Hello everyone! Happy New Year! Today is the first Coffee Chat of 2022, how exciting!
As always, I’m making coffee at home. Or, more typically, my dad makes it for me. My parents definitely are “acts of service” love language people, so my dad has started to make my morning coffee for me! It’s super sweet and I do appreciate it every day.
As a side note, I did make an attempt to go to Starbucks last month to use some stars that were going to expire and to get my dog a pup cup after his grooming appointment, but it was closed because their systems were down! Otherwise I would have probably bought a chai latte with oat milk. Anyway, that’s about 40 stars or something that expired. Ah well!
So, onto the coffee chat!
If we were having coffee I’d tell you, that I got raise at work! I knew reviews and raises were being discussed last month, but I only started four months ago at work, so I didn’t expect a raise. In fact, my boss had also been very up front with me that I was too new to really be evaluated for performance, which I agreed with. Then, all of a sudden, I got a message from my boss to call her. Like any other millennial, I thought “OMG WHAT DID I DO??? AM I GETTING FIRED???” Luckily I did not get fired and instead got a small raise! I was so surprised by that and I am so grateful for it. What a lovely surprise!
If we were having coffee I’d tell you, that I just maxed out my Roth IRA contribution for 2022! In 2021 I decided to take my finances a lot more seriously, especially once I finally found a job after a year of being unemployed. One of the first things I did was start a Roth IRA and max out my contribution for the year and decided that every year I would make sure to max it out if it was possible. Luckily for 2022 it has been possible and I transferred the max amount ($6,000 for anyone under a certain age and income limits so look up those limits if you don’t know yours!) to my account. I’m still waiting for it to go through so I can actually invest it in the next few days.
If we were having coffee I’d tell you, I am really thinking I have ADHD. I know everyone says “don’t diagnose yourself off TikTok” but there are many TikToks that say various things I do are symptoms. I’ve also done a few online quizzes (that also don’t give a diagnosis) and they do recommend me to go to a professional to see if I can be diagnosed. I’m considering trying to get a diagnosis but I don’t really understand what the point would be beyond just being diagnosed. I don’t take medications as I’m sure the overall process would be quite expensive. So clearly that’s something I need to look further into. I suppose if I did get diagnosed I would be interested in at least trying any recommended solutions, including meds, but again, I need to decide if it’s worth getting the diagnosis anyway.
If we were having coffee I’d tell you, I led a team “summit” recently at work! I worked on a pretty big project recently and so I decided to set up a meeting with my coworkers to present the project. I also decided it name it a “summit” and create a fancy agenda, and took the liberty of deciding it was going to be a quarterly event. I’m starting to wonder if anyone will actually tell me “no” on any of my crazy ideas! That’s one of my favorite things about my new job, everyone is supportive of all my wild and fun projects and ideas.
If we were having coffee I’d tell you, that I got the Covid booster vaccine last month! I mentioned it in my recent December Life post, but in case you missed it I’d thought I’d give you the boring update I have. Honestly, I didn’t have any side effects besides a sore arm! I did have a headache too, but I really don’t think it was because of the booster, I think it was because I hadn’t been drinking that much water. Maybe it was made worse by the booster but I really think it was just a separate issue. I was pretty surprised by this, since everyone else I know at work said they were out for a few days after the booster. Plus, I didn’t really have symptoms after the first two either, so I was thinking there’s no way I’ll get lucky a third time. But apparently I could, and so that’s pretty nice! Anyway, get your booster!
If we were having coffee I’d tell you, I have a pretty exciting event coming up! I am scheduled to give a presentation on my blog at my local library! I’m so excited! I am worried that no one will show up, honestly, but I’m still excited to give the presentation. I do plan to share my experience after the talk and (hopefully) share the link to the recording if it is recorded. Let me know if you are excited to see the recording so that I can feel better about knowing someone out there is interested!
If we were having coffee I’d tell you, I celebrated my dog’s birthday recently! Fox’s birthday is December 31st, although I think it’s just a day the shelter gave him. The shelter also estimated his age around 4 so we did celebrate this birthday as his 5th! He got some new toys, baggies for his potty cleanup, and a new collar! I also sang “Happy Birthday” to him of course! It was too cold to go anywhere, and he doesn’t do too great around other dogs, which is too bad because I wanted to take him to the store and Starbucks to pick out his own toys and get a pup cup. But ah well, maybe once we move to Texas for his next birthday.
If we were having coffee I’d tell you, that my 2021 goal of “be positive” is now over! That doesn’t mean I won’t be positive anymore of course, but I won’t necessarily call out how I’ve stayed positive int he month anymore. It’s been a great goal as 2021 was a great year for me personally, but a pretty disappointing and hard year for everyone overall. I’m grateful for all the personal growth I had in 2021 and I’m sure that this positive mindset had a big role in it.
If we were having coffee I’d tell you, my 2022 goal of “again, but better”. I went through a ton of ideas before settling into this one. I eventually came across this one when I was watching a Christine Riccio video on YouTube and she talked about her first published book Again, But Better and it clicked for me. In the book, the character (oh, slight spoilers on the plot I suppose) gets the chance to go study abroad and decides she is going to “redo” her college experience and do it “right”. She still messes it up and is later sent back in time to do her semester abroad again, but this time she decides to really do it “right”. This idea of learning from past mistakes and applying those lessons was what really resonated with me. In 2021, I got a job in a new company the same industry with a lot of the same people as I’d had prior to the pandemic. In 2021, I also made big lifestyle changes. This all felt reminiscent of my experiences in my early to mid twenties. I’d gotten a new job and let lifestyle creep take over and became a bit obsessed with letting my career define me. I took the pandemic as a chance to reflect on my mistakes and now I’m working hard to make sure that I enjoy the new opportunities I have “again, but better”.
If we were having coffee I’d tell you, about my year 30 goal of “create peace”. I always pick a goal/theme for my year for my birthday. This theme will continue until May, so this one is still ongoing. I think in the winter this goal does get easier. In Illinois, it’s hard to do anything because the weather is so bad, so I retreat to the warmth and safety of my home. It is a chance to reconnect and recharge, so I am looking forward (in a way) to this opportunity to rest.
So that’s what I would share with you if we were having coffee. I hope the start of your new year has been positive and I hope we have a great year!
Thanks for reading!
Pamela
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