Reflections on Summer 2021

My perception of how much time has passed gets weird when looking back more than a few weeks. The beginning of my senior year feels like ages ago and the first day of summer seems like it was both a short while back and a distant memory. I think it's because while not much time has passed, so much has happened.

I came into 2021 with the theme of "expansion". I originally dubbed it "reinvention," but changed it to avoid copying Myke Hurley. Looking back, reinvention is the more accurate description. Nonetheless, even before 2021 comes to an end, I'm confident that this year will be a success—both at expanding my experiences and reinventing aspects of myself.

New Things and Leaning In

In January I wrote:

I am particularly pleased about how my prediction on personal growth panned out. Some of the things I said "why not?" to this summer include: learning golf, hosting parties, climbing big rocks, going out with people I didn't know, making fires, and singing in public. I feel that every decision to exit my comfort zone has made subsequent decisions to do so easier. Unfamiliar things are more exciting and I've gained new hobbies and interests.

However, I think the vast majority of the value I've experienced this summer has not been from just trying new things, but from leaning in and putting time and effort into them. I've previously talked about my fear of "wasting effort" but this summer has really shown that to reap meaningful rewards, you have to put in meaningful effort. I really leaned in to my summer swim team this year—I made an effort to attend all the events, talk to other swimmers, lead team activities, etc. While I usually have a good time on my summer swim team, this year was by far the best and I hope to replicate this enthusiasm in college for a club or other activity.

New People

A (half) joke that I like to say is that I haven't had to intentionally make friends since elementary school because after finding my original friend group, I met new people through introductions or unintentionally. This summer has been filled with these unintentional and unexpected relationships. I met people at parties on the beach, during swim team events, while playing pickup basketball, and via introductions from existing friends. Unexpectedly, I've been able to turn a significant percentage of these meetings into friendships.

Going into the summer, I was worried about staying in touch with some of my friends after leaving for college. I'm not sure how big of a deal it will be, but I'm pleasantly surprised at how much time I've spent with my friends that are in college this summer. It goes to show how leaning in makes it much easier to spend time with and connect with others who are invested in the same activity.

Moving Forward with Enthusiasm

I have noticed that this summer, I've really started to enjoy the process of meeting new people. Maybe I've been listening to too much Not Overthinking, but I feel I understand what Taimur means by seeking authenticity and human connection.

To continue my year of expansion, I want to adopt two mindsets:

1. There is potential in things I haven't done. Some of the people I spent the most time with this summer and now consider to be my close friends are people that I didn't talk to at all in previous years. The same goes for activities/hobbies. I started playing table tennis this summer and it's quickly becoming my favorite sport to play.

2. Enter with enthusiasm. For many things, the enjoyment and fulfillment you get is correlated with the effort you put in. I want to find ways to make get excited about new things by throwing myself into them.

I will be moving into college in the next few days and surrounded by unfamiliar people and things. I'm going to be a beginner again and that is something to embrace.