Hey, this post will be a little different. Initially, I was going to post another travel-related post today, but I really don't want to post more than once a day and this idea came to me as I was talking to a friend about what my plans were for 2022. So in this one, I'll go over what I've done, liked and disliked in my 2021, as well as what I want to do in 2022. I don't really feel like anyone has much reason to care so much about my rambling, but hey, maybe it's entertaining - it's surely a cool thing to write for myself.

Now, I am not at all a "New Year's Resolutions" kinda person, so this is not what this is going to be. On top of that, I'm also going to focus fully on ME and MY year, so i'm not going to discuss my view on whatever happened in the world politically or in other ways. Let's dive in!

This is my highlight photo of 2021!

Let's start of by saying, I did not do a ton of stuff in 2021 that felt great at the time. I worked almost exclusively online and through freelancing, so the social aspect of this year was definitely somewhat disappointing. While it is extremely convenient to work from home, it gets more difficult when it coincides with stuff like cafes being closed and such - normally, you sit home after work because you need a break from work.. Well, I would love a break from home after work!

I did, however, get some productive stuff done in the sphere of my and my girlfriend's finances. We share most of our money, so all my decisions have more weight on them, as my love simply just told me she trusts me completely with whatever investments I make. We do discuss them, but I have the final say. In 2021, I expanded my investment portfolio but getting into cryptocurrencies at first (I hit the Dogecoin wave when it was at 0,025$) and then somehow found out about the play2earn communities and the HIVE blockchain. Sadly, that came very late into the year (I only joined on the 31st of October) so I missed the biggest uptrend in history of Splinterlands, but hey.. I won't miss the next wave! We also now have some decent money on the stock exchange and generally feel fairly safe with our money.

My blog is largely about traveling, but 2021 was not a great year for that. We have been to each other's countries, as well as Italy and.. well, that was it. We did our best to travel around the Netherlands itself and that went alright, but I'm definitely aiming to improve this in 2022, even if circumstances are still not the best for doing so.

I was extremely lucky to be healthy throughout the entirety of the year. I did fall prey to an illness in April, where everything I ate felt like it was going to burn my throat, stomach and every part of my body, but I quickly recovered and not a single thing got in my way anymore.

I have been exercising regularly, riding my exercise bike for the whole second half of the year. I also use elastics for training my muscles, but I do have to say I have struggled to keep doing so for most of the time - only recently have I become true to my goal of becoming stronger. While I don't put too much worry into what or how much I eat and would hate to diet, I LOVE being physically active and riding the bike, running or taking long walks is my thing. Strength exercises, however, are what I am not a fan of.. But I really want to include that in my routine.

Lastly.. Love. My relationship has been perfect throughout 2021. It felt like this first period of loving, with the butterflies, unicorns and rainbows should end ways sooner, but it just keeps lasting year after year. We've both definitely done our best trying to make each other happy and it worked just so well. We've just finished designing a photoalbum for 2020 and 2021 and ordered it. Watching through all the pictures we chose, it always strikes me how we look at each other.. Not only on those photos, but every single time.

So, 2021 was alright, what do I want to achieve in 2022? I do not have a complete 100% accurate KPIs to measure success, but let's see..

1. PROFESSIONALLY. I'd like to find a full-time job in my field (logistics or writing), so I can feel more fulfilled and get going even harder on investments. Current job provides me with some opportunity to save, but it is fairly miniscule and I'm already bored of it after mere months - it is time for a change!
2. FINANCIALLY. This is quite connected to what I wrote previously - I would love to be able to focus more on investing. In general, number crunching is my thing, I love analysing data, so for me it's simply fun to do those things. I would love to be able to grow my investments in P2E games especially. My dream (which I do not expect to achieve just yet!) is to grow my investments in this field smartly enough to treat it as a considerable passive income. I mostly believe in Splinterlands to help me achieve that, but of course I keep an eye on many projects in this sphere.
3. TRAVEL-WISE. This is one of the points I do have decent KPIs for! In 2022, I want to visit no less than 7 countries I haven't been to yet, with at least one of them being outside of Europe! In particular, I would like to go to either Asia or North America. As for the countries within Europe, Liechtenstein and Monaco are ones I'd like to see! (of course as parts of short trips to the surrounding areas as well!)
4. FITNESS. I aim to improve on the regularity of my strength exercises. As I said, this is definitely the part I'm the worst at, but I really care to become stronger, as my real goal is to - by the end of 2022 - be able to carry my girlfriend for a decent amount of time!
5. LOVE. I want to make the people I am surrounded with as happy as I can. I would love to give smiles to those that I am close to - but also spread the love to those I do not know at all! I hope I started off well today, as I've helped some homeless guys on the way home from my New Year's Eve party by getting them a little something to eat! Let's hope I'll keep on being able to give throughout the year!

I simply want to be a good person in 2022! On top of that also smarter, richer and stronger. Sounds like a lot to ask.. and well, it is. I believe that I can do it though and that's what matters to me!