Year!

So There You Have It

So what story would you rather hear? That you gave up, or that you changed the narrative and changed for the better! Good things happen to those that work hard!! Your hustle is a part of your personality and it will soon become a habit if you stick to it. Stick to these core three resolutions and I promise you, your 2022 will be amazing:)! Happy New Year Everyone!