My 2021 Review: The Growing Pains
Tags: yearinreview, watercooler
Published: 2021-12-31 20:38:38

Hello Everyone 👋,

We will leave 2021 in a few more hours. Is it just me? I feel like 2021 is much shorter than the previous years.
How time flies!

I participated in Polywork's #My2021Highlights and created [My 2021 Highlights collection](https://www.polywork.com/adiatiayu/collections/853188). And that's when I realized (again) how I had grown so much within 1 year!

I had ups and downs, but all of those were worth it.
Maybe this is what people called *growing pains*. 😄

I'm writing this post to remind me of what I achieved and overcame throughout this year. It will be something that I will look back to when I have hard times and keep me motivated.

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![let's go gif](https://media.giphy.com/media/yaR8Dux1s0fAI/giphy.gif)

## Blogging

I started to write in November 2020, but not until 2021, when my articles and I were recognized. How I achieved so much within one year:

- My articles got into CodeNewbie's newsletter several times throughout the year since January.
- [Spotlight of The Week](https://twitter.com/hashnode/status/1366715534142812166) on Hashnode.
- [CodeNewbie Writers of The Month — February 2021](https://community.codenewbie.org/codenewbie/codenewbie-writers-of-the-month-february-2021-kb7).
- Top 7 on DEV in [March](https://dev.to/devteam/the-7-most-popular-dev-posts-from-the-past-week-5h5d), [August](https://dev.to/devteam/top-7-featured-dev-posts-from-the-past-week-3h2i), and [November](https://dev.to/devteam/top-7-featured-dev-posts-from-the-past-week-35fb).
- [CodeNewbie Community Spotlight — April 2021](https://community.codenewbie.org/codenewbie/ayu-polyglot-latte-lover-codenewbie-149m)
- [Must Read Developer Articles #45](https://hashnode.com/must-read/45) on Hashnode.
- Earned **OSS Documentarian**, **OSS Mentor**, **Talk of the Town**, **Article picked as "Must Read" on Hashnode**, and **Featured On Hashnode** [badges](https://adiati.com/badges) on Hashnode.

I love writing and will keep writing even though I mentioned in [one of my posts](https://dev.to/adiatiayu/i-have-been-writing-a-blog-for-10-months-here-is-my-story-401a) that I will post one to two articles per month for a while.

## Open Source

This year I didn't have any goal to complete Hacktoberfest because I started the collaboration program with [The Collab Lab](https://the-collab-lab.codes/about-us/). I would be delighted to submit at least one pull request.

But I submitted *eight* pull requests and completed the Hacktoberfest!
![hacktoberfest2021.jpeg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1640973778602/A-KL6-k1l.jpeg)

This experience leads me to a new interest in contributing to open source (and diving more into accessibility)!

## Community

I can go for hours when I'm talking about community. I love my communities! 💙
I'm very blessed to be in such supportive communities and be an active member of [Virtual Coffee](https://virtualcoffee.io/), [The Collab Lab](https://the-collab-lab.codes/who-we-are/), [CodeNewbie](https://community.codenewbie.org/adiatiayu), [DEV](https://dev.to/adiatiayu) and [Hashnode](https://hashnode.com/@adiatiayu).

I won't be where I am now if it's not because of them who always support and push me to be a better developer, a better writer, and a better person.

Even in the wildest dream, I never thought that I could be part of these before:

- [Guest at Virtual Coffee Community podcast](https://virtualcoffee.io/podcast/0303-ayu-adiati/).
- **Documentation Lead** at Virtual Coffee.
- One of program committees (proposals reviewer) for [CodeLand Conference 2021](https://codelandconf.com/).
- Created a [short recess video for CodeLand Conference 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=3788&v=4pI7miwXwY0&feature=youtu.be).
- Moderator for CodeLand Conference 2021 and [CodeNewbie Challenge 2021](https://community.codenewbie.org/codenewbie/announcing-cnc2021-codenewbie-challenge-2021-1jbh).
- Got accepted and finished strong the collaboration program to create a [React project](https://tcl-35-smart-shopping-list.web.app/) at The Collab Lab.

I'm very grateful to have had these experiences this year.

![but gif](https://media.giphy.com/media/7IuhBVrwctAtuPPXLk/giphy.gif)

However, those achievements didn't come without challenges.
And these are what shaped me to grow and be who I am today.
I learned a lot from them.

## Burnout(s) and imposter syndrome(s)

I had a massive burnout sometime this year. It was huge until it ultimately made me want to quit my journey.
Thankfully, I have genuinely lovely and supportive people around me at [Virtual Coffee](https://virtualcoffee.io/). Because of them, I overcame the burnout and got back on my feet.
I wrote about that experience [in this article](https://dev.to/adiatiayu/lesson-learned-massive-burnout-in-learning-web-development-2kcg).

I also faced countless imposter syndromes. AAgain, thanks to my communities, I have become more and more confident in myself and my abilities. If it's not because of them, I would not even dare to apply for [The Collab Lab](https://the-collab-lab.codes/about-us/) program because I always thought that I could never get accepted. If I didn't submit my application, I would never have had that precious experience to learn to collaborate with other developers at The Collab Lab. I wouldn't be in another fantastic and supportive community! ❤

## What I learned in 2021

1. It's okay to not be okay.
2. Take a break regularly, take care of yourself, and keep moving forward.
3. Don't play too many scenarios in your head. You never know what will happen unless you try and do it.
4. Surround yourself with positive and supportive people and communities.
5. The growth process is highly uncomfortable and sometimes painful, but it's totally worth it!

## Final words

Thank you for all the lessons, 2021! 💖
Cheers to 2022 and happy new year, everyone!!! 🥂

![i'm ready gif](https://media.giphy.com/media/CjmvTCZf2U3p09Cn0h/giphy.gif)

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Thank you for reading!
Last but not least, you can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AdiatiAyu). Let's connect! 😊