This was a big year! Lots of major changes, and I’m excited about how I’m going to continue to grow and learn over the next year.
Big Changes & Challenges
- In January I sold my house and moved in with my partner in March – a major life event, yet also one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made! After 9 months of living together I’ve not looked back (except for missing my old decor sometimes!).
- Starting a new job after six years – an unexpected change, but a welcome new challenge!
- 16 day self-drive tour of East Coast Canada with my Mum! – as an anxious traveller and someone who hates driving (and does not competently understand French) this was not a trip I undertook lightly! We survived, we had fun and I have some incredibly memories!
A New Hobby
I have separate annual review for Reading and Creativity in 2023, but this year I have picked up a new leisure activity – board games!
I’ve pushed myself this year to be open to playing more board games because my partner loves them, and it’s such a good date night activity. We now have a small pool of games that I enjoy enough to willingly play (even a few made my Christmas list!).
Incredibly Magic the Gathering is in the rotation – I never saw that one coming! I will soon share a list of what games I’ve played, this year alone I played 26! (it’s over 40 games in 3 years!).
I am also now slowly getting more comfortable playing games with this friends. I don’t think it will ever be my favourite way to spend an entire afternoon (my stamina/interest for it wanes around the 2 hour mark), but every now and again it is nice to support my partner, and I know he does appreciate it.
I got him Ticket to Ride Legacy for Christmas, so I know 2024 is going to involve some regular weekend five player gaming sessions as we work through the campaign! I’m hopefully this will be a good way for me to push on with my social anxiety issues as well as my anxiety over board games!
Connections
I started this blog out of a desire to write again and some undefined urge to share that on the internet. I could just write all this and keep it to myself, but I don’t… I post it for all the world to find. I’ve spent a fair bit of time thinking about why I do that – it’s kind of weird isn’t it? Most people don’t spend their free time writing their thoughts for strangers to find.
I know in my heart that I do this for myself. It’s not for the approval of other people, and it’s certainly not for money! What I think I get out of it is connection – specifically connection to myself. I am the audience for this blog – as strange as that is. I guess I share it as a blog, on the internet for anyone to find, because maybe there are other people out there how have similar experience, or thoughts or are trying to make sense of the ideas that I am. And if I happen to connect with them, then that’s a nice bonus.
Keeping this blog, and my Obsidian vault of notes, is a way for me to engage with my own thoughts and I am starting to recognise patterns and common threads (connections again) in the things that I find interesting. The questions that are important to me. This is something I really want to explore more in 2024 and I want to rearrange my Obsidian to make it easier for me to do this.
Goals for 2024
So looking forward to 2024 I’ve written a few goals for myself. I kind of hope this new year is a little less intense than the last one, I’m not planning to make any more Big Moves for a while!
Health & fitness needs some work
- Get out of bed by 7am every work day.
- On my non-commute days do a fun form of cardio (dance, skipping etc) before work.
- Go for a walk at lunch time, or if not after work.
I will keep pushing through my social anxiety
- Stop being so anxious about asking questions, just ask!
- Invite friends to do things! Organise fun activities like Escape Rooms, and invite people to our home.
Home improvements
- Get the garden under control.
- Redecorate the bedroom, including new sliderobes!
Blogging/Journalling
- Get back on track with daily menstrual cycle logging (Because it is so helpful but I stopped doing it everyday in November!)
- Keep a daily journal note to remember my ideas, thoughts, feelings.
- Engage with more blogs and start my own blog roll (blog rolls need to make a come back).
And finally…
Some of my blog posts I was excited about this year:
- Bunny by Mona Awad – 5-Star Book Review and Analysis!
- Do I even want anybody to read this?
- All’s Well by Mona Awad – Review & Analysis!
- The Outer Worlds: A Direct Hit to My Sweet Spot
- My Problem with Atomic Habits by James Clear
