The Year Of Flexibility: 2021 Goals & Accomplishments

by A Purple Life, posted in Annual Accomplishments, Blogging, Film, Finance, Food, Hobbies, Keto, Musings, Travel
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Throughout the year, I like to jot down new things I’ve learned, read, watched and experienced to try and remember what each year entailed. I then summarize all of that in my annual goals and accomplishments posts. The goal of these posts is not just to curate what I’ve been up to, but also to document how I have changed from one year to the next and how I have grown as a person.

I also like to give each year a theme in retrospect. This year’s is obviously “Flexibility.” After Iย quit my job to retire at 30 in October 2020, I faced getting rid of my only income source in the middle of a pandemic and possible recession. Obviously my original retirement plans of gallivanting around the world were cancelled and we had to come up with a new plan.

We also had to figure out if and how it would be possible to have the nomad, traveling lifestyle we wanted in the US while navigating covid restrictions. So for the last year, we’ve been rolling with the punches and adapted the best we could to the constantly changing circumstances…hence the need for flexibility ๐Ÿ™‚ . So let’s go through everything I did this year!

Physical

My physical goals this year were:

  1. Lose some pandemic pounds
  2. Figure out how to balance exploring new places through food and fitting into the few clothes I now own ๐Ÿ™‚
  3. Sleep better

And surprisingly there has been success on all fronts ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Food

I touched on this in my Early Retirement Year 1 Recap, but overall I have found a way to balance exploring the world through cuisine and fitting into my pants ๐Ÿ™‚ . It’s a rotational system. Basically I try to balance my ideal healthy life (keto, calorie counting with MyFitnessPal, 16:8 intermittent fasting) with eating all the restaurant food in sight ๐Ÿ™‚ .

For example, we were in Santa Fe, NM for a little over a month. For the first few weeks I ate keto both at home and when we went out (which wasn’t difficult since it was basically all about meat and chilis anyway ๐Ÿ˜‰ ). Then the last week or two, I hit up all the places I couldn’t have on keto, such as bakeries and pastry places. I got to eat healthy most of the time, but also explore all the food I wanted. Balance for the win!

Exercise

So, as you know, walking is my main mode of transportation and I absolutely love it. It’s how I explore new cities and nature. I continued walking everywhere in 2021, but I also added a new exercise hobby: Running ๐Ÿ™‚ . After being resistant to it for the two years my partner has been consistently running, something finally clicked (similar to the two years it took me to come around to the idea of financial independence…) and I decided to try it.

I started with a Run/Walk/Run program and found an awesome free app, Just Run, that can play over my Spotify music and tell me when to start running, walking and when I’m halfway through the workout to turn around. With that app, I went from barely being able to run for a minute at a time to running for 30 minutes without stopping…which I literally thought would be impossible for me ๐Ÿ™‚ . They tricked me!

I completed their couch to 5K program this year and am thinking about graduating to their 5K to 10K program. I also did a lot of research into Slow Joggingย (including reading that book), which also helped a lot. This goes hand in hand with the run/walk method and is all about running at a pace where you can have a conversation, which is WAY slower than I tried in the past – and also way more enjoyable ๐Ÿ™‚ . It also apparently helps prevent injuries (paired with landing on the middle of your foot as a result of your smaller steps and slower pace).

Towards the end of my Just Run program when they had taken away my beloved walking breaks, I became curious if my pace was increasing with my runs and it was! I downloaded the (also free) Strava app and am now able to see my average pace, how I’m improving and what elevation I’m running at (a surprisingly large factor in 7200 ft altitude Santa Fe ๐Ÿ˜‰ ).

Overall I’m shocked with how my fitness has changed this year. Who knew that manipulating my love of walking by adding longer and longer running instances into it would lead to me being in the best shape since high school? Actually, I don’t think I could run 30 minutes straight then either without wanting to throw up, so I’m very proud of myself ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Sleep

So this has been the best year of sleep of my life. I touch on how it’s been month to month in my Early Retirement Recaps,ย but I think I’ll write a whole post about it. To summarize here, I’ve always been a bad sleeper and I thought that was just who I am, but it turns out that’s not true.

Without the stress of work or any time obligations, I’ve become a sleep wizard. Instead of staring at the ceiling for hours while the precious minutes I had to sleep fall away until I had to get up for work, I usually fall asleep immediately and open my eyes to see that it’s the next morning.

No more tossing and turning or waking up at 4am scared I forgot to send an email. No more jerking out of bed when my alarm sounds in the morning. No more pounding coffee in the middle of the afternoon in an effort to stay awake.

I sleep well and if I’m tired when the afternoon rolls around, I take a nap. Back when I was working, I used to take Melatonin frequently and the bottle I bought before retiring is still basically full. Sleep is an easy and wonderful pleasure now ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Vitamins

Besides Melatonin, other pills have entered my life this year. I started taking a Vitamin D pill daily after learning that most people are deficient in it, especially Black people, which can lead to other problems. I also started taking allergy meds after my asthma did not agree with the southwest during the fall, the southeast during the spring or the northeast during the summer ๐Ÿ™‚ . I also had a fun adventure going to urgent care and getting steroids (sadly not the fun kind) and additional inhalers. Oh joy ๐Ÿ˜‰ !

