The Best of 2021
Party Like It’s 1999 themed New Year’s in my favorite sweatshirt. #itsthis
No preamble necessary, simply a list of favorite things of 2021.
Spoiler alert: getting cancer did NOT make the list.
BEST OF 2021
Top 4 most profoundly helpful “fringe” healing modalities/people:
Astrology, specifically from Chani Nicolas. Her app includes educations, meditations, journaling questions, workshops, rituals for new/full moons and solstices, and stunning artwork. Even if astrology isn’t for you, it’s worth the $15/month just for the journal prompts and guided meditation. You’ll also be supporting a queer, feminist-led team that gives 5% of all their profit to queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, people of color, and/or disabled survivors of gender-based violence.
Ayurvedic medicine and adaptogens as a companion to western medicine. All through my cancer treatment doctors and nurses were in awe of how well I was able to thrive despite the intense drugs. I attribute my work with Mederi Center as well as energy work with my friend and healer Bri Gullo to this vitality. I’ve also begun to use the marmaa’s and herbal remedies in THIS book and feel stronger every day.
Find What Feels Good yoga community AKA Yoga with Adriene. She has curated monthly calendars with yoga for any skill level and body free on YouTube or $10/month on her FWFG app. If you’ve followed me on this journey, you know I do yoga with her every day, including in the hospital.
My friend Lauren AKA Luna Phoxx did a tarot reading for me and some of my closest friends at the start of 2021 that proved to be eerie in its accuracy. It was the best investment I have to myself and what I gifted to all those fringy witches closest to me. Combined with the prompting questions below and Chani’s annual reading, it’s been fun to write out a theme for each month to energize and give purpose to the year. She is also a beautiful, talented writer and is always one of my favorite newsletters to receive in my inbox weekly.
Top 5 favorite Daily Deep questions in no particular order (posted daily on my Instagram stories)
When you were a kid, what did you call the thing you put your dirty clothes into? A basket, a hamper, or something else?
Do a slow look around your home. What is something you’ve never noticed before?
Do you view happiness as something to attain/gain or something always available?
Have you ever received the gift that made you feel truly seen? What was it?
If I was a turtle, my name would be...
What part of nature were you raised by?
What’s the funniest name someone gave their pet you’ve heard?
What is your most vivid memory of school lunch? (The food, the vibe, something that happened there, etc.)
What is a river?
Does your life dictate your lifestyle or does your desired lifestyle dictate your life?
BONUS!!! Do cats have pubes?
Top 5 books for personal transformation in uncertain times
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad
When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd
Everything Happens for a Reason by Kate Bowler
What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon
Collected Works of Audre Lorde curated by Roxane Gay
Top 5 Podcasts
Everything Happens for a Reason with Kate Bowler
Maintenance Phase with Aubrey Gordon & Michael Hobbes (hilarious and well-researched debunking of junk science around wellness scams, health fads, and nutrition advice)
I Saw What You Did with Millie & Danielle (double feature movies each week around a mystery theme)
Obscure with Michael Ian Black (comedian reads aloud a classic while giving hilarious perspectives along the way. Season 3 starts 1.11.21 with Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights)
Fresh Air with Terry Gross (an oldie but a goodie, Terry Gross truly is the best interviewer and it’s the fastest way to expand your mind and find new interests)
Top 3 Non-Fiction Books
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
Top 3 Fiction Books
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Top 3 documentary features
Top 3 TV shows
Writing prompts and programs to get the juices flowing
Borrowed from Suleika Jaouad, her Five Lists were my starting point for self-analysis this year.
Looking for a longer, more comprehensive creative “overhaul”? Doing the 12-week Artist’s Way self-guided course was transformational. I give it credit for setting me on the path to developing the introspective foundation strengthing my resolve to make it through the past 2 years. Morning pages remain a daily routine I will NOT miss. It’s structured for 12-weeks, but it took me more like 6-months as I found myself wanting to linger longer on certain exercises.
Sarah Wilson’s book One Wild and Precious Life got my fire stoked on actionable things I can do to reduce my negative impact on the environment. The questions she has on THIS page are fun to ask yourself or others (scroll to the bottom for the questions). She also has a great site mapping out epic hikes she has done around the world. (Just ignore her I Quit Sugar world. Do not endorse this and I don’t think the current Sarah would either.)
As a bonus, I’ve been doing the yearly quest exercise from Gretchen Rubin to choose a theme word as well the number of quests/goals/adventures that match the year e.g. 22 things for 2022. Below is my word as well as my list.**
2022 theme word: Sukha
22 for 2022:
Ride RAGBRAI
Race Unbound 100
Buy our dream house in Iowa
Visit Pocahontas, IA to learn how to garden from Julie and Mark
Visit shamen Shirley in Keosauqua, IA
Learn to make and edit films
Attend a yoga and/or meditation retreat with mom
Visit Tim in Kansas City
Host an extended family gathering
Don’t weigh myself
Go to a Chicago Cubs game
Noelridge Park pool with Sarah
Weekly Blog (with a name change…coming soon)
Volunteer with young girls and entrepreneurs at NewBo Co.
Join and attend a cancer survivorship community event/meeting
Deep dive into the study and practice of Ayurvedic medicine
Deep dive into the study and practice of astrology
Volunteer with an end of life organization (e.g. hospice of Mercy)
Plant a tree
Get a tattoo honoring God/Goddess and My Guides
Learn to sew from Evonne
Learn to cross country ski
May 2022 provide you with experiences, people, and divine guidance that sets you on a path to loving yourself and the world more deeply. Thank you for supporting and loving me through 2021 and beyond.
Footnotes:
**2021 was the only year that Evan and I went to make our lists and just were not feeling it. It felt like it was a year that we were going to “enter the mystery”, which became theme. Boy oh boy, did that ever play out. Listen to yourself, my friends.
Every day for years I did yoga in this room with this mirror to my left. I’ve watched myself transform in color, in weight, in baldness and sickness and radiance and depression. I took this on a break from making this list to remember that relationship. #itsthis