An Unconventional Year in an Unconventional Space
2021 in Review
2021 started big for me. Before the end of 2020, I had set out goals to achieve in 2021, a lot of them felt unrealistic and unattainable. To be honest, I’m shocked about how much I have been able to achieve.
Q1
Got a contract job with a mentor.
Interviewed for LinkedIn Learning Author: I reach out in December. I was surprised when they replied in February, and I passed the first interview but couldn’t complete it due to several personal issues that arose.
Salary increase: I did some numbers on my monthly income, from being an intern last year.
Became a millionaire (in Naira😔): Through GSOD on the 15th of March 2021. Doubled it by month-end.
Paid for my mom's shop: Even though I was now a little comfortable with my finance, I still wasn’t doing much for myself, I promised I was only going to, if I was able to get my mom’s shop, and before the end of March I did.
Q2
Set up my mom’s shop: half of most of my money from Q1 went into setting up my mom’s mini-mart. With that out of the way, I was able to now start spending me.
I bought Gadgets for my birthday🙈: For my 21st Birthday, I got myself a Macbook, iPhone and Apple watch. This was my most expensive buy cause I got them around the same time. One thing about me is I will always spoil myself silly for my birthday.
Met Someone Special: During one of the numerous personal crises after my birthday, I met someone who I liked. Although it didn’t work out💀, it is worth mentioning cause I was able to survive the next quarter cause of this person. (Hopefully, my lovers don’t see this)
Q3
Got Admission to Study Biomedical Engineering: Sometime in 2020, I was discussing with a friend, Nedy about how I wanted to study something other than my course at UniUyo, and he(together with Seun) encouraged me and I was able to get admission in my dream.
I turned a year at Bitnob: The title was for an article, I intend to publish for one year in the Bitnob as a software developer on the 1st of August, 2021 and also an official start in Tech. Happy Techniversary to me!
Q4
Got scammed 🙂.
Moved to Poland for studies.
Could afford to get an M1 Macbook a day after my first Macbook got fried.
Writing and Reading
I didn’t read or write as much as I would love to cause this year aside all I have written was a rollercoaster.
I was always able to finally finish Atomic Habits and other little novels I can’t seem to remember now.
I was able to publish two articles on https://not-a-nerd.swish.ink/ and substack.
Next year I intend to write monthly on each platform.
Important Losses
I buried my Grandad. Sometime in 2020, I lost my Grandfather, It didn’t feel real until I had to bury him in March 2021, exactly a year after we celebrated his marriage anniversary and birthday.
My passion for books and maths grew as a result of seeing he was proud of me when I do them as it was one of the few things we had in common.
I lost Seun, Seun was the person who encouraged me to pursue my course and make sure I get a degree aside from Tech, he was my go-to person when I need help on finances or life in general.
These two also hurt whenever I think of them cause they sort of share similar responsibilities in my life and this is the closest I have ever come to losing anyone in my life.
Also Made some decisions purely based on finance and in turn came to haunt me.
Playlist for the Year
Music is a vital part of my life, when I wasn’t bursting some songs into my eardrums, I’m learning to play the guitar.
I curate Top 10 songs and Top 5 Albums that helped me navigate this year. It was hard deciding on just 10.
Top 10 Songs
The link to each song is generated by AnnieMusic to cater for the different music platforms;
"Have it All" by Jason Marz - I love the happiness this song sends across. When I listen to it, it reminds me of my favourite cousin. It captures the words I want to say to all my friends. So if we are friends you definitely should listen to this😏.
“Show Me” by Joeboy - I just love Joeboy🙈.
“Tuesdays” by Jake Scott - This song captures my definition of relationships. It talks about how love is not just the good or bad times, but those mundane things in between.
“Love Yourz” by J. Cole - I started listening to this song when I wanted to explore J Cole
“Bounce” by Ruger - Do I need to give a reason? There’s no how this song shouldn’t be on your sex playlist.
“Different” by James TW - I got stuck on this song due to the first lyrics cause of how I keep changing my hair colour. I love the song cause I feel it is dedicated to me👀.
“If You Love Her” by Forest Blakk - No reason other than being hopelessly romantic.
“Stop! Never Second Guess Yourself (feat. Cina Soul)" by M.I Abaga - The title says it all. When I feel shitty or waves of inferiority complex hit, this is my go-to song.
"Never Seen Anything "Quite Like You" by The Script
Top 5 Albums
“Chapters” by James TW
“Apollo” by Fireboy
“Justice” by Justin Bieber
“Sing to Me” by Ben Platt
“A Study on Self Worth” by M.I Abaga
Special thanks to friends and family, who were the main reasons I survived the year. Thanks for tolerating my ass. Not that you have a choice anyway.
Preview of 2022
Like this year, I spent half of December preparing for 2022. Most of my goals for next revolves around the things I already do and becoming extremely better at them than I was this year and also a lot of personal growth and achievements.
My focus is more on stability and enhancement of my current skills in align with who I see of myself in the future.
Work on financial stability and give more to the tech community.
So proud of you. Keep going 💜💜
Shorts love you very much too but ps: I love you more💖