Discoveries

Speaking of supplements, (skip ahead if you donโ€™t want to hear this – it’s period related), as I’ve gotten older, my period symptoms have gone from bad to unbearable. I used to require a heating pad constantly for 3-5 days, but outside of a lot of pain in my mid-section, I was relatively fine.

Well, aging isn’t just about my body slowly deteriorating – apparently it also wants to betray me in other ways. During shark week this past year, I started feeling nauseous and light-headed in addition to the cramps. I was grateful that I could basically schedule 3 days a month to stay in bed to deal with this shit, but it sucked ๐Ÿ™‚ . So I started looking for and trying solutions.

What I discovered was that for me personally, taking a daily Iron supplement really helps lessen my monthly cramps and completely eliminates those new symptoms of nausea and light-headedness. While I used to be out of commission for days just lying facedown on my heating pad, now itโ€™s usually just a half to full day of uninterrupted, required heating pad time, which is an awesome improvement.

Between that and trying out and loving my new Saalt period cup (which I reviewed here), my period game has stepped up immensely! I’m never going back to giant pads and being down for the count for days! I’ve also been using the free version of the Clue app to track my cycle and patterns – it’s very accurate ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Mental

My mental acuity has never been better ๐Ÿ™‚ . I think this is a result of several things. One of them was all the research I did this year, such as looking into locations we’re living in, the things I see while exploring a new place, and whatever I’m curious about (e.g. what bird is that? what’s that sound? why is that flower that color?). All of this is the fodder for the Fun Facts Nobody Asked For section of my monthly recaps.

In addition to looking into things way more than when I was working because I have the mental space to do so, I’ve also been curating my life and thoughts more than ever before, which makes me really happy. I’ve always loved curation, but once again, never had the space in my brain or the energy to do so and now I do!

So I’ve been curating those things on this blog with my monthly recaps, on Instagram with my reviews of restaurants, films, activities etc and now on Goodreads for my book ratings and Letterboxd for film ratings. Curation for the win!

One thing that’s really helped my focus in order to do the above, has been putting my phone on Do Not Disturb basically all the time. It’s my favorite way to interact with technology – muting it so there are no distractions ๐Ÿ™‚ . Overall, mentally I’ve never felt better.

Emotional

2021 has been marked by a lack of stress and anxiety as well as the least depressive episodes of any year of my life – SUPER WIN! I have had basically no stress headaches (which used to be almost daily while I was working), no tense muscles (my shoulders used to stay up by my ears) and no panicked reaction when awakening from sleep thinking I missed or forgot something. Emotionally I’ve never been stronger ๐Ÿ™‚ .

I think this is partially because my open schedule allows me to have enough introvert and recharge time so that when I do something, I’m fully there and present and at all times I feel almost fucking blissful and at peace. It’s wild what naps and sunshine can do ๐Ÿ™‚ . This feeling is not something I’m used to having outside an hour massage while working ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Anyway, as I mentioned, sunshine has helped. 2021 has included 335 days of summer. Until this very month when we’re in NY State for December, we have only gone to places this year that are relatively warm and sunny…and it’s done tremendous things for my mood as well. I can confirm that basically living on a tropical island would be pretty sweet ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

Also, randomly, this year I got over my fear of graveyards ๐Ÿ™‚ . I attended too many funerals (in my opinion) at a young age and as a result, graveyards freaked me out, but now I hang around them without a problem. Growth!ย 

Hobbies

This was an interesting year for my hobbies because – I had infinite time for them ๐Ÿ™‚ย . For the first time, I wasn’t trying to squeeze in the things I love around a demanding job and the associated tiredness that goes along with that. I had 24/7/365 to explore whatever interested me…and that might explain why this hobbies section and the skills section has exploded ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Blogging

Obviously blogging was one of my major hobbies in 2021. I wrote 50+ posts and decided to keep writing weekly after analyzing if it fit my ideal retirement lifestyle. I also had the high honor of being a Plutus Award finalist for Blog Of The Year and surprisingly Most Entertaining Content for my Twitter, which I always thought of as a place to put my random and silly thoughts, so Iโ€™m glad some people are enjoying it ๐Ÿ™‚ . I also created the first FriendCon and overall had a lovely time curating my first full year of early retirement for y’all.

The main lesson I learned with the blog this year, was how to say no. Since I’m very careful about how I spend my time, I turn down a vast majority of the things people ask me to do related to this blog. I’m always honored that people are thinking of me at all, but unless something sounds better than napping, I turned it down ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

This intense focus on how I spend my time also extended to how I use social media this year. I basically post when I feel like it, but never scroll the feeds, which was a huge time ‘waster’ when I was working. I was interested to see how this would affect how I interact with y’all online, but I haven’t seen any negative effects and think I’ll keep it up!

The Accountability Beastย 

My #AccountabilityBeast ways continued in 2021! I’ve now been bothering people every Wednesday to do things for a few years now and I still enjoy it as a way to check in to what y’all are up to ๐Ÿ™‚ . This year I also separately added a few people to this experiment:

  • I text my friend in Argentina weekly to update her budget spreadsheet
  • I text my sister-un-law bi-weekly to send her freelance invoices

So far this is about the upper limit of my reminder capacity in retirement though ๐Ÿ™‚ . I’m maxed out.

