2022 has been quite the year investing-wise. There will be no shortage of articles written about what has occurred – and what is likely to come next. This week alone, I’ve been on five webcasts and read over twenty articles. If you are seeking this type of content, may I suggest this article written by Melody Hobson and John Roberts, co CEOs of Ariel Investments. I found it to be very helpful and insightful. My favorite line – “everybody agrees but nobody knows.”

Rather than add to the “investing year in review” commentary, I thought I would dedicate my last Pam to Paper of the year to sharing a year-end practice I recently completed.

I’m part of a travel & adventure community called World Playground. In addition to traveling together, this group hosts monthly Town Halls where we discuss a given topic. For December, the topic was 2022 Time Capsule. We were asked to answer and share our responses to these four questions about 2022:

1. What was your favorite memory of the year?
2. What is the most important lesson you learned this year?
3. What are you most proud of from this year?
4. If you had a goal, one word intention, or another plan for 2022, how would you rate your progress in this area of your life?

I’ll share my answers below and if you are so inclined, send me an email or share your responses with me next time I see you!

What was your favorite memory of the year? – This was hard to answer – as so many stand out. But this is the one I keep coming back to!

In February, I took a last-minute trip to Florida with my lifelong friend Becky. It was my first airplane trip post COVID and the whole five days were a dream. Her parents have a place there but were unfortunately unable to join us. However, that didn’t stop their friends from including us. One night, their friend Steve who is a talented musician hosted a concert on a beautiful beach in Naples. About fifty of us brought beach chairs and snacks and he put on a private shoe. The music, food, company, and sunset were perfection. If I close my eyes, I can still feel the breeze and hear the acoustic tunes!

What is the most important lesson you learned this year? – If you’ve been following along, you will know that I had a bit of a rough year health-wise in 2022. First came Shingles in May and then I had my first go-round with COVID in October, which lingered for ~ 6 weeks. Both of those experiences were not so gentle reminders of a critical lesson – staying healthy is my number one priority. Hard stop. I’ve always paid attention to my health and taken it very seriously but now it is truly my first screen on everything. If it doesn’t serve me health-wise, it likely won’t happen.

What are you most proud of from this year?- You’re reading it right now! On May 6th, I sent the first Friday Five. I had gotten away from my newsletter practice and was craving a creative outlet that would also allow me to stay in close contact with clients and friends alike. I built my website, formatted a blog section, and have designed and written an email every week since. I’m very proud of it and I thank you for reading along each week!

Reflections on 2022 intention or goal – My word for 2022 was “recalibrate.” 2020 and 2021 felt a bit off kilter to me – for the obvious pandemic and work-related reasons, plus a few self-inflicted ones like renovating my entire house during a global supply chain crisis! My hope for 2022 was to get everything (health, business, house, fitness routine, travel) back into alignment and recalibrate my life. I definitely made some progress but the turbulence of 2022 caused by the market and my health issues threw me a bit off course – ha! I haven’t landed on a word for 2023 yet..but I certainly still have some calibration to complete.

There you have it – a great reflection on 2022! As I said above, I’d love to hear from you. Send me a note or tell me next time I see you.

I’m grateful for each and every one of you reading this article and look forward to sharing more times together in 2023.

Until then, wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season,