Year in review: 2022

Hello there,

I’ll be honest, I’m not used to doing year reviews.

This year though, I thought that’d I actually take the time to stop, review my year in details and share it with you all.

Let’s start by talking about the elephant in the room: I haven’t sent a newsletter in a year.

And yet, I gained a few more subscribers somehow - thank you!

It was one of my goals for this year and I simply ignored it all year long. I don’t exactly know why. I felt a bit blocked and uninspired, even though I missed writing.

Let’s dive right in!

PS:heads up, it’s a LONG one. Grab a drink and/or a snack.

You know what, I’ll start with that topic.

I will be honest with you all, this year I felt like shit a lot of times.

I was stressed and anxious on the daily. I was obsessing over people’s perception of me and their feelings.

I was constantly anxious about the upcoming weeks/months, particularly about my trips, even though they all went extremely well. There was almost no hiccups during the events that I planned & hosted, no big issues regarding my trips themselves, everything went overall according to plan…

But for some reason, my anxiety levels this year were very high.

I promise I won’t bore you with details, but I think it was mostly due to many traumatic experiences from the past coming back up, being re-lived, re-analyzed, understood differently. Plus a couple of new personal issues that were sometimes though to manage.

So despite the actual facts and all the positive moments that this year brought, my feeling toward 2022 is a negative one.

I struggled, I had to constantly push and balance myself. But you know what? I made it. And I’m determined to take better care of my mental health in 2023.

I know that feelings are not always the best indicators of what is actually going on, so now that I’ve touched on that, let’s check what really came out of this year!

Thankfully, this year was also filled with many amazing moments.

One thing that I definitely loved in 2022 is how much time I got to spend (re)connecting with people.

For starters, I’ve seen my family 4 times this year, which might sound ridiculously little, but it’s the most time I’ve spent with them in 10 years (not counting the months I went back to live with them in late 2016/early 2017).

I’ve been able to celebrate several birthdays, spend quality time and have important discussions.

I think I’m finally reaching an age where I understand the value of spending time with your family, even with all the related issues and dramas. Next year, two of my brothers will turn 18. Sometimes it’s hard to believe just how fast times flies. I still see them as their mischievous toddler selves.

I’ve also been able to spend plenty of time with my partner’s family, which feels better each time, as my fluency in Portuguese evolves and allows me to have proper, deeper conversations with them.

Another fantastic thing that happened this year is that I was able to visit some high-school friends that I hadn’t seen in years due to the pandemic. We had not been together (as a group) in 7 years!

Also got to visit & be visited by friends that were ex-colleagues in both France & Portugal, with whom I always have a great time.

And finally, I was able to make new friendships and connect with many people in France through meetups and events. Can’t express how grateful I am to have met these people repeatedly through the year. I always leave them feeling inspired and motivated.

All this to say: I’m grateful for the people in my life, old and new, and the time I was able to spend by their side this year.

Growth in uncomfortable. But it’s a part of life!

This year, I pushed myself to “get out there”.

I said yes to pretty much every invitation to be on a podcast, webinar or interview, and even to be a stage master for the NoCode scene during the Web2day event in Nantes!

For years, I’ve identified as this “shy girl”, the girl that blends in, that doesn’t make noise and avoids being the center of attention.

This year, I’ve decided to force myself out of this constructed identity, which I know isn’t who I am deep down.

I spoke in front of people during meetups, events, workshops.

You know how people say that it gets easier? Well, it truly does. That’s not BS!

My apprehension with public speaking is getting lower each and every time I do it, and I’m so proud that I forced myself to face this fear and break out of my shell.

I’ve also been WAY MORE in tune with myself. I’ve avoided conflict less, I’ve argued when necessary, I spoke up.

Overall, I’m saying what’s really on my mind way more. I’m not completely there yet, but oh it feels so good to get out of this people-pleasing mode.

