I’ve never been a fan of the hype around New Year, or many celebrations really, I’m a person that likes to keep things small and underwhelming (rather than overwhelming) when it comes to big events. It’s not that I don’t enjoy celebrating, I just find that many of these events hinge on perfection and that is something rarely achieved unless you are able to accept that absolute perfection is improbable.

So for 2021 I'm focusing on the fact that while 2020 was far from perfect, in fact being a rather difficult year globally and personally for many of us, I’m not putting pressure on this year to be perfect. I made some really personal and professional progress during 2020 even when things got very hard, so I want to continue finding ways to make progress in 2021, that’s all I’m asking of the year. That’s my intention for the year, to move forward, it’s a bit of a cheat as the world continues to move forwards however we look at it.

Professionally I’ve taken a side step for this year, doing something that I’ve never done before. That being I’ve always made calculated if safe leaps to the next step, building on the skills I have already assured myself I have and not stretching myself beyond my limits too fast. That’s led to a patchwork career that to me has felt effortless because I’ve been the one to shape the challenge rather than the challenge shaping me. For now, I’m figuring out how to do completely new things and drawing on as much as what I know how to do as possible and it is kind of working, but there is still lots of learning ahead of me. Doing new things is scary for anyone and especially so for an autistic in a pandemic but I think I’m doing alright.

2021 might not be a spectacular year but it will be one filled with memories.