Bird & Nature Identification

As you might have noticed if you follow me on Twitter, I’m obsessed with birds now. I went from thinking of every bird as “a bird” to recognizing some local birds by sound and being able to visually identify most types of birds by shape (even when they’re backlit)!

This year I’ve seen and identified 154 different kinds of birds across 13 states in the USA! Some of this was helped by getting a bird feeder for our tiny house before we left in the spring. Something else that helped was accidentally becoming a Disney Princess ๐Ÿ˜‰ :

Apparently my prowess has extended into the internet sphere because some people tag me asking what kind of bird they’re looking at and at least in the case of the below bird in Germany, I was able to successfully identify it even though I had no idea what it was. An actual natural scientist also answered this question and confirmed I was right!

My curiosity with identifying birds has extended to all of nature. When going for a walk, I stop a million times to take pictures of and look up plants and flowers that I don’t recognize (it drives my partner nuts ๐Ÿ™‚ ). I collect all the new plants and animals I see, in my monthly early retirement recaps and constantly am shocked at how many things I didn’t know about our world.

To help me identify these plants and animals, I use these apps:

  • Google Lens – My favorite for identifying pictures of flora or fauna (birds included)
  • Merlin – My favorite for identifying bird songs
  • Audubon – My favorite for identifying birds visually

Astronomy

So I’ve always been obsessed with space and the stars, but never took the time to look at them before retirement. I might notice the moon is a little brighter than usual on my walk to meet friends or something, but that was the extent of my astronomy prowess. Well, one of my goals in retirement was to be more one with the world and learn about our night sky and I’ve learned so much!

I used the freeย Star Walk 2 app to help me identify constellations I don’t know and planets I’m not certain I can identify on my own, and after that, I was off to the races! I now always know which way is North and as a result, can usually point out what planets are in the sky and several constellations throughout the year (even though they change with the seasons ๐Ÿ˜‰ ) .

I have been intentional about stopping and watching a pretty sunrise or sunset. I have on my calendar when every full moon takes place to make sure I go outside and watch it while reading about why that month has its unique full moon name.ย  I also do my best to catch any meteor showers that have high visibility in my area, which has led me to see some gorgeous shooting stars ๐Ÿ™‚ .

I’ve also stopped for any other sky phenomenon, such as the TWO double rainbows I saw this year as well as a solar eclipse.

I have info on all of the above things I’ve seen in my monthly retirement updates here in case you want more in depth info on my experience and how I learned about the sky, or feel free to just Google ๐Ÿ™‚ .

NaNoWriMo

I completed NaNoWriMo for the second year in a row and only the third time in my life so this is now officially a hobby! NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month and the writing community challenges every person to write 50,000 words during the month of November.

For comparison, that’s just a little longer than The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgeraldย at 47,094 words. Once again, retirement is coming in clutch and allowing me to focus on things I love – like writing which I do most of the year and then freaking out during the month of November trying to write like the wind ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

Finance

I think finance is an official hobby at this point ๐Ÿ˜‰ . And this year, I helped a few friends and family members (at their request) improve their financial lives! This included:

  • Helping a friend’s father analyze investments and realize that instead of being in the stock market, he was in a money market account (which is basically a savings account) and discussed getting him into index funds and not individual stocks, which he was currently holding
  • Showing a friend how to open an account with Vanguard and invest in VTSAX for their first time investing!
  • My Mom and a friend asked what I used to file my taxes, tried Credit Karma and loved it
  • Helping a friend get their first credit card based and improving their credit score
  • Assisting a recent college grad with opening their first investment account and invest for the first time
  • Helping my mother-un-law choose the best investment vehicle for a child
  • Assisting my partner’s parents in figuring out their retirement plan
  • Introducing an ex-colleague to YNAB and troubleshooting the set up for her
  • Showing an ex-college roommate YNABย and walking through set up, which is complicated in other countries and has less features, so she determined it wasn’t worth the price
  • Creating a plan for friend on how she can retire by 40
  • Helping a friend decide where to put some money that accumulated in her checking account

Skills

Cooking

So I used to have no idea how to cook. I started figuring it out when we moved to Seattle, but was always sticking to the recipes religiously. Well this year, I’ve finally evolved ๐Ÿ™‚ . I no longer need to look at recipes! I just throw some things in a pot, taste along the way and it’s always delicious!

For example, the other day I was like, “Well I have radishes – what should I make?” I glanced at a keto radish home fry recipe (apparently they’re great subs for potatoes – I had no idea!) and then ignored the recipe, went wild with ingredients and cook times, and it turned out really well!

My partner, (who usually doesn’t eat my keto food) even said he liked it and ate them with me! The same thing happened with kale. My Mom made cooked kale when I was growing up with a turkey neck, which I could never find in my Seattle grocery store. I’d never made it on my own before, but I just put it in a pot the other day with some water to steam it, added a shitton of salt and garlic powder, kept an eye on it and it turned out just like my Mom’s! Does this mean I’m becoming a real cook now?!

Baking

Another thing I never really got into was baking (despite the pandemic frenzy ๐Ÿ˜‰ ). I made my fathead keto pizza in the oven and that was about it. Well, in retirement I’ve felt inspired to try more so I’ve been getting into keto baking.

