2022: Year in Review

Introduction

Welcome back everybody! It’s my favorite time of the year where we get the opportunity to reflect and be grateful for the year we’ve had. Overall, 2022 was a pretty great year; lots to be grateful for. And it’s my pleasure to share it with you.

2022 Year in Review Framework

The key to a great reflection is in the quality of the questions you ask yourself.
Here are some of the key questions we’ll be exploring:

What was the goal for the year?
What were my results?
What were some of the high’s and low’s for the year?
Any key lessons and take aways for next year?

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2022 Resolution

The mindset I set for 2022 was the phrase: Intention.

To live a life with clarity and intention.
To be deliberate in action; congruent with beliefs.
To act with meaning and purpose.

2022 Results

What were my key results for the year?

💰 92% of my savings goal. Saved 55% of my income; target was 60%.
💪 53% of my health goal. Exercised roughly 85 of a target 104 workouts.
🔨 50% of my craft goal. Completed 2 out of 4 Salesforce Certifications.

And what else!

❤️ 149 Hangouts with Family or Friends
👟 85 Workouts
🚀 23 Blog Posts
📖 15 Books read
✍️ 8 Essays Written (Journaling)
✈️ 5 Travel Adventures (Bocas del Toro, Portugal, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal)
🏠 3 Friends Hosted (Tiffany, Alex H., MY)
💥 1 Heck of a year!

2022 Highs

What were some of the highlights for the year?

❤️ Quality Tribe Time!
This year I shared a lot more time with family and friends, both special and awesome.

Bocas del Toro Wedding with Panas.
Portugal Wedding with Chris Benedict and Gang.
Montreal Wedding with Connor Sedgewick, Guillermo, Gavin, Lorne.
Toronto and Ottawa Cottage Trip with Young Family
Tour de Panas
Coffee Chats with Rey and Alberto
Happy Hour with Cracks (Fer, Alex, Kevin, Juanwi)
Hosting Alex Hernandez! (Blast from the past)
Coffee chats with Mom
Foodie and Fundays with Luispi

These were the moments that made the year!

🌊 Adventure Time!
This year I shared a lot more time with family and friends, both special and awesome.

Canoeing at the cottage lake in Ottawa.
Surfing on the beaches of Lagos.
Boat day in Lisbon.
Still trying to learn to skateboard…

📖 Reading and Writing!
This year I greatly enjoyed diving deep into book series and sharing on the blog!

4x Books from the Ender’s Game Series, by Orson Scott Card
4x Books from the Foundation and Robot Series, by Isaac Asimov
3x Books from the Table Group Series, by Patrick Lencioni
1x Deep Dive into Atomic Habits
1x Deep Dive into 12 Rules for Life
1x Deep Dive into The Manager’s Path

🍔 Foodie Time!
I gotta say, this year was filled with some of my favorite treats:

Burgers and Fries (Miranda’s, Cafe Unido, Casa Bruja, Cervecera Central)
Pizza pies late night (Little Caesars)
McMuffins and Hashbrowns (McDonald’s)
Canadian Poutine and Beaver Tails

2022 Lows

What were some of the low’s for the year?

😞 Mental Health.

This year was particularly difficult for me, emotionally and mentally. I caught myself dealing with situations that led me to experience feelings of frustration, sadness, resent. I’m still working through it; and I’m grateful to the support I’ve received.

There are a couple things that have been very helpful:

Having the support of my wife; to have a space to express how I’m feeling and what’s on my mind.
Having the guidance of a friend and mentor; sharing advice and techniques to process.
Reading the Book of Joy, was insightful to understand the role we play in our own trauma; and learning to let go.
Reading 12 Rules for Life was a masterclass in taking the steps to get your life in order.
Getting to back paper, pen, a cup of coffee and a journaling.
Generally slowing down. Doing less. Taking it easy.

2022 Retrospective / Takeaway

What is the One Thing to take away for next year? A lesson, a thought to keep present?

The goal is to live a life with intention. Focus on what matters.

My main takeaway for the year is to continue to build the clarity to understand and focus on what matters.

Having clarity on what is important matters.
Your physical and mental health matters.
Expressing affection and gratitude matters.
The quality of your relationships matters.
Being consistent and disciplined with good, small habits matters.

That’s pretty much it. If we focus on the core, I’m confident we’ll be able to live fully and with intention.

Living with intention is probably the one thing that matters.

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2022 Gratitude

For those of you that know me personally, you know this essay post is one of my favorite things to do every year. I share it with the goal that it might inspire one or many of you to carry out your own personal reflections, notice what you’re grateful for and build a sense of clarity and purpose in your lives.

If you’ve read, enjoyed or even followed these posts throughout the years, I just want to say… I am grateful to all of those who have made this year such a special one, and am glad I can continue to share these reflections with you:

¡Cheers!

And last but not least … my favorite part of these posts… !