The Caffeinated Millennial 2021 Year in Review

It is crazy that we are at the ending days of the year and it’s time for a 2021 year in review! When the new year started, we had no idea what to expect from 2021. Sure, we were all hoping Covid would go away, but very quickly I think most of us knew that was not going to be the case. 2020 ended on a high of my husband finishing his residency program after nearly five long years. But that celebration turned sour when our house was broken into on Boxing Day. Let me tell ya, not a fun way to end or start any year.

Personal Year

I knew I would move on to the next stage. I just didn’t know what that meant yet. It’s been a few years since I have done a year in review blog. I like them. They force me to reflect and take stock, opening up my view of possibilities and gratitude for more time going into a new year.

The First Half

The year started off shaky. The pandemic didn’t seem to be getting any better anytime soon. The vaccine had started administration worldwide but naysayers were still louder than the science. At that point, hubby was between jobs and took the month off to spend time with us (his family) and rest. I have to say, I have not seen that man watch that much Netflix and that many movies in… ever. Honestly, he began to drive me a little nuts. But, he was resting, which was nice to see.

January also brought us face-to-face with the realization that our daughter was four, and up until that point spent a grand total of two months in school before the system shut down. We did try our best with her, but we knew she needed more, and we were at that point where we knew, she couldn’t continue as she was or she’d be very far behind. We also realized the remote option was not working (we gave it a shot) and the virus was clearly not leaving. We had to make the difficult, anxious decision to send my daughter back to face-to-face classes.

In February, my husband started his new job(s) and that kicked us into a more robust home-life schedule. Since December 2020, when my husband finished his studies. I had been mulling over my next move. I was a little bit skittish even though I knew it was coming and my husband checked in multiple times about what I wanted to do and I still had no idea. I worked on the last project for my business and didn’t take on anything new due to burnout and really just trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I felt a little lost.

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The family and I celebrated our wedding anniversary with a little getaway. On that trip, I got an email and got it in my head to start applying to postgraduate programs. That’s what I was going to do before I got pregnant, so why not. I applied to two schools, both in Ontario, Canada.

By March, I’d been accepted a program to start in May. Since my decision to attend school overseas was for all intent and purposes impromptu, I just didn’t have enough time to get my ducks in a row.

So, I deferred to September and used the next few months to apply for a Canadian study visa, attend to my family and plan the rest of the year. The visa was approved on the first try which was a relief on that front and a whole other one when we decided that the best option was that I would star the program from home and then move, without my tribe. The anxiety was all too real.

The Second Half

September rolled around and school started. At that point, I realized my program was heavier than I thought. I had double the course load I thought I would have. I tried to balance everything as best as I could, made plans and tried to process the high emotions and prepare my daughter for the impending separation.

I was able to finish out the year strong academically and successfully transition to living in a new country, alone. It’s not where I thought I would be a year ago, but I am definitely happy and making moves.

Here’s to 2021 on the personal front and all it’s possibilities.

The Caffeinated Millennial Blog 2021 Year in Review

2021 marked five years since I have been a blogger. For something I picked up on a whim, that’s wild to me. I am learning that my best decisions are made on a whim. Like that time I said ‘Hi’ to this cute guy and ended up marrying him. Ha! Maybe I should do it (make spontaneous moves) more often. It was in January that I decided to invest in, upgrade and monetize my blog, as well as decided to work on it all year to achieve some targets. They’ve paid off.

Aesthetics

I bought my first theme and worked hard on maintaining a clean look. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty close to what I am comfortable with for a while. So, in 2022, unless I fall in love with another layout, this one will stay.

Updates

In 2020 (and in previous years) I updated the blog with new posts frequently, but not regularly. That changed in 2021. I worked hard at blogging every month, at least twice, but I tried my best to deliver one to two posts per week. I worried about how my studies would affect my blog, but luckily for me, my program has a course dedicated to digital media. It allows me to update my blog so it remains a top priority in my to do list, even if my topics are a little narrow for the time being.

I focused a lot on SEO, SERP and writing longer articles. In my opinion, they have yielded results, improving traffic by more than I anticipated. I expected results to be gradual, but before they were, there was a huge leap.

Name and Tagline Change

I changed the blog name a few times this year as you might have noticed. I’ve settled on The Caffeinated Millennial. I began searching for a blog name that would represent what my blog is about. As a seasoned blogger, a blog with my name was great, but research and experience made me realize that the vision I have may have and would continue to be slowed because of it. I needed something that would tell readers what my blog might be about long before they visited my website. Hence, the change.

I also upgraded my hosting plan to a WordPress Business plan. It was worth the investment.

Traffic

In 2020, my blog averaged a few hundred visits per month and an average of 5-10 new subscribers per month.. As of the time of this post, the site averages 2000 to 4000 visits per month. The highest being 7000+ visits, more than half from organic searches.

All in all, I think my blog had an impressive year, I cant wait to see what the second year of consistent upgrades and strategy implementation will do. Even as it is, this blog has given me so much, including representation of an online portfolio. I can’t wait to dive into the new year with it.

What about you? What does your 2021 years in review look like? Let me know in the comments.

Xo, Shandean

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