I recently figured out how to get room temp ingredients, tried new (to me) keto baking recipes such as:

Hair

I am now officially my partner’s barber! He hasn’t been to anyone else to cut his hair since 2019 and my skills have just continued to grow! We use a mix of a hair buzzer and hair scissors on his hair and my layers and feathering have been getting better every time ๐Ÿ™‚ .

People have even complimented him on his haircut and were surprised when he said I did it. New skill for the win! Now I guess I just need to start charging him ๐Ÿ˜‰ … I also highlighted my sister-in-laws hair. It was my first time doing that and it turned out well! I also re-purpled my hair, which was lots of fun as always.

Candle Lighting

I got really into candles this year. I have always found them soothing, but never lit them in my house – I think they make my partner nervous ๐Ÿ™‚ . But now that we don’t live in our own home, it’s cool to burn the place down….I’m joking! However, I have gotten my partner a little more comfortable with the idea of candles and have been burning them around our places.

Obviously one aspect of burning candles is lighting them and I have always sucked at that. I burned myself constantly with a lighter trying and didn’t want to buy those long sticks I see some people use (maybe I should have just sucked it up…). Anyway, after too much internet research, I discovered how to light a candle without burning my fingers off!

I just have to tilt the candle so the wick is perpendicular to the ground and then the flame won’t hit my finger while I’m lighting it. Genius! Here’s to many other calming candles in my future and burn free fingers ๐Ÿ™‚ .

House Sitting

I’ve always been curious about house sitting since it seems to be part of some of the early retirees whose journeys I follow, retirement plan: live in a place for free through services like Trusted House Sitters.

It sounded like a smart move, but then my laziness made me realize it wasn’t for me. Because house sitting is obviously a very sought after gig, you have to always be on and jump on opportunities immediately, which does not align with my phone’s constant “Do Not Disturb” setting.

However, when my partner’s parents mentioned they would be leaving their house empty during the best two weeks for their garden, we volunteered to help. I have heard that usually house sitting involves taking care of a pet (something else that doesn’t interest me personally..)

Luckily this just involved caring for fruits and vegetables, which I’ll get into below, but overall after those two weeks, I decided that my first assumption was correct and long term house sitting isn’t for me.

It felt weird caring for someone else’s space instead of in my space (even if it’s an Airbnb I’m renting). It was a strange distinction, but it’s how I feel, so I’ll keep house sitting on the shelf for now.

Gardening

Who knew gardening was so much work?!? I only had to water every day if it was hot (which it was) and harvest, but this still took me a chunk of time each day – and I didn’t even have to weed anything!

Anyway, my first (and probably last) foray into gardening was a fun experiment (how do things grow so fast?!), but I think I’ll add it to the list of things I tried and learned aren’t for me ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Nail Painting

After learning about the amazing Holo Taco from a friend in 2020, I went all in and bought a set of nail polishes for myself. I love their multi-chromes that change colors in the light. I started painting my nails every week while we lived in the tiny house and weren’t moving around every month, and I got pretty good at it!

Travel Planning

Traveling every month takes planning (shocking – I know ๐Ÿ™‚ ). And doing so during a pandemic seems to make it hard mode since things are changing all the time or cancelled for reasons outside of our control and we have to find back up plans quickly.

So between finding where we’ll go in the first place, booking and arranging everything and then getting there – it’s a good skill to build and I think this muscle of mine has gotten stronger!

I now have a standard spreadsheet to evaluate Airbnbs along with standard ways of sharing travel plans with my partner and Mom while keeping all that info organized (TripCase helps a lot).

Languages

I started learning basic Thai in preparation for our (pandemic pending) trip to Thailand in February. I knew nothing last time I went a few years ago, which was silly of me.

I’m also already scared and excited for the Spanish filled year of 2022 in which we will be living in Spanish speaking countries for 5 months of the year and taking 20/hrs a week of Spanish lessons for a month (if not more). It’s gonna be wild!

Word Puzzles

So my partner got my Mom obsessed with the NYT Spelling Bee Game. At times, it’s all my Mom does in a day (so be careful ๐Ÿ™‚ ). I know how addictive it can be so I try to stay away, but at times I have been sucked into this game.

In addition, my partner often does Crosswords with his family and usually asks me something having to do with my skill set of Italian, French, Astronomy and Birds. That’s my contribution ๐Ÿ™‚ . I’m happy if I get one answer per game.

I’m still not into Jigsaw Puzzles, but suspect learning to love them might be inevitable as a retirement activity since my partner and Mom love them so much.

Pandemic Living

The pandemic continues and with it, I continue to learn how to live in the middle of it ๐Ÿ™‚ . In addition to the obvious things we had to organize this year, like qualifying and finding vaccine doses and boosters, I’ve also just gotten better at living in a plague ๐Ÿ™‚ . I can whip my mask on with gunslinger efficiency and now ask about pandemic comfort protocol the same way I used to ask about food allergies.

As for my anxiety, my (mild, pre-pandemic) agoraphobia has also been getting better – though still there and exacerbated if I’m with my Mom in a crowd for example. But I’m improving ๐Ÿ™‚ . Have to learn how to live in this brave new world.

