Wrapping Up 2022
Goodbye to all the good, the bad, and the unforgettable
2022 has been a long and exciting year. I’ve come to realize that each year in my life has a certain theme. 2021 was the year of goodbyes and 2022 is the year of self-growth. From the beginning, I know that there will be many unexpected things that are going to happen. It’s an expecting the unexpected kind of situation.
So here’s my 2022 wrap-up…
During the last two months of 2021, I was busying myself with job-seeking and at the start of January 2022, I finally received an offer from a company. It was my dream remote job at an oversea company and the pay was higher than if I were to work at a local company. Everything was great. I have a job, I was feeling very motivated and excited to learn as much as I can and that was the honeymoon phase.
Just when I thought everything was going perfectly until I got COVID in February which makes me need to self-isolate for more than one week. I can say that it was the worst I feel (physically). My joints and bones were aching and I constantly coughing. Even in the next months after getting it I was still short of breath every now and then. To make everything worse, my grandfather passed away when I was doing self-isolation. I can not see him for the last time and I still work that day, while feeling my body aching and crying a few times. What a day!
If I have to pick the best month of the year, it will be July. July is my birth month and I’ve decided to celebrate my birth month instead of my birthday since I will have to work on my birthday anyway I am not letting it ruin the celebration so I decided to celebrate it for the whole month. I was very busy as I almost went out every weekend.
For the first celebration, I had a short vacation with my family for the first part, we rented a small lodge by the sea. We cook, we eat, we play, we talk, and we spend the night watching the sky full of stars. The second one, I went to Jakarta to see my favorite group’s concert — EPIK HIGH. It was my very first time watching a foreign artist concert and it was an awesome experience. I also got to meet some new friends there too! It was one of the moments that lives forever in my head. And for the last part, I spent the weekend with my uni friends in Yogyakarta — the city where we spent our years together.
Other than occasional hanging out and having short getaways, the rest of the year was pretty average. It’s the average days, the nothing-special days, the filler days, the in-between days. People often say you’ll never know a good day without going through the bad days, but I believe in-between days are as important. Without them, there will be no fun. So I am grateful for those days as well.
This year, I have so many first-times: buying a car (which was my first big purchase), going to a concert, paying for a family vacation, going to a concert, going to a Zumba class, driving out of town by myself, staying with a friend at a touristic place and make friends with Australian guys at the hostel, visiting a city by yourself for the first time, renting a car and taking the wrong exits at the highways. And for the not-so-good one first-times: getting COVID, crashing my car into a wall while trying to park, getting my toenail removed because I broke it while trying to close the gate, my car broke down in the middle of the road. So many things happened this year.
2022 was a slow year. Nothing big happened, no big changes compared to last year when I went back home after being abroad for years. It’s just many normal days with occasional fun or occasional breakdown. Oh, the goals that I set for my Medium earlier this year are met. I got more than 100 followers now and I am writing my 100th post. (Thanks to my 222 followers and everyone for reading my stories even though sometimes I feel like it is just me spitting words and rambling.)
But I learned a lot this year. I learned to enjoy the small things in life, not rush things, and accept that everyone will move on with their lives at some point and that relationships may drive apart — and that’s okay. I learned that it’s never too late to try and experience something new. And I learned that most of the days will feel like nothing special, but through the highs and the lows and the in-betweens, I will always have my family and friends as my company. I learned to put myself first and quit on things that are not good for me. And the most important thing is, I learn to trust myself and regain control over my life, this has been making me feel so positive and powerful these days.
So what’s next for 2023? Well, I believe there will be more unexpected things to happen and many more lessons to learn. I might not be 100% confident to say it, but I am ready for it. I am ready for another year of learning and growing to be a better person.
I do not have a long list of 2023 resolutions, and I keep it short and simple. One that I can share is to have a healthier and better quality of life. No set targets, just focus on making the progress. I hope I can keep being consistent on this.
Yeah, that’s it. This post is definitely longer than I expected. I hope everyone can spend the last day of 2022 with a warm moment. I am looking forward to writing more here in 2023!
Happy new year!
Home sweet home, 31 December 2022
