We are 15 days into 2022. 15 days into making new changes!
2020 and 2021 were by far the hardest years yet for our family. We went from being new parents to moving across the country and then BOOM pandemic. If you are new here, Lyall was accepted into an Environmental Science Master’s program at TCU right after I gave birth to our son Calihan in 2019. We decided to pack up and leave Michigan in January 2020, and by March the pandemic hit. We had a few family members from my side down here, but that was it.
March was already a whirlwind of emotions as I just started a new job and we were brand new parents. I was so nervous to balance it all that I forgot to be grateful for what I had. I lost my corporate job in the middle of 2020 and started this blog as I applied to over thousands of positions! This blog was the outlet for me to keep my mind going as I was constantly rejected in the workforce. As this grew, I gained confidence I didn’t know I had. I also made SO many connections via the social media outlets. I learned different parenting tricks, made countless charcuterie boards and helped others when I could.
Lyall and I were living off of one income and savings during this time – and Lyall even had heart surgery! We were so used to our go, go, go mentality that this pandemic really pushed us to calm down. Not to mention Lyall was writing his thesis while practically quarantined with his family. He’s a trooper.
Fast forward to the last quarter of 2021.
After over 2,000 job applications, I started seeing the industry pick back up and I was interviewing for the first time. I landed a job back in the Hospitality industry in a leadership role. I then scored an amazing collaboration with Toyota. All in the same month. Shortly after we were able to put Calihan back in daycare/school (this was much needed). His words started picking up and our place is now filled with so many art projects. Lyall signed an offer letter with a great company in Dallas in November to help companies go green and in December, he officially graduated and turned in his thesis. We made it.
Somehow and someway we made it through those two years. 2022 started off a little bit on the rough side as covid decided to finally pay a visit. We were not about to let that bring us down though. We took this past week in quarantine to slow it down again and focus on our new set of goals. As I was struggling feeling incredibly sick, my first goal is to just feel healthy. Today I felt 10000x better with only a few minor things so here I am writing out my first blog post of 2022!
I want to get our goals in writing so I can use this for a reference and focus on mentally where I want to be this upcoming year. This is also here so hopefully it sparks some goals for you! I will be honest I am not the “I’m going to eat healthy” type of person because I am all about balance – but I have made my number one on my “next” list focusing on health. This includes my mental health as I take this year and focus on what is important.
– Next –
- We want to focus on our health. Starting out with covid has been a lot. We want to focus more on drinking water, and spending more time in the kitchen. I will be frank that I most likely will not run a marathon any time soon, but I will drink that glass of water and remember my vitamins.
- We are looking into this crazy housing market! We are taking steps to finally make roots. This is not the best time with pricing, but we will see what happens.
- I have made some personal goals with my website! This year I really want to share more, and get back into my creativity. The hospitality industry includes working really long days so this has been hard. I mentally need to do this though as it’s a passion that fuels me!
- We started a Youtube channel last year! So we want to get out some videos we have been putting together including our recent trip to Disney. I hope this helps anyone that may be bringing their child there in the future.
- We want to go back to South Africa! We have not been since 2019 and Calihan needs to see family.
- I’m sure there’s more items also, but lastly we have another fun thing we have been working on! Our goal is to be able to share this exciting info within the next few months. So stick around 🙂
As always, thank you for reading! I appreciate all of the support. I would love to hear some of your “nexts” or goals this upcoming year!