Minimalism

I thought I got rid of all my shit last year, but I was wrong ๐Ÿ™‚ . I keep finding things even in my minuscule belongings that I don’t use – so I get rid of them. The things I own continued to decrease this year and I’m still amazed at all the things I used to think I needed. If I don’t use an object for a month – it was not actually needed ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

Nomad Living

I’ve gotten so good at being a nomad – and I’m not even bragging, that’s just the truth. It’s no longer weird to arrive in a new state, city and house and immediately call it my own. Airbnbs feel like home now (though I guess technically anywhere my partner and I are together feels like home….gross, I know ๐Ÿ˜‰ ).

I’m also getting better at not feeling in limbo on travel days. You know how it can basically feel like you’re just waiting to go to the airport all day? For example, I don’t want to do anything because I don’t want to get invested in things like a book I’m not taking or a show I can’t download because we’re leaving soon.

It’s a weird space, but I haven’t felt that in a good long while. I also used to be in a weird mood when we were in a new space for about a week, but now that feeling has been eliminated. I figure shit out in our new space and start chillin’ ๐Ÿ™‚

Retirement

I’m sure this will be a shock to everyone, but my retirement has not been aimless at all. I’m not wasting away in front of a TV in a cloud of cheeto dust. I’ve been thriving and finally found the balance with food for example that I was seeking. I think I’ve got this retirement thing figured out ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

I’ve gotten even better at going with the flow and the rhythm of my heart. For example, if I want to be productive or chill or whatever, I just do it and don’t question why I might feel that way. I just do, so I should act accordingly. Everything comes in ebbs and flows.

I’ve also gotten great at planning my day around weather (rain or shine) and the world. For example, is that the sunrise? Let’s watch it! There’s a meteor shower tonight? I’ll take a nap to prep staying up later!

And speaking of flow – I’ve also gotten better at being spontaneous and taking advantage of that aspect of retirement. For example, we had our fall all planned out and booked when my stepbrother told me during our visit there in September that he was throwing a vaccinated Thanksgiving at his house in Austin.

I haven’t seen my family for Thanksgiving for about 15 years so I accepted. We changed our travel plans (surprisingly without losing any money) and are going. We’ve been able to take advantage of opportunities when they arise like this one, or dropping everything to drive to Connecticut last fall to help care for my baby cousin. Also obviously I’ve been taking the flexibility theme of the year seriously ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Other Skills

I was going to expand on all of the skills I learned this year, but then I realized if I did that, this post would literally be the length of a novel, so in no particular order, here are some of the other things I learned and improved:

  • Photography
  • Calligraphy
  • Singing
  • Chef’s Knife Cutting
  • Road Tripping

Community

Socializing

I have been more social than any other year on record – which maybe says something about how much of a hermit I was while working since we’re still being cautious during a pandemic ๐Ÿ™‚ . However, I think that because I’m now retired and can recharge during the hours I would usually be working and draining my introverted reserves, that I now have way more energy to engage with people.

In addition to countless wonderful virtual hangouts, we have also started traveling the country, which has put us in close proximity to many of our loved ones (intentionally). So here’s a sampling of the social times I had this year:

  • I continued my weekly calls with my ex-college roommate who lives in Argentina. I was supposed to actually be visiting her in person for the month of November – it would have been the first time we saw each other in person in like a decade so that was sad to cancel, but I’m looking forward to rescheduling whenever it’s safe to do so
  • I continued my bi-weekly virtual movie nights with my former college suite mates, which has been fun. We rotate who picks the film and at times just postpone it to talk shit instead ๐Ÿ™‚
  • I started having weekly virtual TV show viewings with my Mom
  • I took the longest trip with my Mom ever: 3 weeks road tripping around the Southwest USA
  • I met up with personal finance friends TwentyFree/Lifepothesis, rich& Regular and Seonwoo in Georgia
  • I hung out with We Want Guac in New Hampshire and Austin, TX
  • I chilled with Josh Overmyer and Justin from Saving Sherpa at FriendCon in Austin
  • I had dinner with All Options Considered (after 3 years of virtual friendship) in Arizona
  • I met up with readers of this blog at their request in Saratoga Springs, Catskill, Santa Fe and Austin

TRAVEL

Obviously my travel this year looked nothing like I planned, but this year I did travel to the below places:

  1. Georgia
  2. New York State
  3. Connecticut
  4. New Hampshire
  5. Massachusetts
  6. Utah
  7. NYC
  8. Portland, ME
  9. Decatur, GA
  10. Saratoga Springs, NY
  11. Catskill, NY
  12. Paso Robles, CA
  13. Austin, TX
  14. Albuquerque, NM
  15. Phoenix, AZ
  16. Santa Fe, NM

And I had these new travel experiences (I’ve included links to my Insta reviews of them):

This year’s travel adventures included 8 planes, 3 trains, 11 ride shares, 2 rental cars and 1 taxi.

WATCHED

So, I absolutely love film. In fact, I wanted to be a film major, but that wasn’t ‘liberal arts’ enough for my college, so I ended up just taking all the classes I could on the subject and declaring myself another major. So I suspected that I would be watching films constantly in retirement – that didn’t turn out to be the case.