I’ve also learned to say NO a lot this year. To projects, opportunities, nights out, activities… I’ve been focusing on honoring what I truly want in life.

It’s not without some resistance from my entourage for whom it’s sometimes seeming strange and unexpected - since I’ve always put others before myself in the past.

I get it, it must feel weird for them.

But there comes a point where you realize that you just can’t live your life only for others. We’re not puppets nor robots.

Kindness, empathy and generosity are still central values in my life. The difference is that now, I’m applying them towards myself too.

Anyway, I’m glad for the lessons and all the uncomfortable moments that are bringing me closer to myself, year after year.

This year, I’ve been focusing mostly on my contract position with Notion as their France Community Lead.

We’re continuing to grow as a community (Discord:3624, Facebook: 1986, Twitter: 1985,Youtube: 514) and now are composed of 3 admins and 5 moderators.

This year we also welcomed a couple of new French and Belgian ambassadors and certified consultants, which is always exciting!

And of course, Notion was released in French, which opened it up to many more users.

I’m very excited for what’s to come in 2023!

On my end, besides helping Notion, I also gave classes to two groups of ~15 students of the Alegria Academy in March and May, teaching them how to use Notion from 0 all the way to creating automations & using Notion to create a website.

In June, I also worked with Shubham on a very exciting project: some sort of hybrid project where we (physically) taught Notion to the entire Bodyguard‘s team, and working alongside them to revamp their Notion workspace, making them implement what we co-created. I honestly loved that project, it felt incredible to witness the before & after and the impact we had on this startup’s team (which is amazing btw).

And to recap, in 2022 I

Now that I list it all… I’m quite impressed lol

Travel

I went to France 7 times this year and went to Paris, Evreux, Nantes, Bordeaux, Périgueux, Dax, Montpellier, Lyon, Nice.

Didn’t travel much in Portugal this year, mostly stayed around where I live, which is a shame!

TV & movies

I spent a lot of time watching shows this year, including the entirety of:

And parts of Barry, Desperate Housewives (rewatched it all the way until season 5), and more shows I can’t remember right now! lol

Music

I had set a “fictional” goal of listening to 1 album per day, based on recommendations from my Twitter followers, which I did for a while.

Out of the 39 albums recommended, I listened to 13 of them! Besides these recommended albums, I listened to other ones on my own and really loved the albums Dawn FM by The Weeknd and The Hardest Part by Noah Cyrus. Both are incredibly well written and produced.

I also kept on listening to Plastic Hearts (by Miley Cyrus) on repeat, which is becoming one of my favorite albums ever.

Exercise

Against all odds, I FINALLY went back to weightlifting!

For context, in 2015 I started my fitness journey which eventually led me to weightlift and then get into bodybuilding.

I was following a PT’s diet & exercise plan for months before managing it on my own, tracking my macros…the whole shebang!

It went on until late 2016. In early 2017 I got more into yoga & stretching. And since then… I’ve always had a part of me that wanted to go back to it, but another part of me was very resistant to the idea.

Anyway, I’m now back to it, so far only 2 days a week but I’m planning to dedicate myself more to it again next year :)

It feels really, really good to exercise regularly again. Especially mentally.

And besides that, I’m walking our dog daily, which sometimes is a true workout too given how crazy she is lol

Other hobbies

This year, I got back into language learning (for fun) as I started learning Japanese again (already had 3 years of lessons during high-school, but never practiced after that); and Esperanto.

I also bought a simple Lenovo tablet earlier this year, on which I spent a lot of time drawing and coloring (through the Penup app). Great way to distract myself from my thoughts and get into hyperfocus mode.

Well… that was long!

That’s what happens when you don’t write for a year.

I hope it was somewhat interesting to read, if not, feel free to delete this email ;)

Now, I’d love to know how 2022 went for you?

Any breakthrough, milestone or any lesson that you would like to share?

Feel free to contact me on Twitter or by email.

Wish you all a great end of the year and happy holidays in advance!

With love,

Camille