Earlier last year, I was sitting by the shores of San Juan in Puerto Rico. A city with the warmest, most amazing beaches. A place with kind and welcoming people that looked exactly like me—a perfect blend. The best of both worlds, as they say.
It was a vacation for my mom and me. I had not seen her in 2 years. She is an avid reader, psychologist and feminist, so obviously, we shopped around a bookstore. God, I miss hanging around bookstores.
We sat down to browse through some of the books that piqued our interest. One of them was an illustrated book called “El pequeño Libro de las Grandes Feministas.” They present bios of 99 great feminists whose lives favoured the movement of women’s freedom, elevated to secular saints, champions of strength and progress.
So I read the chapter on Anne Frank: Saint of Diarists, and I jokingly said to my mom, “this is my saint.” I remember filling my colourful diaries when I was in my teens.
I confessed to my mom I hadn’t read Frank’s journal entries yet, which then became my first book purchase of the year. I don’t buy books because I’m constantly moving places, as I’m used to getting books from the library.
During our short vacation, I read Anne’s book, making me feel a total sense of peace and gratitude for having the privilege of being a woman who could freely lay on a beach alone, half-naked, with a spicy sun burning her skin. I did eventually burn days after, but I guess I needed the Vitamin D.
2020 was the year I found I’m part European, part Afro-Caribbean with a dash of Native.
Connecting back to my roots felt particularly important. Going back to the water makes me feel more grounded, less anxious. The ocean is where I connect to the energy source of this matrix. I wanted 2020 to feel Light.
My intentions for 2020 were:
- To share my knowledge.
- Move to a bigger apartment.
- Visit my mom.
- Go for a beach vacation.
- Listen to more live music. Crossing my fingers for the new Lady Gaga and Tame Impala albums.
- To improve my mind and body energy. Be healthier, resilient and strategic.
- Become a humble beacon of hope and kindness but in a cool millennial way, if that’s even a thing.
- To deal with the chaos and stress more calmly by practicing stoicism.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I was still in Puerto Rico. I even bought the last box of masks from a pharmacy near the hotel. I don’t need to remind you that 2020.
2020 became so much more than any of us thought possible. That year gave us a chance to confront the world’s harsh realities and reminds us to put self-care back as a priority.
I arrived home, paranoid about the end of the world- an irrational phobia from my fear of loss and self-distancing starts.
Luckily, an application for the new Building a Second Brain Mentorship arrived in my inbox.
After meeting with brilliant thinkers, I became obsessed with helping people figure their shit out to get things done in a fun and lighthearted way.
I also learned to maximize my impact with a lighter workload while getting clues about integrating learnings because I was tired of starting from zero.
Every time I take that course, I unlock a new perspective thanks to the hundreds of people who engage during the cohort.
But then, civil unrest starts in the USA. The police attacking and killing Black men and women, getting my PTSD triggered with a type of rage I never felt before, spinning me out, feeling so impotent.
I watched live-streamed police brutality, looking at the dictator moves and having Hugo Chavez flashbacks. It’s a fear I hope you never experience.
Honestly, May and June are a bit of a blur because I wasn’t journaling as often. But slowly, I started gaining some hope after Gaga came out with Chromatica. I didn’t want to live my life waiting for death.
I decided to join a Habit Coaching course, where I learned how to build habits with micro-steps, without relying on motivation, in a way that feels easy. Want to floss your teeth every day? Start with one tooth.
They made us pick a unique keystone habit, so I decided to go with “Journaling to Build a Second Brain.”
Journaling has been the most excellent anchor in my life. I’m sure it can improve the way you think and make decisions. It can help discover who you are by shining a light into your reality. It allows for a time to ponder what truly matters to think of the future and embrace the past.
Every day, I continue to improve my journaling habit brain full of prompts, methods, exercises and templates.
My favourite part was coaching a group of volunteers to establish a journaling practice that could help them organize their ideas and let go of what doesn’t serve them. Also, helping other people allows me to be more compassionate with myself.
As I was taking this course, I got invited back as Head Mentor to the BASB mentorship, making me feel more confident to speak in front of online groups.
My partner and I moved to another apartment during all of this, making me feel physically drained but mentally happy that we accomplished our goal. I have an office, yay!
The other book I read was the Artists Way, continuing my love for journaling and gathering major realizations:
- Journaling allows me to live an intentional life.
- Writing my morning pages has shown me I can keep things up.
- What would it look like if I made an effort? Repetition, constantly reaffirming to myself this is what I want to do.
- Instead of counting my failures, I’m counting my wins.
Throughout the whole year, I met with the most amazing people out there, incredible humans from founders, creators, coaches, educators, women in the industry, fellow productivity nerds from all over the world.
As the nights got darker and USA election fears faded, I got to work through inner child and shadow journaling. I learned to be thankful for the darkest things because even they can bring a lot of light. To find the best in me, I need to embrace the worst of me, so I joined TikTok and created a Twitter account to shit post.
I wish to profess my skill to others and perform my trade to the highest standards, but sometimes it’s worth getting curious, figuring out new ways to do things, and improving on systems without getting caught up.
I will no longer give myself a hard time when I feel resistance. I want to act upon inspiration, capture ideas when they happen and fashion myself an environment for change. That childhood curiosity never left me.
Naturally, my words for the year became “Grounded Curiosity.”
I want 2021 to feel like a curiosity journey, where I get excited about what I want to do, discover and share insights, finding support for my biz to balance things a bit more gracefully. I want to feel like I’m following my intentions but being compassionate when what I expect doesn’t happen, without the self-deprecating paranoia.
- I want to practice, focus on the craft, ask questions, find other perspectives.
- I want to develop and recognize my safety zone, accept what is, and integrate what I’m learning quickly.
- I want to nurture the support I need to expand, being compassionate with my progress, allowing me to process sucky feelings giving it the time it needs.
- I want to show up as my best self, finding exciting ways to bring value.
Your life most likely changed in 2020. You built new habits. You moved, you stayed. You either worked way more or way less. You felt lonely or felt more connected than ever. You had tremendous success in some areas and an enormous sense of loss in others.
I encourage you to write your story as collectively we are going through IT. It would be a shame not to document it. History is written by the winners. If you want to win, keep writing your stories.
Anne Frank’s reminds us to keep the optimism and good spirits alive.
Normalize believing in yourself! There’s strength in your voice.