In fact, most of these films only happened because I was watching them with others, such as my weekly movie club. So this list is way shorter than I expected given that I have unlimited time – maybe I need to focus more on watching TV and movies next year ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

If you’re interested in following along with what I’m watching and how I rate these films, feel free to check out my Letterboxd profile here.

Movies

Below is a list of all the movies I saw this year along with a link to my Insta mini-review of it if I did one. However, if I had to choose only a few – these were my favorite movies I saw in 2021:

Toy Story 3
The Prospect
Toy Story 4
Fast Color – My review here
Sunshine
Soul – My review here
Onward – My review here
Invisible Man (2020)
Coherence
High Life
Palm Springs – My review here
Spree – My review here
Logan Lucky – My review here
The Force Awakens
The Last Jedi
The Rise Of Skywalker
12 Hour Shift – My review here
Raya and The Last Dragon – My review here
Boss Level
Parasite – My review here
Booksmart
Stowaway – My review here
Train to Busan – My review here
WeWork: or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn – My review here
Bo Burnham: Inside – My review here
Freaks (2018)
Winged Migration
Intelligent Trees
The Green Knight – My review here
Tenet
The Report
The Big Year – My review here
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
Jenniferโ€™s Body
Annette
Birds Of Prey And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Bumblebee
A Quiet Place II
Another Round (Druk) – My review here
Godzilla vs Kong
Gunpowder Milkshake
Savage x Fenty V1-2
Call Me By My Name
Sweet Girl
The Courier
Dune – My review here
Sputnik
Deep Blue Sea 2
Deep Blue Sea 3
The Harder They Fall
Deep Blue Sea 3
Kill Command
Red Notice
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Free Guy
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard
Soapdish

TV Shows

Below is a list of all the shows I saw this year, but if I had to choose only a few – these were my favorite shows that I saw in 2021:

Ted Lasso S1 & S2 – My review here
Pacific Rim: The Black – My review here
Lupin S1& S2 – My review here
Letterkenny S1
Catfish S8
600 lb life
Darcey & Stacey S2
Top Chef S18
Vampire Diaries
What We Do In The Shadows S2 & S3
LuLaRichย S1
Invincible S1
Call My Agent (French)
Mythic Quest
Only Murders in the Building S1
Brooklyn 99 S8
Always Sunny S15

Re-Watches

Below are all the movies and shows I re-watched this year. Sometimes it’s good to revisit ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Movies
Eurovision
Knives Out
Rodgerโ€™s and Hammersteinโ€™s Cinderella – My review here
Aquaman
Brave
Shutter Island – My review here
Pacific Rim
Fyre Fest
Chef
George of the Jungle – My review here
Lovebirds
Bad Teacher
Arrival
Annihilation
Interstellar
Minority Report
Underworld
Underworld: Evolution
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Bats
Palm Springs
Long Shot
Elf
The Matrix

TV
Avatar: The Last Airbender S1-S3
Community S2-S6
Ted Lasso
Only Murders in the Building

YouTube

About two years ago, I started getting really into YouTube. Here are my channel obsessions this year. I thought it would be fun to include my favorite videos from my top 2 without context ๐Ÿ™‚ . Enjoy!

Media
TiffanyFerg
Jenny Nicholson
Smokey Glow
Munecat
Luke Alexander
Cruel World Happy Mind
Tom Harlock
FilmJoy

Science
Kyle Hill

Film
Patrick H Willems
Jeremy Jahns
Lessons From A Screenplay
Just Write

Comedy
Dead Meat
Pro ZD

Finance
rich&Regular

READING

This year I set the wild goal of reading 52 non-fiction books in the 52 weeks of 2021 and I am shocked to say I succeeded! It was a very difficult goal that I don’t think I’ll be repeating ๐Ÿ™‚ , but it felt good to accomplish. I think I’ll write a whole post about the experience at some point.

Anyway, in 2021 I read 4 fiction books, 52 non-fiction books and approximately 100 million fanfics. To keep up with what I’m currently reading and how I rate the books you can check out my Goodreads here. Heres are all the published books I’ve read this year:

Non-Fiction

  1. Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence byย Esther Perel
  2. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas byย Natasha Dow Schรผll
  3. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life byย Anne Lamott
  4. Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-Being byย Esther M. Sternberg
  5. The Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human by Noah Strycker
  6. The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht
  7. The Case for Keto: Rethinking Weight Control and the Science and Practice of Low-Carb/High-Fat Eating by Gary Taubes
  8. Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
  9. Wait, What?: And Life’s Other Essential Questions
  10. The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
  11. Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History
  12. The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity
  13. Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map To Financial Independence And A Rich, Free Life
  14. The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living
  15. Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price Ph.D.
  16. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World–and Why Things Are Better Than You Thinkย byย Hans Roslingย 
  17. The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin
  18. Second First Impressions by Sarah Thorne
  19. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
  20. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate byย Peter Wohlleben
  21. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City byย Matthew Desmond
  22. A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload by Cal Newport
  23. Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer byย Roy Peter Clark
  24. How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Travelerย by Ryan North
  25. The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life byย Katy Butler
  26. Bird Light by Elizabeth Cohen
  27. Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth
  28. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed byย Jared Diamond
  29. The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy by Stephanie Kelton
  30. Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Atler
  31. The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions . . . and Created Plenty of Controversy byย Leigh Gallagher
  32. The Black Girl’s Guide to Financial Freedom by Paris Woods
  33. The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness byย Morgan Housel
  34. The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik (Audiobook)
  35. Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life byย Bill Perkins
  36. A Short History of Nearly Everything byย Bill Bryson
  37. The Oxygen Advantage: Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques to Help You Become Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter byย Patrick McKeown
  38. The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World’s Happiest People byย Meik Wiking
  39. Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone byย Sarah Jaffe
  40. On Writing by Stephen King
  41. Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America byย Angie Schmitt
  42. Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are byย Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
  43. Everything Is F*cked: A Book about Hope byย Mark Manson
  44. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress byย Steven Pinker
  45. Slow Jogging: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Have Fun with Science-Based, Natural Running by Hiroaki Tanaka & Magdalena Jackowska
  46. Debt: The First 5000 Years byย David Graeber
  47. Capital in the Twenty-First Century byย Thomas Piketty
  48. Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever byย John McWhorter
  49. How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices byย Annie Duke
  50. When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing byย Daniel H. Pink
  51. Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art byย James Nestor
  52. Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration, and Get to Work by Mason Currey

Fiction

  1. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
  2. Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe
  3. The Blue Castle byย L. M. Montgomery
  4. The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin

PLAYED

Similar to TV, this year was not one where I spent a lot of time gaming. I did play a lot of my belovedย Sims 4 before we left Georgia and my partner’s high-res gaming PC, but since then I haven’t done any gaming. Retirement is really less about eating cheetos and gaming all day than I thought ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

PODCASTS

I listened to fewer podcasts than usual since I previously, but here are my favorites of the ones I did listen to:

Finance

Horror/Film

Comedy/TV

LISTENED

This year I’ve been taking full advantage of Spotify Premium’s new music features, specifically Discover Weekly, Daily Mixes, and Release Radar. I listen to the whole 1.5 hours of Discover Weekly every Monday and Release Radar every Friday. It’s exposed me to so much new music that I never knew existed while helping to regulate my moods and I’m loving it ๐Ÿ™‚ .

I listened to over 84,130 minutes of music in 2021, which was much higher than previous years (29K in 2019, 71K in 2020) and apparently more than 97% of people in the US. As a result, I found even more new artists and albums that made my heart sing.

If you’re interested in stats, in 2021 I listened to 1580 artistsย and explored 84 genres. Here’s the best music I found this year:

Soundtracks & Scores

I love film soundtracks and original scores so here were the ones that I couldn’t get out of my head this year:

  • Dune
  • The Harder They Fall
  • Green Knight

Artists

Here are all the new artists I’ve discovered and become obsessed with this year:

  • Dermot Kennedy
  • MEDUZA
  • Ava Max

Songs

These are my favorite songs that I listened to in 2021:

  • “Shivers” by Haris
  • “Paradise” by MEDUZA and Dermot Kennedy
  • “Free Spirit” by Khalid
  • “Sweet But Psycho” by Ava Max
  • “In Your Eyes” by Robin Schulz & Alida

The Purple Grammys

At times I give out awards, the prize of which is my unending gratitude…what a great prize ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Best Music Video

This is the best music video I discovered this year, though that’s not when it originally came out:

Conclusion

So that’s everything I got up to during 2021 ๐Ÿ™‚ .ย I’m curious to see if I’ll have time for all these new hobbies and skills when we pick up the pace on our traveling and start going internationally…though I suspect I’ll pick up some more interests along the way. Let’s see what happens!

How was your year? Did you accomplish your goals?

24 thoughts on “The Year Of Flexibility: 2021 Goals & Accomplishments”

  1. “2021 has been marked by a lack of stress and anxiety” – if i needed any further convincing about FIRE, this did the trick! Love seeing your updates, and I liked this look-back in particular. Myself, I think I made more emotional and mental progress. I did double my networth from last year to now, but I wasn’t as dialed in to my budget in 2021 as previous years. Time to recharge and refocus for 2022!

    Reply

  2. Hi Purple! I love your year-end posts, partially because Iโ€™m a data nerd and the amount of data you collect throughout the year and then summarize here is truly impressiveโ€”but mostly because reading about your reflections on the year gives me ideas for things I can try to change in my life now even though Iโ€™m not FI yet.

    This post finally got me from โ€œrunning? Oh no, not for meโ€ to โ€œwait wait, itโ€™s like extra walking with just a little conversation-paced jog thrown in? Let me download this โ€œSlow Joggingโ€ book and see what Purple is talking aboutโ€ฆโ€

    Thanks for sharing, and happy new year!

    Reply

    1. I’m so happy to hear that!! Thank you ๐Ÿ™‚ . Let me know what you think about the Slow Jogging book – I found it really interesting and different from what I’d heard about running in the past. Happy New Year!

      Reply

  3. Whew, what a year! Do you find that keeping track of specific areas helps? For me, it certainly helps slow down the year, but also helps me focus on improving/increasing things. Having written similar reflection posts, Iโ€™m in awe of the amount of work you put into it!

    Reply

    1. Thanks! And yeah I find keeping track of these sections helps a lot because otherwise it just feels like a blur of a year and I forget the progress I made overall. Also that means a lot coming from you (I always enjoy your reflection posts) so thank you so much ๐Ÿ™‚ .

