..and just like that, here's to 2022. 📚✍️📹💍

Just some stuff and reflections on how my 2022 went.

📚 my books

I read 22 books this year and started around 12 books that I didn’t finish. I wasn’t trying to read anything in particular or read x number of books. This freestyle intuitive moody reading works for me.

I read a lot of contemporary fiction and tried dipping my toes into reading about health. I hope to have a more intentional reading list next year.

3 books that had my heart this year
📕 Every Summer After - Carly Fortune’s debut novel, and can I just let you in on a secret? Reading it made me sure I wanna write one day. That’s how much joy it brought me.

📕 Glucose Revolution - Years later if I write a list of books that changed my life, this will be on it.

📕 Take Back Your Power - Deb Liu is the super mentor/sponsor you never knew you needed. I have not been more inspired by a book than this.

✍️ my writing

I wrote 14 blogs, and 5 newsletters. Medium profile had over 27,200 page views, and my newsletter has 68 subscribers. Writing has always been my first love and something deeply personal. Hope I can continue building my voice.

my favorite blogs
✏️ 4 documents to sort your work life - clear, tried and tested

✏️ how to start writing online - something that I would tell a friend

✏️ my annual birthday blog - the next one is already pending

📹 my videos (?!)

I made 31 reels and 6 tiktoks, lol. Gosh, how I love these. You can expect more of these from me. Oh and I was also on a podcast.

my viral moments
one that had my sister ofc with 32k views
my book recs

🥁 my music

I now unashamedly share my music tastes, it’s a lot of pop and desi pop. I also got to see two of my favorite artists live this year - Ed Sheeran and Prateek Kuhad.

my top 3 songs for hot girl walk in London winters
🎧 Kudi Nu Nachne De
🎧 For Aisha
🎧 Tu Meri Heer Ranjha

✈️ my travel

24 flights, 13+ trains, 18 cities. Grateful to have hugged family and friends again, and experience places that added to me. Planning to be more intentional with how I divide my time between work, visiting family, and taking some time just for myself.

my top 3 blissful moments
🚲 cycling through tulip fields near Amsterdam
🧜‍♀️ Mermaid parade in Coney Island, New York
🌊 Driving through Goan villages

my lowlights

🤍 I am still working on my anxiety. Meditation walks, and writing has been my anchor.

🤍 I also struggled with consistency, and breaking unhealthy thought patterns. Work in progress.

my personal highlights

💻 I got promoted to Senior Product Designer, and continue to be extremely proud to have done some very challenging and meaningful stuff at Bumble this year. It was a rollercoaster ride, and I hope to have a portfolio website up to show for it sometime in the far future. Don’t hold your breath.

🧠 Completed 2 courses online (Building Emotional Intelligence, and Behavioral Science for Building Products).

💃 Completed level 1 of Improv. Never thought I had it in me.

🏡 My family came to London and I got to show them my life here.

💪 I invested a lot of time in rebuilding my mental health and spent quality time with my family and friends.

❤️ The singular event that changed life as I knew it.

I married my best friend. We showed up at the courthouse with 2 of our best friends and some supermarket flowers. Easiest thing I have done so far!

Here’s to 2023!
Wishing you all a very peaceful and milestone-y 2023.
Chhavi xx