On to 2015
2014 was a hell of a year.It seems to me that this was the year that I really came into my own, mostly on a professional level, but also personally. This year I wasn't letting anything hold me back, whether that be people who really preferred that I gave less of a shit about the things that were important to me or an apartment whose mysterious plagues sucked up far too much time and energy and money. It was an exhausting year at times, but in a good way, because I was Getting Shit Done.
I landed a job doing operations at Etsy. Sweeping dramatic statements like "it was my dream job" always sound a little odd to me, but like, it kinda was. I feel like I've learned a bunch already in the few months I've been here and gotten to work with so many straight-up excellent human beings.
I attended 9 conferences, speaking at 6 of them, including 2 Velocities and one keynote. I'm able to realize that I've gotten better at, and more comfortable with, public speaking, to the point where I no longer consider it literally the worst thing someone could ask me to do.
I've been a guest on some podcasts, TAed a Girl Develop It course, been an Official Conference Blogger, written a bunch of other blog posts, and generally really leveled up both my ops game and my comfort in the ops and devops communities (though the introvert in me still needs to go hide after too much socializing).
I also started indulging my creative side again (working at Etsy certainly helps with that). I've knit a sweater, gloves, and a scarf, made my own lotion, soap, and body scrub, started baking and cooking more, started a band that's for reals this time because we've had >0 rehearsals, and made some serious progress with learning cello.
New years resolutions in the traditional sense have never really been my thing, but I do have some things that I want to keep in mind for myself to make 2015 even more kick-ass than 2014 was.
I want to be more mindful and deliberate about the conferences I go to. 2014 was my year of saying yes as much as I could, which gave me a ton of great experiences but was also pretty exhausting and stressful for me. While I don't necessarily want to speak less this coming year, I do want to make sure that I'm putting more planning behind the speaking and traveling engagements that I pick (though I finally joined a frequent flier program so at least if that doesn't work out I'll be racking up lots of miles).
I want to give back more to the community. Whether it be the tech community in terms of TAing or teaching or possibly even mentoring, speaking out more about social justice issues, or volunteering locally, I realize that I have a lot of opportunities and privilege and want to make sure that I'm giving back.
I want to level up my self-care. This ties into my first point a bit regarding how tired I found myself during much of the past year - in spending so much energy on work and conferences and such, I didn't necessarily take the best care of myself. This year I want to improve on that, deliberately making the time to take care of my body (especially my poor back), to cook more (I've put together a pretty decent kitchen for being in a small NYC apartment and I should take advantage of that) and to get the rest that I need.
I want to level up my tech skills even more that I did this year. I've gotten started on my first really big project at Etsy so I want to see that through as well as seeing what else I can tackle. Working with so many smart and talented people, I have no excuse not to take advantage of that as much as I absolutely can.
Of course, in the world as a whole there were a lot of shitty and troubling things that happened in 2014. But it was heartening to see really compassionate, empathetic responses from the people around me. Surrounded by such awesome people, I'm pretty certain 2015 can shape up to be an even better year. (How delightfully optimistic of me! Here, have a pessimistic kitty for balance.)
