Whew, 2022 – what a year. With 2020 and 2021 being challenging on a multitude of levels and full of unknowns, I entered this year extremely optimistic, excited for a sense of normalcy and new goals to achieve. While some of that did come to fruition, a lot of it didn’t. Life gave me a bit of a push and a shove and I was forced to roll with its punches. I know I wasn’t alone either – it seemed like everyone I knew was facing real issues they had to tackle and overcome this year. 

But here we are, the end of another year and hopefully like me, you can look back on the year and appreciate the progress made and the wisdom gained. I like to believe we are stronger now than where we started at the beginning of 2022. 

Call me cliché, but I love this time of year as it gives me time to pause, reflect, and acknowledge just how much the year has given me in terms of memories and lessons. So without further ado, take a read below at my reflections of 2022. Cheers to a prosperous, healthy, and peaceful 2023!

Reflections of 2022

HIGHLIGHTS

Took 6 trips – Cabo, Destin, Galena, Miami, St. Louis, and Greece. Highlights of those trips included: 

• • • • Seeing numerous whales breach in Cabo
      • Quality time with family in Destin and St. Louis
      • Exploring a new city with Adam in our state (Galena)
      • Celebrating Adam’s accomplishment of making President Club with an all expenses-paid trip to Miami
      • Celebrating Adam’s and my birthdays and our 5th wedding anniversary in Greece (Athens, Crete, and Santorini). I can now officially say our Greece trip has been my favorite one I’ve ever taken. My birthday spent at Elafonisi Beach in Crete was no doubt the best day of 2022.

      

      

      

      

      

      Bought our first house – It took 6 months of searching, but we were able to snag a wonderful house in our dream suburb on a picturesque cul-de-sac. Adam and I had a lot of fun making design choices (on our own, I might add!) for our home renovations and got a lot of laughs after finding an endless supply of tiny plastic babies scattered around our house in random spots (left by who we assume the youngest son of the previous owners). We are thrilled to be done with phase 1 of our home renovations too!

      

      Finding out the same day that my sister and my sister-in-law were pregnant – Adam and I couldn’t believe we received the news 30 minutes apart from each other! It also happened to be our moving day and my father-in-law’s birthday – QUITE the day! They are due a week apart and we can’t wait to meet our two nephews this spring.

      Being featured on the Salesforce Blog – It was an unexpected surprise to hear I had been chosen and it was that much more fulfilling seeing the final article. 

      Spending time with loved ones – This year was full of so much love and happiness. From celebrating three family weddings, spending one of our last weekends in Chicago with my oldest friend, going to a BSB concert with my best friends since kindergarten, getting to see my friends’ kids grow up, and being with my sister and brother-in-law for Christmas. 

      

       

      LOWLIGHTS

      Landing in the ER/ICU – As I shared in this post, I ended up having a mimic stroke in March of this year, likely due to a combination of stress and my hormonal birth control. It was a terrifying experience and a stark reminder that your health is truly everything. I’ve since been on a health journey, dealing with lingering migraines that have forced me to put my health first. 

      My sister’s miscarriage – I’ll never forget that call. It was heartbreaking to get the news and even harder knowing I couldn’t physically be with my sister as she went through such a traumatic experience given we were states away from each other. 

      House mishaps – Our house has given us quite the list of issues and I’ve had to learn that just about nothing goes right the first time. From botched renovations to faulty furniture, this house has truly tested mine and Adam’s patience. Fingers crossed for a more successful 2023.

      My job – If I’m being honest with myself, my job caused me a lot of unnecessary stress this year. While I gained a ton of experience, I prioritized my work above all else which didn’t do me any favors. It sucked a lot of my energy and my time and it was obvious to me towards the end of this year that something needed to change – fast.

      Family and friend deaths – Sadly, I lost my great-aunt Betty and my best friend’s dad this year.

       

      GOALS ACHIEVED

      Transitioned L&I from a hobby to a legit business – I went into 2022 with the intent to start a business and did just that: 

      • • Established L&I as an LLC in February
        • Launched my coaching services
        • Supported 12 consulting clients & 9 coaching clients this year
        • Hit my highest financial year since L&I’s founding
        • Hosted a career summit with Brittany Ramsey of BWell Mindset Coaching + Jenna Rogers of Career Civility in March
        • Started L&I’s “Friday Finds” weekly email 

      Worked toward getting certified as a coach – To get ICF (International Coaching Federation) certified, I need to get 10 hours of mentor coaching, which I was able to complete in April of this year. I also completed all of my required coaching hours that are needed for the certification.

      Journaled and meditated more frequently – I started the year with a goal to journal and meditate every day. While I didn’t quite accomplish that, I made every effort to prioritize that as part of my wellbeing practice and overall, am happy with the progress I’ve made.

      Landed a new job – I was able to successfully land a new job at Salesforce earlier this month, after a year of networking and working toward expanding my skill set to get a job more focused on employee development. Which I was finally able to do! Instead of being customer facing like I have been throughout all of my career, I’m now going to be focused on our employees, developing people programs and enhancing the employee experience. I can’t wait to start officially on February 1st! 

       

      GOALS NOT ACHIEVED

      Didn’t get my coaching certifications – Despite starting the year strong with this goal in mind, life got in the way between working a demanding job, searching for a house, and going through home renovations. Something on my list for 2023!

      Didn’t finish my book – Unfortunately, my book took a major backseat this year. Instead of using my free time for writing, I chose instead to focus my time coaching and consulting clients for L&I.  

      Didn’t write as many L&I blog posts or show up on L&I socials as much as I would have liked to – Instead, I put my time into L&I services and writing my weekly and monthly emails for my subscribers. Hoping to have a bit more time next year to do more for L&I!

       

      LESSONS OF 2022

      Listen to your body + take care of yourself – Because of my health scare earlier this year, I realized just how important it is to ensure your health is your top priority. Our body will send us signals when things are not right – it’s up to us to pay attention to them and make sure we take care of ourselves.

      You can’t do it all (and that’s okay) – I’m the type of person that wants to do ALL THE THINGS. (I often wish I could clone myself so I could accomplish everything I want to do.) In the past, I would forgo sleep and not take care of myself for the sake of checking things off my to-do list. This year, I gave myself grace. I recognized I’m only one person and I can accomplish only so much in a day. Rest is important!! 

      Family + Health > Work ALWAYS – This one is semi-related with the one above, but I’ve learned that work can wait. Your health is of utmost importance, as is time spent with your family. If those two aren’t coming before work, there’s a problem and things need to change. At the end of the day, I know I’m not saving lives in my job and I’m going to remind myself of that next year when I find that I’m bending my boundaries. 

      Gratitude will get you through the hard times – This year was rough on so many levels. I often got caught up in the victim mindset, the “woe me” and “why is this happening?!” It was always remembering that gratitude was there that got me out of those negative feelings and thoughts. Even when things feel like they’re falling apart and nothing is going right, gratitude is what can help you persevere and get through it.

      Live in the moment – I look back on this year and sometimes wish I had taken more pictures to capture my favorite moments. But then I remember I told myself in those moments to be present, to cherish it, to soak all the goodness in. And for that, I am grateful I did.

      

      

      Kelly Nash

      Kelly Nash is a Chicago-based writer, career coach, speaker and founder of Lipstick & Ink®. She also works full-time in technology as a Role Strategy and Employee Engagement Manager at Salesforce and has over 12 years of digital marketing experience. Kelly has been featured in Thrive Global, Chicago Tribune, International Association of Women, General Assembly, Salesforce, and SheFactor. She’s fueled by black coffee, sunshine, a good ink pen, and a bold lip.