Looking Forward to 2021

Jan 11, 2021
5 min read

If I am being completely honest, there are a lot of things that I was looking forward to for the New Year. After the mess that was last year, and all the missed opportunities and cancelled plans, I am being very optimistic about 2021 and all that it will hopefully bring. Some things I know will happen, maybe not the way I would like them to, but others are more uncertain, though that does not mean that I am not being optimistic about them! I have divided this list of things I look forward to into three categories: Professional, Personal and Entertainment.

Professional

2021 is a big year for me in terms of my professional life. For the past four years, I have been in University, studying English Literature, and I am now reaching the end of my master’s degree. This is a big step for me. Looking back, I have been in school my entire life (or, at least, for the past 15 years), and the idea of it coming to an end is both daunting and exciting. What will this mean for me? What will I do after it? Of course, I could always stay in school, try to work towards a PhD, but I know that continuing to pursue higher education would be terrible for my mental health. This only leaves me with the dreadful task of job hunting. Despite how difficult it is for someone fresh out of school to find a job, I am hopeful that I will find something. And while the idea of job haunting fills me with immense anxiety, I am looking forward to the new experience that this will bring.

But what exactly am I looking for? Over the course of my studies, I thought of a few things that would truly make me happy. However, there is one particular thing that interests me above all: publication.

Of course, I would love to one day publish something that I wrote, but the idea of working with authors, discovering books and trying to make them the best version that they could be seems fascinating to me. I still have much to learn about the world of publication, and I could benefit from bouncing around different jobs until I find the right one for me!

As I am getting ready to send out applications and (hopefully) go through a lot of job interviews, I am doing my best to stay hopeful and to believe that I will find the right fit to get to work in September!

Before I start working, however, there is another exciting and stressful task to complete: my master’s dissertation! How am I supposed to write 15 000 words on a single subject, with sentences that make sense and an actual train of thought?! You could tell me that I still have time (and objectively, I do) but my overthinking mind cannot help but think that it is impossible and that even if I start now, I will never manage it.

I am still excited though! What first drew me to studying literature was the thrill of diving deep into a novel, finding so many hidden meanings and clever thoughts that make the reading experience even more beautiful after you read the novel once more. And since I can study whatever I wish to study, I am also incredibly excited about what I am going to write about. No more boring books that I cannot get into! This time, I get to decide what I want to say and how I want to say it.

Personal

On the personal front, I have a few projects in mind that I would love to develop this year. The first one, of course, is this blog. I have had a little experience here and there, but my goal for 2021 is to start taking this blog seriously. I do not want to set myself for failure, so I won’t put too much pressure on this, but this project has brought me so much joy these past few days and I am very happy to be doing this!

Some smaller projects would be to properly learn how to knit and, by the end of the year, to have knitted a scarf as a Christmas gift for a family member. I love handmade gifts, and this year, I really want to be able to make more and more handmade gifts for the people I care about. As a smaller, easier project, I have also set my reading goal to 100 books this year! I have never managed to read 100 books in a year (in 2020, I finished with 92), but I really think that 2021 is the year for me! I’ll reach 100!

There are other projects that I have in mind, some that depend entirely on me and the motivation that I have to do them, and others that I am currently trying to work out with some friends.

Again, I am trying not to put too much pressure on myself. If there is one thing that I’ve learned, it is that I cannot take on everything properly. This year, I am trying to be more realistic, which means that some of my projects will be waiting patiently in the back of my mind until I am ready to take on more! But this does not mean that I am not thinking about them, and I know that sooner or later I will get to them. I just love having so many creative projects! I have often realized that my mental health is better when I am being creative and working on things that I love. So, my goal is to keep doing the things I love and enjoy them as they are without pressurizing myself until I do not like it anymore.

Entertainment

There are so many great things coming out this year! Books, movies, TV shows, music, everything!

Of course, I cannot talk about things coming out in 2021 without mentioning Leigh Bardugo. Her next book, Rule of Wolves, the last book of the Grishaverse (or at least the last for a long time) is coming out on March 31st, and as a huge fan of this series, I am overly excited! Not only that, but this amazing series is coming out as a Netflix TV show in April! To prepare, I have planned on doing a reread od the Grishaverse over the next 3 months, so that I am ready, both for the new book and for the TV show.

There are other books coming out this year that I look forward to. Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas, Lore by Alexandra Bracken, Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell… So many good novels coming out!

When it comes to TV shows and movies, I am very excited about a lot of them! Marvel is coming out with a few TV shows that I have been looking forward to, and I know that I will be spending a lot of time on Disney+ this year! NBC’s Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist just came back on Tuesday, and this was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021! The first season was absolutely amazing, and I really recommend it to everyone! As for movies, there are a couple of movie musicals coming out that I can’t wait to see: In the Heights, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, West Side Story…

As you can see, I have a lot to look forward to this year! I am trying to be very positive and optimistic about things in 2021. I know that it won’t be perfect, especially as I start the year in lockdown alone in London, but I am doing my best to look to the bright side of things, and to the wonderful things that can come out of this!

What are you looking forward to this year? Any exciting projects, content, media?