Thats a wrap

2021 from start to finish was a year of the unexpected. And frankly I loved it. I made many goals at the beginning of 2021 starting with a vision board filled with pictures and bullets and aesthetically pleasing colors. And looking back today at my past vision board I was pleasantly surprised by what I accomplished throughout the year, and some places I need to work on.

What did I want to accomplish that I ended up accomplishing?

I wanted to make new friends. That was one of my largest goals considering since middle school building relationships with my peers has been a struggle. For privacy reasons I cannot include names but I met many wonderful people this year through clubs/activities/sports that I built friendships with and I hope to continue having friendships with for as long as possible.

I also wanted to build confidence. Living life as a teenager and especially as a teenage girl you feel like the rest of the world is out to get you and that can cause some confidence issues. Luckily I built some healthy coping skills with the help of my amazing family and counselor Dr. Nelson Slagle who is the best counselor ever. I even was able to complete on numerous occasions the one thing I fear the most which is confrontation(Also known as standing up for myself) This is very difficult for me as I possess a terrible disease known as the people pleaser syndrome. Now I am nowhere near perfect in the art of confidence but frankly those things require baby steps and time.

Some other examples were I ate new foods which helped balance out my diet, I went on fun adventures such as trying scuba diving and absolutely loving it, I even decided to take an AP class which is very difficult but very rewarding.

What did I want to accomplish that didn’t work out?

I wanted to badly to make varsity cheer. I’ve been cheering for Gahanna for almost 5 years now and it is an amazing sport where I have met some wonderful people. I thought that making varsity would be so much fun and open up my life to more opportunities. Instead I made jv. While this was disappointing at first I tried to put this into perspective that I was still a good cheerleader despite what team I was on. And perhaps this would be an opportunity to build leadership skills. I ended up having a successful season and learned a lot of great lessons about life and how sometimes being a leader doesn’t mean being the loudest or bossiest person in the room.

Similarly I also hoped to make a higher level jazz team at my dance studio. Despite my confidence going into auditions I did not make the team and instead made a lower level jazz team which I had been on for a few years already. This to me was devastating at first and I felt very angry and confused as to why I didn’t reach my goals. With some time I felt calmer and had a more reasonable outlook on the situation. Once again I had to take the time to remind myself that my worth and determination is not decided by what team I’m on. I decide my worth. Now I have built better technique and flexibility which will help me in my upcoming competition season and I love the girls I dance with currently, I wouldn’t trade what I have now for anything else.

What were some goals that I accomplished that were unexpected?

Beginning with the largest and most exciting goal, I found myself in a position where I submitted several poems to a writing company based out of India and other regions known as The Writers Pocket and by May my poems were included in the anthology Silhouettes at Dusk and I found myself to be a published author. This has been a dream of mine since I was 9 years old and easily seeing my book for the first time was one of the most emotional moments of my life. I plan on making a career out of writing so to gain this book to add to my resume at such a young age is a prize worthy achievement.

The month of September is addiction awareness month and to honor my older brother Micheal that passed in 2018 I went on Lincoln live one morning to speak on addiction and not only what are the signs of addiction but how can the average Gahanna student make a difference in stopping addiction. For many this was just an average morning show but to me this was a very real and personal experience that actually helped provide me with some closure.

During the 2021 football season I was not only a Gahanna cheerleader but I became a coach for the youth Gahanna cheer teams. I loved not only the other awesome cheerleaders I got to coach with but all of my beautiful young ladies that I had the honor of coaching. They were sassy, energetic and honestly a handful but it taught me so much and they always made me feel so loved whenever I walked into practice.

Finally one of my most exciting achievements of 2021 that I feel it is important to mention was becoming an editor for the wonderful Lincoln Magazine. I was very nervous to turn in my submission to become an editor and when I received the message confirming my position I ran home screaming to my parents. Little did I realize that being an editor is anything but easy but all of the stress and work is worth it for the amazing issues that we publish. We use photography, modeling, artistry, poetry and more to give those at Gahanna Lincoln a chance to use their talents and voices to show the world who we are. We are a bold, brave, and inspirational magazine and those reading this aren’t ready for all of the things we are yet to create.