2022: year in review

2022 ended up being an exciting year for me, sort of like a taste of what’s to come in 2023. Like all the seeds I’ve been planting are finally starting to sprout. It was a year full of healing and lessons, and then by the end of it, just started to feel very full and beautiful.

Books:

Total Read: 100

Comics/Manga/Graphic Novels: 40

Fiction Novels: 30

Non-Fiction: 14

Memoir/Essays: 14

Poetry: 2

Writing:

Newsletters Sent: 13

Essays Published: 11

Books Written: 0.5

Growth Stats:

New Email Subscribers: 3

New Website Views: 1,325

Things I accomplished:

– Getting out of credit card debt. Most of my debt removal was in 2020-2021 and most of it was thanks to my mom (I owe her eternal gratitude), but I paid one final overdue bill this year that was going to be sent to collections, and it felt so good to just fully get my finances cleaned up. (My debt experience is a story for another time lol.)

– Starting to save and invest. I don’t yet have very much to contribute to this, but I’ve successfully been able to send money to both these accounts every single month once I started, and I’m quite proud of myself.

– Developing a sustainable rock climbing practice. I set aside the finances, I acquired shoes, I kept going even when my fingers were ripped and my achilles heels were blistering, I got better at recovering after climbing, I got better at time management within my week, I made lots of acquaintances and friends (and one boyfriend), I got second in a competition with my team, and I improved my climbing every single week (ended the year with about four V6 routes under my belt).

– Acquiring a boyfriend. This may sound like a weird accomplishment, but it took a lot of inner work. I had to decide I was willing to risk rejection again, create space for a relationship in my life, examine past hurts and past relationships to heal and grow from them. I’m in the best relationship of my life (by FAR) and I never knew it could feel this amazing. Worth all the work, all the growth, all the hiccups. I love love, I’ve always been a romantic, and I’m excited for our relationship to deepen in 2023.

Things I failed at:

– Publishing my book when I wanted to. My journaling book remains currently unpublished. But now I’m grateful that I didn’t accomplish this goal, because I learned some wildly important lessons at the end of the year that I want to incorporate into my book, and now I feel like it would have been totally incomplete without these add-ons. Full steam ahead though, for an early 2023 publication, because now the book feels ready (stay tuned!).

– Getting rid of my warts. I have been plagued by warts since 2020. I developed the first one when I was broke, depressed, and trapped with a narcissist in the first half of 2020. I developed a few more after my brother died in the second half of 2021. In Louise Hay’s book, You Can Heal Your Life, she talks about how warts represent self-hatred, and that was definintely true for me, especially in how I went about trying to get rid of them. At one point I was trying to burn them off with matches, and because of how I felt towards myself, I felt I deserved the pain. Pretty dark stuff. Now I’ve gone back to the OG wart removal: apple cider vinegar and duct tape. I feel like personally, my body will respond better to nutrients and antioxidants, rather than medical grade poison. We’ll see what happens. But I’m grateful to have worked through a lot of the emotional issues that these blemishes brought to the surface. In fact, I had it on the top of my self-improvement list that I needed to get rid of my warts before I would allow myself to start dating again. Thankfully, I developed enough self love in myself that I was able to attract my now boyfriend into my life, even with these warts stubbornly remaining. What a journey this whole thing has been. (Thx for the lessons @ warts, but respectfully, get the fuck off my knuckles.)

– Getting a job I like. I was really wanting to get out of childcare and get a job I can turn into a career, whether getting my writing to take off or snagging a cool remote job that energized and inspired me. I accomplished the first half of the goal: I quit my after-school driving job and turned down a handful of child-related job offers. I also finally faced the dark thoughts that emerge every time I’m unemployed, which was a huge breakthrough for me. I’m currently in the first part of an interview process for a job I’m super excited about, so I feel hopeful that this failure will turn into a success by early 2023. But overall, I’m grateful for this “failure” because it forced me to do a lot of inner work around money and self-worth.

Goals for 2023:

– Learn how to play chess.

– Play more piano and learn a couple songs really well.

– Take some boxing lessons and see if that’s something I would enjoy (because I’ve been thinking about it for several years now).

– Continue to set new goals to improve my rock climbing abilities. (I’d love to get some V7’s in 2023.)

– Delete my Spotify account and buy a record player.

– Delete my Amazon account and switch to as much local/handmade/small shopping as possible.

– TRAVEL. (I haven’t been on a plane since 2019 and haven’t been camping since 2020.)

– Move out of my parents’ house. (Hopefully before I turn 28 in June:’)

– Acquire a job that I’m excited to grow with and invest energy into.

– Publish my book, The Simple Path of Journaling.

– Finish the draft of my coming of age memoir that I started in spring 2021.

Energy for 2023:

More photo worthy adventures. I took a looooot of selfies in 2022, and now I’m ready to shamelessly admit that I want to have more photos taken of me and I want those photos to be in pretty places and cool experiences.

And just like, being more out in the world. Connecting with the local community. Creating some products. Marketing myself. Making more of a statement and impact in the world.

Last selfie of 2022: