Failing Upwards A Year In Review

It sucked.

I mean so did 2020 but here's to hoping 2022 is better.

Everyone has been saying that 2022 will be a great year.

It can't all suck, right?

My siblings and I have talked about how 2022 sounds like some distant time that we could never reach. Meanwhile, the new year is right around the corner because it starts in like two weeks. I assume most people are hoping for a better year in 2022 because of how bad things have been the past two years.

I will say I was relatively productive these past two years, despite living through a global pandemic and ending up in the psych ward more times than I'd like to admit. I started taking my writing more seriously and I started focusing on working only on projects that excite me.

Failures Can Teach Lessons

I think we all experienced a fail or two this past year because of how rough things were. I think it's important to acknowledge what failed and what didn't so you can be even more proud of your successes. Our failures also teach us something about ourselves.

I started a YouTube channel which I am going to call a failed YouTube channel until I figure out what I want to do with it. Despite it being a failed YouTube channel I want to talk about it as a success because I did my research and now know how to edit videos and monetize them.

I learned a lot about video editing, marketing, self-promotion and I got to experience the amount of work it actually takes to be a YouTuber. It's easy to get stuck in a negative mindset because of our failures but I promise you can find a silver lining to all your failures if you look hard enough.

Success & Self Discovery

I can now call myself a writer because I made my first $10.00 on short writing pieces I wrote and I stopped holding my worth as a writer to such a high standard.

Before I valued my writing to a very low degree just because no publications had accepted my work. I said a big fuck you to publications and now receive the needed validation from self-publishing my writing on websites where people like to read and write such as medium.com and vocal.media.com.

I learned that self-publishing is just as good as being published by some big publication. Of course, it will always be a goal to be published by some big publication company but for now, I've learned to be content with the feedback and attention my writing has received from other writers.

I have a long way to go before I can consider myself a professional writer but for now, if we are looking at the positives only, 2021 has brought me confidence in my writing and creativity.

Looking Forward

As I look back on my year I can't help but be optimistic about the future and I hope anyone reading is too. Life is too short to be stuck on one thing or another. The negatives are going to happen but it's what you learn from them that matters. At the end of the day you're alive and you've discovered something new about yourself. It's the idea of self-discovery that keeps me going and I hope will keep others going in 2022.

I hope that 2022 brings me more writing success and that I can use everything I learned to value in 2021 as a way to grow my own creativity.