The Medium Stories That Defined 2021

Your perspectives and ideas helped us understand a pivotal year

In 2021, over 534,000 writers published 2.3 million stories on Medium — about everything from personal growth to programming to data science and beyond. You shared honest, personal points of view. You started conversations and asked important questions. You made sense of the unexpected.

2021 brought surprises — an ever-evolving virus, a historic vaccination campaign, the end of Trump tweets — along with more of the same: masks, Zoom filters, and Taylor Swift albums. Together, we learned that pandemics don’t really care what year it is. Maybe this year’s takeaway is exactly that: No matter what phase of the pandemic we’re in, we can always learn from it.

To celebrate all those who shared their perspectives on Medium this year, we thought we’d revisit a few of the stories and moments that got us talking (and thinking). If we’ve missed one of your favorites, we hope you’ll share it in the responses.

Together, we looked back on a year of pandemic life

So many of us turn to Medium to improve our lives — to become better friends, co-workers, human beings. And this year was a time to reflect on where we’ve come from and where we’re going. In May, thousands of you applauded Darius Foroux’s reminder that whatever we focus on eventually becomes who we are. So, we turned our focus toward things that make us better: reading (actual books!), learning (and learning how to learn), while taking notes as the world changed around us.

The most obvious milestone to reflect on: the first anniversary of what many thought would be a weird blip, a couple strange weeks of quarantine life. In March, ER doctor Craig Spencer MD MPH wrote himself a letter explaining everything he wished he’d known back in early 2020. Laurie Penny traveled to Australia to report on our collective grief, while Sara Benincasa wondered if our grandkids will believe us when we tell them what we’ve lived through.

Vaccines promised to end the lockdowns and change all our lives… maybe. You crashed the booking websites, got the jab, unpacked “vaccine hesitancy.” And throughout the year, hundreds of you shared (and continue to share!) how the pandemic has been for you, using the tag “PandemicReflections.”

We redefined work and play

In 2021, many of us asked ourselves some version of this question: How do I really want to spend my time? (“Time”… who is she?) You rallied around Jane Elliott PhD’s message that, if work feels hard right now, you’re not lazy or undisciplined — maybe you just don’t want to get hurt. You applauded Jessica Wildfire’s eulogy for “hustle culture,” and Gabrielle Moss’s declaration that the Girlboss Era is finally over so we can all stop performing productivity for whoever’s still watching.

The lesson was simple, though it took a pandemic to really sink in: Our spreadsheets and deadlines and check-ins will never love us back (no matter how close we are to burning out).

But work doesn’t have to be draining — especially when it’s done on our own terms. This year, many of you rediscovered the joy of making things, even if there was no business model attached. You painted, sketched, invented things no one asked for. Writer Clive Thompson created a tool that lets you see patterns in your own writing; data scientist Khuyen Tran taught us how to animate mathematical equations using Python.

You also minted some NFTs — and let us know they’re probably not great for our planet.

After work, we escaped to the distant past or the far future. David Gamble uncovered a bunch of centuries-old paintings in which people seem to be carrying… iPhones? Lauren N. Henley read between the lines of 100-year-old court records to tell the story of the richest Black girl in America. On Netflix, some of us couldn’t look away from a deeply disturbing (and riveting) fictional gameshow set in South Korea. (For Squid Game fans, Kaki Okumura drew a lesson in cultural relativism from the show’s English dialogue. Turns out we can all benefit from stepping outside our bubble sometimes.)

We came together to have meaningful (and difficult) conversations

Any American who thought “at least this year can’t be as crazy as last year” was swiftly rebutted by a literal insurrection, on January 6th, at the U.S. Capitol. Photographer James Townsend documented the destruction. Former U.S. President Barack Obama posted his response to the violent events on Medium, calling it “a moment of great dishonor and shame for our nation.”

So much for leaving our problems in 2020…

In the spring, after a tragic string of shootings targeting Asian Americans in Atlanta and elsewhere, you shared your perspectives under the “StopAsianHate” tag on Medium. Your essays made us think, laugh, and cry — and we gathered many in the #StopAsianHate Blog. Among them: Ellen K. Pao started a conversation about the “mix of privilege and exclusion” that comes with being “white-adjacent” in tech, and illustrator Vishavjit Singh walked the streets of New York City dressed as Captain America to make a statement about who we call a “hero” and why.

And the headlines kept coming: After 20 years at war, the U.S. pulled its troops out of Afghanistan, leading many veterans — including Laura Jedeed and Benjamin Sledge — to wonder what it had all been for. As conflict erupted again between Israel and Palestine, Mindy Stern urged us to focus on our shared humanity. The Texas abortion ban had Jude Ellison S. Doyle outraged by just how apathetic we all seem to be. Then, last month, the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse — who shot three people during protests against police violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year — had Allison Gaines asking: “Has this nation lost all decency, or did it have any to begin with?”

It was a lot to process… especially because we’re still coming to terms with whatever happened over a year ago. On the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, Adrienne Gibbs chronicled all the ways we’re still trying to make sense of it. And in September, to honor the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Timothy Braun captured the feeling of saying you’re “fine” when you definitely aren’t. A relatable feeling, for sure.

So no, 2021 did not solve the problems of 2020. But it did help us get some distance (just some), and that’s a place to start.

We shared our perspectives and experiences with the world

This year, like every year, Medium was a home for authentic, personal stories worth telling (and reading). You processed life as it was happening: Michael Thompson reminded us that good things are often the simplest things; Adeline Dimond revisited a decades-old crush; Wil Wheaton offered advice for living on purpose; S. Bear Bergman modeled possibility for young trans men (and all of us); cartoonist Liza Donnelly ran the New York City marathon and drew cartoons while she was running it. (Dear Marathon Board: Does this mean Liza can get two medals?)

You honored the legends we lost. Michael Chabon remembered Stephen Sondheim. Bonsu Thompson paid tribute to DMX. Jen Dorsey thanked Beverly Cleary for creating Ramona Quimby, the misfit who gave us permission to be ourselves.

Over the summer, we invited you to participate in our open writing challenge and almost 10,000 of you submitted your stories. Our in-house team along with a panel of judges — including Natalie Portman, Susan Orlean, and Roxane Gay — narrowed it down to four winners: “Keeper of the Place” by Medium newcomer Randi Ragan; “The Hope That Holds You Back” by Sarah Hawthorne; “Black Personhood Does Not Have Equitable Access to the Work of Homeownership” by Hal H. Harris; and “The Space Between My Fingers” by Meera Vijayann. Plus 100 honorable mentions! Taken together, these essays encapsulate so much of the talented storytelling that can find a home here on Medium.

And we’re continuing to help even more of you tell your stories. This year, we led free Creator Workshops which over 5,000 of you attended (!) and more are in the works. Our publication Creators Hub is regularly updated with advice and inspiration for all writers. Some of our favorite posts? Cory Doctorow’s letter to the young writer in all of us, this advice on how writing can actually help you think better (it’s true!), and Miranda Beverly-Whittemore’s very important rundown of how to snack like a writer. We launched an ongoing series of writing prompts this year, too — you’ll find them all right here.

From the beginning, Medium has been a place for you to share your ideas and stories with the world. We’re grateful to those of you who did that this year, and for the way readers and writers show up for each other and this community every day. Your perspectives helped us understand one another a little (or a lot) better in 2021. We can’t predict what 2022 has in store, but we know there will be much more to learn.