Hello, 2021! Can you believe it’s week two of 2021?! A lot has undoubtedly happened since the start of the year. Since this is the first blog post of the year, I’d like to wish you a happy new year. I wish you a year of growth and abundance in all areas of your life. 

 I had planned on doing a round-up of the year to upload at the end of 2020, but things didn’t quite go as planned. Again, a lot has been happening. Juggling two full-time jobs, working on my podcast, blog, showing up for myself has been a lot, but I’m not complaining. Better late than never. It goes without saying that 2020 was a rough year. When I think about it, there’s a lot I have to be grateful for, given the unprecedented year it was. I had a lot to celebrate personally, and I won’t take that for granted for one. In this post, I will share some of my favorite moments of 2020 that I didn’t get to document on the blog.

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED

MARCH: I Donated Back To My Country

Giving back is always something I’ve wanted to do and have been doing ever since I was a little girl. I think I learned this from my mother, who was always lending a helping hand to those in need, so it’s no surprise I’m doing the same. Back in March, before the world went haywire, I was able to travel home to Antigua, where I donated to the Sunshine Home For Girls, The Mount St. John’s Medical Centre, and the Family and Social Services Division.

MAY: I Graduated and Turned 30

I graduated with honors, and while this is a proud moment, it was still a bit disappointing because the moment I waited for, which was to walk across that stage and to hear my name called and with honors, did not happen. Because of the pandemic, my graduation was held virtually. Still, it is a proud moment, and your girl got her degree and is on to bigger things academically.

I turned 30! I can’t believe it. I had plans to travel to England to celebrate, but that didn’t happen because of the pandemic. I settled with an at-home self-care day. I did manage to write about 15 things my twenties taught me. Check out the post here.

JUNE: New Job

I started a new job working with a prominent non-profit organization testing covid-19 patients and then moved on to work as an Epidemiologist assistant. I won’t go into much detail about my job, but it is a rewarding job and my first official step in the public health field as a public health professional.

JULY: Public Speaking Engagement

I had my first public speaking engagement, where I presented to a group of high school and undergraduate college students talking about health disparities. This was such a fun experience. It gave me the confidence boost that I needed.

AUGUST: I made the best investment of my life thus far

I started therapy. I’ve often heard the saying, “investing in yourself is costly but rewarding,” but this rings true to me. After a lot of self-reflection, I decided to take the step to start therapy, and let me tell you; it has been the best return on my investment. I’m not going to lie; I was a bit reluctant about starting therapy. I thought my mind was playing games on me, and I was trying to follow the crowd on social media by going to therapy, but the growth I’ve experienced since I started has exceeded my expectations. I’m nowhere close to the finish line, but I’ve been making little progress, and I’m grateful for my therapist. Therapy has now become part of my self-care routine.

I look forward to my weekly meetings with my therapist. Also, I think every insurance should cover mental health services, but that’s another blog post in itself, so I’ll leave it there.

SEPTEMBER

I accomplished another goal I’ve had on my list for a while.  I made another decision to invest in myself again and got trained to become a Doula! Yes, you read that right, your girl is now a Doula. 

For those of you who don’t know what a Doula is. A Doula is a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to a mother before, during, and shortly after childbirth to help her achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible. (DONA.org). I’ll be sharing more on this very soon. I’m so excited to share more with you.

I WENT LIVE

I started an Instagram live series called Tea With Tanya. This was another milestone. This was my first time going live and let me tell you, my nerves were through the roof! I began going live every first and third Monday, but I started going live every Monday with the support and encouragement from you. Well, you guys enjoyed the live series so much that you pretty much demanded that I go live every week, and I have no regrets. The purpose of me going live was to gain more confidence with being in front of the camera, learning to love my speaking voice, getting comfortable speaking to a group of people, and educating and empowering you. 

I’ve had some fantastic guests, and I’ve learned a lot. This series has opened doors for so many different opportunities. I wrapped up the Instagram live series 13 episodes later, at the end of November. I may not go live every week, but I am thinking about going live at least once a month. We shall see.

NOVEMBER: The Birth of Scrub Life Cares

I officially launched my non-profit organization Scrub Life Cares. This has been years in the making, and I’m so proud it’s finally happening. When I first migrated to the US, my goal was to give back to my country in some way and help those in underserved communities. Our mission is to serve youths in the underserved, low-income communities by executing a diversity of programs to help alleviate food poverty, enhance their educational experience, provide counseling, and develop critical life and social skills for success after high school. To keep up with my non-profit and see how you can get involved, follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Our website will be here soon. Thank you to those who continue to support.

DECEMBER

Drumroll, please… I launched my podcast! This has been another goal of mine, but I never dared to do it, but with the feedback from my Instagram Live series, I thought, what better time than now! As you know, I am a public health professional by day and your average Tea loving millennial and content creator by night. I’ll be sharing public health stories, self-love, and wellness tips and just promoting positive living. I’m excited to share with you what I’ve been brewing.

Be sure to subscribe to Apple podcast and Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast, tell a friend to tell a friend. I couldn’t have done this without your consistent, generous support and feedback.

I also did my first ever blogmas on the blog. It was fun, although I fell off towards the end, lol. I look forward to blogmas 2021.

THE WRAP UP

This pretty much sums up my 2020. With all the challenges the year brought us, I can’t be anything but thankful. I’ve lost family members; I’ve had family members who had covid-19 but thankfully recovered. I’ve worked nonstop and haven’t had a break to be still. As I was writing this blog post, I got emotional. I tend to complain about how things are or how I wish things would be, or I’m always thinking about the next moment and not taking the time to sit and acknowledge what I’ve done. Looking back, I was able to accomplish some goals and also do some good in the world. Normalize Celebrating wins no matter how big or small.

My blog views surprisingly increased since I started blogging three years ago. I’ve had the most views this year than ever before, with most of my readers coming from search engines and Pinterest. Let me tell you, Pinterest has become a significant part of my blogging experience. I’m committed to putting in more work to grow and produce quality content and, of course, try to be consistent. 

In 2021 you’re going to see a change coming to the blog and my overall brand. I’m working with someone who’s a BOSS at what she does, and I can’t wait for you guys to see what’s in store. I’m so excited!

I am not playing small in 2021 and beyond. I’m going after the things I want to do. I’m planning in 2021 to lean in more on the wellness and self-care aspect of my life. I’ll be documenting more of that on the blog as well. I also want to do more public speaking engagements, putting that out there, so if you have a panel, YouTube, podcast, etc., feel free to book me!😊

If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed my recap, and it provided you some encouragement to do the things you want. 

THANK YOU for reading, liking, commenting, and sharing my blog posts. I still get butterflies whenever I upload a blog post, so to have your support truly means a lot!

Until next time. Practice social distancing, wash those hands, drink water, and mind your business and stay safe!