Another year gone, another time to reflect on my failures. 2021 feels so similar to 2020. Maybe it’s the Covid news that makes every day seem the same as others. Regardless of that, there are no excuses to my failures. My actions (or inactions) led to them, and my reflections below are just a mean of putting an end to them by getting rid of the shame they bring in my mind.

So here we go, in 2021:

  1. I failed at holding myself accountable to how I spent my time. While I was productive in some days, be it at work or during the trips I did, I feel that time escaped me and I didn’t improve as much as I could have or should have in certain areas of my life.

  2. I failed to meditate every day. I guess a part of me forgot the benefits it brings. But maybe benefits is misleading word, as you don’t much with meditate, but you lose stress, sadness, anxiety, and anger in the process. So yes, I forgot what the negative things I will lose due to meditation. This year, I’m planning to meditate regularly. Even if it’s just 3 minutes, that is more than enough to calm the breath and restore some balance to the mind.
  3. I lacked presence in some moments, where my brain wandered around while other activities were occurring in front of my eyes. I believe this is due to the fact that I didn’t prioritize how I want to spend my time, and what I want to achieve on a daily and monthly basis.
  4. I didn’t invest in improving myself (as much as I should have). While I read more in 2021 than I did in 2020, it was not enough to make a visible impact to how I think or how intellectual I’ve become.

What is my 2021 mindset to overcome my current failures?

I read at the end of last year a quote by Epictetus: Progress is not achieved by luck or accident but by working on yourself daily. And that made me reflect about my purpose in 2022. Focusing just on the fact that I need to improve on my failures will only pile up the pressure and remove the joy in improving. Instead, I should just focus on taking things easy, being honest with myself about my failures, and aiming to be better today than I was yesterday. Setting monthly goals with reflection at the end of each month will help.

I have tried that for the last 31 days, and have managed to pick up by exercise habits by cycling three times and running 17 times. I also managed to meditate daily, something I failed at doing in 2021. I need to ensure I keep walking, before I aim to run, and with that, take the baby steps that help me become a better person.

I am not doing that for others, I am doing it for myself. Happy new year 🙂