2021 in Review: My Favorite Posts of the Year

12 months, 51 weeks, 361 days (and counting). Here I am. We all made it to the last week of 2021. Wow. As most years go, it was a strange cocktail of fast and slow all at once. Time is funny that way. It moves at a glacial and dizzying pace all at once somehow. Looking back to last January, the runway of the 50+ weeks ahead of me seemed daunting and near impossible. I’ve said this numerous times in recent posts, but I really wasn’t convinced I’d make it here. Some days were skipped out of necessity, breaks were taken, schedules were adjusted, but I’m not upset with how I got through. Sure, had I been able to come out of this project with 365 posts, I would be immensely proud of myself, but I’m no less proud of myself with…whatever the count ended up being (I think it’ll be 298 by the end of the week).

A reader suggested recently that I reshare some of my favorite posts from the year, and I wanted to do that mostly for myself. I popped into my #Project365 tag, clicked on over to page 59 and scrolled through hundreds of headlines. A timeline of my year. What a gift I’ve given myself to be able to look back at my everyday in a way I would have never been able to had I not sat down and written each night. I forgot about many of these posts, others I remembered clearly. It wasn’t easy to pick my favorites, but I landed on the below 14 and realized a theme: the posts I was most proud of were always ones that told a little story, a piece of my history. That, or something I had to write to get myself through. I found that taking my pain or discomfort or bad day and turning it into something someone else might be able to pull from helped me through those hard moments.

Let’s take a look!

Grapefruit With a Friend: This was a simple post but it was one of the first I wrote and it still makes me smile. It reminded me that stories can be made out of the most mundane thing, like the memories behind how or why you do the things you do.

A Tale of Two Friends: I wrote this post as a gift to one of my best friends on her birthday. It was fun to stroll through my brain bank of how we came to be.

A Teachable Moment 20 Years Later: I’ll always be grateful for my 11th grade history teacher for giving me the confidence to become a writer…a path I had never seen for myself until he brought it to my attention.

The Time Will Pass Anyway: I still use this phrase often. Give it a try.

A Letter to My Future Children: A vulnerable, open post about race I wrote during a very raw moment in this country that I eventually shared (unfinished).

The Wine Bottle Incident & The Silence Next Door: I just really love how this one turned out.

An Arlyn By Any Other Name: The comment section here was just fun for me.

A Story About Oboes: Again, I loved the comment section this day. Plus, it was a nice memory of me and my dad.

What’s Waiting on the Other Side of Fear & The Sea Turtles That Saved Me: A good reminder that we make things much bigger in our heads than they are most times.

My Secret Shame: Spoiler alert: It’s about rice. But update…I think I finally figured it out.

Reclaiming My Heritage the Best Way I Know How: Through Food: Related to the previous post, but so many people reached out to me after I wrote this about how they felt similar as children of immigrants. I love when things I wrote resonate with people!

Life Comes at You Fast: Re-reading this one made me miss Florida but also reminded me of the wonderful whirlwind that was moving across the country.

A Year of (Unsuspected) Personal Growth: I’ve come a VERY long way this year in lots of ways, but also in other ways haven’t. It was important for me to see this.

The Most Surprising Part About Being Pregnant? I Have Several Thoughts…: So grateful to have these thoughts to look back on once my little nena is here. Something I hope to share with her.

For any FOAS, did you have any favorite posts you can remember?

See you tomorrow, friends!