      Reply

  4. I’m also a recent early retiree (2021-01-01, age 55) and have enjoyed reading about your journey and experiences.

    I don’t track as much as you do, but in case you weren’t just being circumspect regarding your fanfic totals, I wanted to share this bookmarklet for scraping metadata from AO3 to put in a spreadsheet. I use the “manual” option to collect the details of what I’ve read to copy & paste into a spreadsheet. My shining achievement of Year One in retirement is having read over 16 million words! ๐Ÿ˜‚

    https://random.fangirling.net/scripts/ao3_works_stats

    Reply

    1. Congratulations!!! And I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying them. And that’s cool – I didn’t know something like that bookmarklet existed. I already track so much about my life that I’m wondering if this is something I want to add…and I’m a little scared to see how many fanfic words I’ve read because I know it actually is in the millions. Anyway, thank you for letting me know about this option!

      Reply

  5. I really enjoyed this recap of your year. Sounds like retirement agrees with you.

    My question is – how do you keep track of all the things you want to include in your year end post eg. how many planes, all the places you visited, all the books, all the places you ate etc?

    Reply

    1. It does indeed ๐Ÿ™‚ and I’m glad you enjoyed it! As for keeping track, I have an Evernote called “2021 Accomplishments” and when there’s something I want to remember I add it to the note.

      Reply

  6. What I like most about this post is that it made me reflect on all the things that I did this year too. I couldn’t write them out in as much detail, but at first, I was reading and thinking wow, I didn’t do anything this year, then I remembered that certification I studied for, a trip to Nashville, another trip to Florida a weekend getaway, birthday parties, dinner parties, a whole lot of fun with friends and tons more that I’m not going to bore you with. Thank you for getting me to pause and appreciate all the good in 2021!

    Reply

  7. Wow, what a thorough round-up! 2021 was a good year for you. I can’t believe anyone would characterise all of this as slug life. Long may it continue ๐Ÿ™‚ looking forward to reading all your travels and life insights in 2022!

    Reply

    1. Haha yeah it got a little ridiculous ๐Ÿ™‚ . And yeah I didn’t start 5 companies and took a wild amount of naps so I guess it’s considered slug life ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

      Reply

  8. Wow – this is extremely comprehensive and it’s wonderful to see that you’re able to pursue any hobbies that you desire.

    Vitamin D I think is severely underrated. There’s an article I read about a year ago before the vaccine where an AI simulated that individuals with Vitamin D deficiencies are more likely to have severe effects from COVID than individuals without VitD deficiency. So about a year ago, I started taking VitD religiously and it’s been good for me.

    Reply

    1. Thank you! And yeah that’s another reason I got on the Vitamin D train. Thanks for reminding me ๐Ÿ™‚ . The literal sunshine has been a game changer for my mental health as well.

      Reply

  9. I laughed out loud when I read “They tricked me!” with the Just Run app. Once the weather isn’t so cold I’m also downloading this app so I, too, may be tricked.
    You’ve also now convinced me to add “taking Vitamin D and iron supplements” to my New Years Resolutions (keeping it easy for 2022!) My monthly symptoms have also slowly been getting worse, so fingers crossed this is the secret sauce! (And I LOVE Clue too, so incredibly useful and almost impossibly accurate for predicting when the next cycle is beginning.)
    I also am very excited for whenever we can hang out again (at least when you’re back in New Hampshire). Our hangouts were one of the many highlights of this year, with a high number of them related to FI in some way… almost like it’s a net positive for all areas of your life? ๐Ÿ˜‚ Til then, friend!

    Reply

    1. The leave of detail in this post is truly enviable as well as admirable. In fact, it makes me want to rewrite my end of year reflection. Your blog is truly a cut above. Hope your 2022 is as great and fun as your 2021!

      Reply

    2. Hahaha I’m so glad I could make you LOL ๐Ÿ™‚ . Let me know what you think of the app and good luck with the supplements – I hope they help. Damn our bodies betraying us!

      And yes I’m excited to hang again ๐Ÿ™‚ . We’re currently planning to be in New Hampshire for the month of August so mark your calendar!!

      Reply

  10. โ€˜Unless something sounds better than napping, I turned it downโ€™
    Omg this is the actual best ๐Ÿ˜‚ I will aspire to apply this to parts of my social/personal life ๐Ÿ˜‚

    Also: Iโ€™m glad to hear youโ€™ve found stuff which helps with periods (iron tablets for the win!), because in my experience the fuckers kept getting worse throughout my 30s. No joke!
    As an aside,I bought a Livia (basically a tiny tens machine) and it really helped sometimes.

    Reply

    1. Haha I’m glad you like the metric – napping is awesome ๐Ÿ™‚ . And ugh good to know it only gets worse lol. I’ll keep it up with my supplements. I haven’t heard of Livia before and will look into it!

      Reply

  11. Wow! When you put it all in one place, it’s so much that you’ve accomplished! I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with early retirement, drifting aimlessly, you seem to be doing a fantastic job ๐Ÿ™‚ I hope I’m this energetic and engaged when I hit the number!

    Reply

    1. Haha thank you. It does seem to agree with me – though I wouldn’t call myself energetic necessarily. A lot of naps powered this progress ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

      Reply

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