With another year complete, it is time for another round of reflection. Last year, my reflections revolved largely around the changes and challenges associated with the COVID19 Pandemic. While the virus still disrupted life this past year, 2021 was a year of growth. I continued with my graduate school journey and made many new happy memories. There were misadventures and happy revelations.
Roses
The year 2021 contained many challenges that I enjoyed tackling:
- I had my first conference paper (IEEE CASE) accepted for a soil moisture monitoring robot. While exciting, I’m still amused I got a paper into an IEEE conference before an ASME conference.
- I taught several courses as a teaching assistant in the electrical engineering department (Linear Algebra, Electric Drives, and Electrical Engineering Senior Capstone). Teaching lab courses remotely in the Spring of 2021 was challenging, but I learned a lot about how to communicate technical information to audiences without being able to receive feedback. I really enjoyed teaching once classes were back in person in the Fall of 2021.
- Though I did not achieve my goal of camping once a month in 2021, I still managed to squeeze in 6 camping trips! I visited Death Valley and Anza Borrego for the first time as well as exploring the Eastern Sierras and Joshua Tree some more. On one of these trips, I managed to reconnect with some fantastic, old friends 🙂
- With the vaccines and easing of travel restrictions, I was able to visit Grandma and Grandpa again!
- I finally learned how to operate a laser cutter. I’ve designed parts for laser cutters, but this was my first time operating one 😉
Thorns
While there were many amazing things about 2021, there were some things that sucked:
- Zoom fatigue is real. I miss human connections with colleges. While this improved in the second half of the year, the first half of the year was exhausting and lonely.
- Next steps (both personal and professional) have yet to come into focus for me. My heart and head are confused about what I really want and my internal compass is still in flux.
- I really started to mourn my pre-COVID life and that hit me hard. I had been wanting a change in my life for a while and the onset of the pandemic was the kick-in-the-ass I needed to shift into gear. This motivation was good, but I also had to reckon and put to rest past regrets: the relationships I should have nurtured more, the opportunities not pursued, and the environment I took for granted.
- I realized that I am closer to 30 than 20. I feel a pressure that time is running out to build the yet to be defined life I want.
Buds
Yet, I feel like I emerged from 2021 stronger than I was at the start of the year. Tested by personal and professional challenges, I grew. The previous year (2020) started a shift towards journey goals over check box destination goals and this trend continued. I have three big goals for 2022:
- Graduate with my master’s degree
- Go on a long, immersive backpacking trip
- Find a new source of income (I can’t TA after I graduate!)
