#12DOK | KIND AND LOVELY PEOPLE

Bye-Bye 2021: It Was an Adventure but I Won’t Be Missing You

An ode to the year as I flush it down the toilet

When I opened my laptop to write this story, the headline in my mind was very different from the above.

Something more along the lines of:

2021: My Year in Review

Or…

Reflections of The Year Gone By

You know, nicey-nicey, middle-of-the-road, keeping it on the right side of acceptable. Softly-softly with a bit of cheer and nostalgia. And boring.

And then, my fingers just typed with no control, and that 👆 was the title that came out of them.

Well, a girl just can’t argue with her fingers now, can she?

But before I launch into exactly why I won’t be missing 2021, let’s just take a moment to be grateful for the kindness that the year threw up, in honour of my # Twelve Days of Kindness series.

Twelve things I am grateful for in 2021

1. Time to reflect on what I want more of from my work, business and life. After a year of over-working in my coaching business, I stepped back and took time to put into other things. While I wasted a lot of time exploring some dead-end paths, I did find my way here.
2. The newcomer to our family, Ginger the dog, who made my life all the busier and took away a good deal of that “extra time”, but brought far more joy to replace it with.
3. The unexpected opportunity to be involved in a book launch, which made me realise that I just wanted to write and ignore the world at large, which ultimately led me to…
4. Beginning my journey on Medium, and having an absolute blast doing so. And the 4+ months that have gone by since.
5. The friends I have made on Medium and the kindness shown by them all.
6. The followers who I have yet to connect with — I will do so yet, I promise. But thank you for showing up for me, nonetheless.
7. Being given the amazing opportunity to be in Kristina God’s Online Writing Bootcamp. Kristina offered her knowledge and experience so graciously, and the group formed by all of the members is a beautiful and dynamic bunch that I have been honoured to be a part of.
8. My amazing sister, who got her butt over to the UK for my Dad’s 80th, and I got to see for the first time since 2019.
9. My cats, for letting their feelings be known, and allowing me to write on their behalf.
10. Boris Johnson’s unintentionally comical interjections, for giving me something to laugh at (instead of crying at, for once).
11. Sid the Slug, for his company, now sadly missed (not!).
12. The future, because that’s awesome and worth celebrating. Oh darn it, that’s nothing to do with 2021.
13. (Or #12 take 2) All the amazing writers who inspire me daily, have shared their hearts, their words, their loves, their laughs, and their tips on how to make a lot of money selling feet pics, snail trails, or just writing.

All in all, lots to be grateful for.

So much so that it almost completely distracted me from the fact that 2021 was a total a***hole in more ways than thirteen. But hey, now I am feeling so good about it, let’s not get hung up on any of the idiocy of humans rioting; the effects of disastrous political decisions; the weariness and anxiety that has continued to grow through the second year of life controlled by a virus, or that it was just plain exhausting. For, as it turns out, some proper fun times were had.

Still, it’s now time to say;

Bye-bye 2021. You had your laughs, and now you can go. May your replacement be a sweeter version.

And cheers to all the kind and cheery souls who gave me a moment of their time and encouragement, and with whom I am grateful to be bouncing into 2022:

Kristina God, Charles Waters, Trisha Dunbar (She/Her), Nancy Blackman, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Courtney Simms, Tamil, T Mann, Alicia Domínguez, Robert Ralph, Marilyn Glover, Andrey Pilipets, Dazzling Shene, Francesca Dallaglio, Winston, Yana Bostongirl, Janet Meisel, Gaurav Jain, Terry Mansfield, David Perlmutter, David Prag, Sexy Human, Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她), Jesse Wilson, Adelina Vasile, David Bryson, Rasa Zalite, Erica Marie, Trista Signe Ainsworth, Deb Fiore, Art Bram, Crystal A. Walker, Liberty Forrest, Author, Louise Peacock, Sharing Randomly, Dina Alexander, Yousuf Rafi, Jenn Leach, Jan Sebastian, Sharing Words, Ashley, Terry Trueman, Checkmate11, Carrie, Julia Freeman, an anonymous survivor, Tom Fenske, JS Adam, Drashti Shroff, Cathy Coombs, Nikki Waterson, Justiss Goode, Carol Townend, Jonathan Townend, RMN. Founder -Creative Passions, Zulie Rane, Kristina Segarra, Amanda Laughtland, Kirsty Kendall, J.J. Pryor, Susie Kearley, Dee Dee Lovelle, PharmD, Danielle Loewen, BichoDoMato, Paul Combs, Simon Dillon, Lindsay Rae Brown.

I may have missed some who deserve a shout out, so please just know that I am grateful.

And see you on the other side 🧡🎉

This effort is Day 7 of my # Twelve Days of Kindness series. It just about counts, doesn’t it? See, there are lots of very kind people mentioned. See the full stories list here.