💌 Self-Reflection: My Letter To 2020
Tags: writing, watercooler, codenewbie, webdev
Published: 2020-12-24 01:12:19

Dear 2020,

You are such a roller coaster year for many of us.
And not an exception to me.

I can't say anything more than you have been a bittersweet year.

As a mom, it's very heartbreaking to see my daughter couldn't see her friends and teachers due to lockdowns and uncertainty.
But I'm grateful that she's still happy despite this situation.

As a wife, I am grateful that my husband still can keep his job, though I know that working from home for almost a year is very hard for him.

But you know, I still have more things to be grateful for than to complain about.
And that I and my family are healthy is one of them.

There is a saying, "*Start to count your blessing and say your gratitude*".
I do this every day, every time.
But this time, let me say some of them out loud in this letter.

## 📚 Learning
- I got a year membership on [egghead](https://egghead.io/). 
Not in a million years that I thought I would be able to access it (for a stay home mom without income, the membership is so out of my pocket).
Now it's one of my go-to resources for 1 whole year!
*Thank you so much, Horacio & Michael Liendo, for making this happen!* 🤗

- I took [Full-Stack Javascript Online Bootcamp by Flavio Copes](https://thejsbootcamp.com/) (I got a *huge* group discount which I could afford).
  I haven't finished the entire Bootcamp, but besides going deep into vanilla JS, I've taken a dip into some frameworks and databases such as Node JS, MongoDB, Redis, Airtable, GraphQL, React, and Vue.
  And because I've tried those things out, I finally decided to learn React (and eventually GraphQL and NodeJS)! 

- I start the [Frontend Career Path at Scrimba](https://scrimba.com/) in September.
  And I do enjoy it so far!

- I start to dive into React! 
  *Thank you, Bekah, for the [Epic React Fundamental](https://epicreact.dev/)! I'm forever grateful!* 😘

## 🎉 Achievement
- I finished my *first* vanilla Javascript mini-project which adding up to a few more mini-projects.

- I did my *first* open-source contribution! 
  I learned how to use git outside my personal project for the first time. 
*Special thanks to Dan Ott & Mike Rogers!* 💙

- I start to write blogs more regularly last November.
  *Thank you for the initiative of the November monthly-challenge, Virtual Coffee!* 🙏
  I even bought [my own domain](https://adiati.com/) way sooner than I planned!
  I start to learn about Google Analytics and SEO.
  For someone who just starts to write for a little more than a month, looking at these analytics makes me really happy!

![hashnode.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1608767027255/OQeIfA6RS.jpeg)

![dev.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1608767048920/00Fmuj9e7.jpeg)


![analytics.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1608767078285/Ynbw2GKXO.jpeg)

## ⭐ Events, Family & Friendship

- One of the obstacles that I have as a stay home mom is I cannot do [networking](https://adiati.com/networking-and-community) and attending events in person.
  But because of you, 2020, I could attend several (big) virtual events, even for free! Thank you for that! 

- Thank you for keeping my friends closer, for crossing my path with these amazing people who support me tremendously in my journey, and for giving me a big new family! (*not in order*):
  - Marika
  - Bekah
  - Francesca
  - Wendy
  - Frauke
  - Sara Torrey
  - Surayya
  - Horacio
  - Sophia
  - Sara McCombs
  - Dan 
  - Mike
  - Meg
  - Nick
  - Kirk
  - Debra-Kaye
  - All [Virtual Coffee](virtualcoffee.io) members that I can't mention one by one, but each one of them means so much to me! ❤

So, however hard it was, thank you for still bringing beautiful things to me, 2020!

## 🙏 My Wish For 2021

I hope this year I could go further with my learning journey and landing a job.

I wish 2021 would be a much better year for all of us 🙏
<br>
Cheers,
***Ayu Adiati***