Hello hello everyone, How have you all been? I know the year 2021 was shitty too for many and personally, it has been a roller-coaster ride for me both on a personal and professional front. I posted something similar even last year and hope to keep up with the tradition (?) of reviewing my year. It not only allows me to look back and learn some lessons from my mistakes but also allows me to try not repeating them this year.

2021 – A lookback

1. I’m not sure if I should call this a milestone or a mistake but since I lost a job in 2020, I was hunting for jobs, and unfortunately, couldn’t crack many in Chennai, got an opportunity to work with a company in Bangalore. So, yes, I moved from Chennai to Bangalore which was huge because Chennai is literally a Second home to me but well, you go where work calls you.
2. I’ve lost some of my close family members last year. On that front 2021 was much shittier than 2020. I was not sure how to process so many deaths closer home in the same year, it was devastating to tell the least.
3. I’ve got affected by Covid and that was an excruciating experience in itself. One most important lesson that I learned was, never take things lightly even though your family talks you out of them. If only I tested late giving in to the fear of my family it might have gone severe. Thank goodness for that.
4. On the Podcast front, we’ve reached 50k plays which is great news being an Indie Podcaster also got featured in one of the leading English Dailies. Most importantly, we are in Season – 3 and we have new hosts who are amazing. I’m really happy about this decision.
5. Last year I started listening to Audiobooks, I was not sure about listening to them at first but boy oh! boy, how great an experience was that? I got to catch up on books written by an amazing author and I intend to shoot a video introducing him.
6. Also, after a very long time, I got to read/listen to more Tamil books last year. I always felt that I was reading very few of them and somehow got out of that guilt last year. So, Yay!!!
7. On the YouTube front, as usual, I wasn’t able to release videos regularly but whenever I could I did. It felt great and I have a different strategy for 2022. Let’s see how that pans out.
8. I promised to watch and review DC Animated Movie Universe movies and Studio Ghibli Movies along with Oru Pada Paadal series, unfortunately, I couldn’t do any of that. I really wish I could catch up on all of that this year.
9. Also, whatever expectations I set for myself and I promised to deliver, I couldn’t do any of that. It was a shame but alas kicking myself for not doing that wouldn’t do any good except feeling bad. So, I’ll try and see if I can at least fulfill all those things I promised to do last year.
10. I took a great leap and started going to Therapy, especially to take care of my anger issue. It was just the first step and a long way to go which I’m kinda proud of too.

2022 Goals:

1. Last year, I decided to read 34 books which I couldn’t. So, this year I didn’t set a high target but planning to read 35 books and let’s hope I get around reading them.
2. Since I started listening to audiobooks this opened up an avenue to listen to other Indian language books, especially the ones I understand, Telugu and Malayalam. I already started listening to one Telugu Audiobook and have one Malayalam book on the list. Exploring literature from these languages is on priority and hoping the experience to be good.
3. As usual with Podcast and YouTube, I have to be consistent in releasing Podcast episodes and YouTube videos. Hopefully, I can at least monetize one of them this year.
4. On the Blogging front, I’m hellbent on meeting last year’s goals of writing about DCAMU Movies, Studio Ghibli Movies, and reviving Oru Pada Paadal series. On top of that, I also wanted to explore writing on Sales, now I want to write about Product management with a little bit of knowledge I have.
5. About revamping the website, again I could only change certain things on the Website and couldn’t do a whole lot of things. So, I’m going to try and get around doing that as well this year.
6. Most importantly, I decided to be a little kinder to myself. I lacked that trait and have been questioning my choices. So, as a first step I’m going to be kinder to myself, then try and be kinder to people around me.

Hmmm!!! The post is shorter than I expected but nevertheless, I hope 2022 is much better than last year. I hope, I grow as a person and be a better version of myself this year.

With that, I wish you all a very Happy New Year 2022 and Happy Pongal. May this year bring all the happiness, joy, and love you deserve.

Until next time Ciao ?