It is now time for 2022 to come to an end. What a year it has been!
This year was full of surprises, as well as setbacks unfortunately.
While it didn’t go exactly as planned, I still wouldn’t change a thing. I was still able to accomplish small, but meaningful, things this year.
In this post I’m going to reflect back on the year I had (and get a little candid while doing so), and also look ahead to the new year, which I’m very excited for.
How It Started
Way before I started FOF, in January 2022, when I was reeling from a difficult breakup from a person I loved and dealing with my existing anxiety and depression, I gave myself an ultimatum.
And that ultimatum was – change my life, or nothing changes.
It’s funny, because by most standards, I had a pretty good life for the average 22-year old – full-time job that I love, no debt, supportive family members, decent health, and a good amount of money invested and saved.
But still – it wasn’t enough.
I needed to challenge myself to go after what I wanted. I wanted to make new friends who would do fun things with me, and I wanted to (start to) get in better shape.
I needed to change my life.
And so I did that.
I started yoga that month, and then in April, I met my new friend who I became super close with over the months.
I’ll admit that the first half of 2022 was great – I had a new friend (and friend group) that did things with me. We went to a Pride parade and crashed a birthday party (and made $20 from it lol).
I was going for walks almost every evening after work.
I was in yoga classes weekly that challenged me to push my limits, both physically and mentally.
And it even seemed like I was on my way to healing from my breakup too.
Things in my life were quite good!
But then July 2022 rolled around and my progress came to a halt.
I just didn’t have the motivation to make these changes anymore. I became stagnant and complacent.
I wasn’t meeting any new friends. I wasn’t going to my weekly yoga classes anymore. My new friend group wasn’t making plans as often either.
So I consumed myself in my job, because at the time, it was the only stable and meaningful thing in my life.
Soon I realized this wasn’t the way to live my life as a then-22 year-old, when everyone else was going on fun trips with friends/significant others and just simply enjoying life, and I was just stuck with my anxiety and depression.
It felt like the end of 2021 all over again. And I wasn’t about the repeat the cycle that I worked so hard to break.
I remember one day in July I was on my personal Instagram (which I barely ever used lol) and I saw a few personal finance accounts posting about their progress with saving, investing, paying off debt, etc. and inspiring others.
I thought to myself – why can’t I do that?
I was already investing. I was already saving. I was already passionate about personal finance. I was already passionate about creating content.
So I decided to do it.
Being a digital marketer by day, I had advantages. I create content, run a social media page, write blog posts, and build webpages and landing pages for my company.
I literally live and breathe this stuff, so it made it that much easier for me to take this leap.
I started creating mock content in Canva way before even starting the page.
I had blog post ideas lined up.
I was ready to do this!
And so on August 22, 2022, Focused On Finances was officially born!
The rest is history.
By the end of summer and early fall, things (sort of) began to change for the better again.
I was hanging out with my new friend more often.
I celebrated my 23rd birthday in September.
I celebrated my one year work anniversary at my job in October.
I started going for more walks again (until the weather got colder lol).
I started meditating again.
I went back to college after another break.
I was building an amazing, like-minded community with FOF.
But I still felt like something was missing – again.
Now I had more than I started the year with, and it still was just not enough for me.
Maybe something is wrong with me, or maybe most people feel like this in their early 20s.
And that brings me to the next order of business for this post.
How It’s Going
I’m going to be very honest with you – I’m still struggling with this feeling as of right now.
The feeling of not having “enough”, even though I don’t know what enough is for me.
And as a result, my mental health hasn’t been in the best place over the last month or so.
The stress from school, work, FOMO from seeing other people’s seemingly happy lives, and the then-upcoming holidays all took a toll on me as well.
But now I need to move past it as best I can.
In 2023, I want to become a more healed and fulfilled version of myself.
And that’s going to take work.
That’s why therapy, more yoga and exercise, more meditations, and just more of looking at the glass half full instead of half empty are going to be things I focus on in the new year.
While I am grateful for the things I was able to accomplish in 2022, I still want more out of 2023.
I want more experiences, more happiness, more time with friends. More money (lol).
It’s never selfish to want more out of your life – in fact, it’s exactly what all of us need to do at some point.
We only get one life, after all!
So why not live it to the fullest as your best and happiest self?!
This is want I want to take with me into 2023.
If there’s anything that you can take away from this post (even though it’s very unique to me), it’s these two things:
- Don’t fret about what you didn’t accomplish this year, because you accomplished everything you were meant to
- Step into the new year as your most positive self, and you will be surprised at what you can achieve
Trust me, at the beginning of 2022 I had no idea that I was going to make a new friend who I would become really close with and start an Instagram account that would grow to nearly 1,000 followers.
But I did those things, and I’m so much better for it.
If there are things you want to go after in 2023, go after them. You have nothing to lose, only things to gain.
You too will be surprised at what you can achieve, even if you think it’s “small” compared to others.
I know this was a lot, so thank you for reading this until the end (if you stuck around) and I can’t wait to see what 2023 has in store for ALL OF US!