Through my lifetime I don’t think there’s ever been such a collective buzz about leaving a year behind. And now 2021 is here, so happy new year!
What’s worth taking from 2020
I’ve already made a post about my favorite images of 2020, and you should check it out to see some of the moments I captured. For Christmas I also made a photo book full of memories from the last year, and flipping through it shows that the year has been very eventful. Nothing like we imagined, but eventful nonetheless.
With the arrival of COVID-19, lockdowns and social distancing, I was sure that I wouldn’t be able to follow through on any of my plans for 2020. The biggest project of the year was making the first season of Explore Locally. And needless to say that didn’t turn out the way I had planned for. But I did get to make a few videos that I’m really proud of nonetheless. Fewer than planned, and with a totally different content than I had intended, but not necessarily lower quality anyway. And I’ve learned a lot from making them. If you’d like to check them out, please head on over to my YouTube. While you’re there I would love it if you’d consider subscribing. It would really make a difference.
I’ve learned a lot over the last year, and I’ve written and shared about it in countless posts. For now I just want to keep a few bullet points that I’m going to bring with me into 2021:
- Life is so much better when I take the time to make stuff
- I don’t have to follow any recipe to call myself a creator
My focus going into 2021
During 2020 most of my creative work has been focused around our family adventures. As a family we’ve had a lot of fun looking back at all the fun stuff we’ve done together. I still want to make images, videos and posts about being outdoors as a family in 2021. It’s such a huge part of my life, and something both I and my family want to share with you guys. At the same time I don’t want to become a lifestyle blogger that needs family adventures to be creative. And I don’t want my kids to become “social media kids”. So I’ll probably be even more considerate about what I choose to share. So instead of family adventures being my main focus, it will be one of the areas I focus on over the next year.
Over some periods in 2020 I’ve been posting consistently, even daily through the Corona Chronicles and Blogmas. And I’ve loved it. I’ve also seen a considerable growth in visitors and page views on here, which has made me really happy. I’m always saying that I don’t create for followers, subscribers or likes, but I do like to see that I’m reaching people with what I create and share. So sharing consistently will be a focus area in 2021. But not daily, that’s setting myself up for failure.
I really want to make more videos in 2021, and making a proper first season of Explore Locally is definitely a goal of mine this year. I’m not going to share any more details of that just yet, but stay tuned! And in between the longer form videos, I look forward to making more IG Reels. They’re so much fun to make!
Each year I like to have a new skill to focus on, and this year it’s going to be learning how to fly a drone well. Not just getting it up in the air and getting a few shots, but really mastering it to the level that I can get the shots I envision. This will take some effort, especially since the nearby small plane airport makes it impossible to practice my flying in my neighborhood. But I will get there.
Happy New Year
I hope you’re as ready for this new year as I am. And for those who think 2020 was a total disaster of a year, I really hope this one treats you better. We’re all capable of making it a better year, even if we’re not free to make it the year of our dreams. I think it’s important to make the best of it. To create and notice moments that bring us joy and happiness. I wish you all a very happy new year!
