If you know anything about me, you know how much I love new years, months, weeks, and any other beginnings. There’s something about the ability to start fresh that really motivates me. It might just be the new notebooks and planners. Regardless, after the very complicated 2022 I had, I’m very glad to have 2023 finally here. But first, I want to acknowledge a couple of things.

A Look Back at 2022

I set goals every year, though I usually don’t hit them. For the first time in a long time, I actually did. I wanted to lose 25 pounds, and I did that.

I also took some amazing hikes. On the first day of summer, I met up with a few friends incredibly early for a solstice sunrise hike.

Speaking of hikes, on the day after Thanksgiving, three friends and I set out on a 12+ mile hike across Burbank. It took most of the day, but it was one hell of an achievement.

In January, I started helping out at my martial arts school’s program for kids under 8. I only did it because my kid was going to help and needed a ride. But if I was there, I might as well do something constructive, right? No one is more surprised than me to learn that not only do I enjoy doing it, I actually kind of love it.

This year was big on personal development. I spent a lot of time putting myself first, exploring new career paths, and perhaps most importantly, I stopped tying my value to my job. 2022 was a shitshow professionally, but it taught me a great deal. This stock photo is a pretty accurate indication of how I spent much of the year, except this desk is much cleaner than mine.

Here are a few other highlights:

• A fun trip to San Diego and the surrounding area.
• An inspiring trip to Catalina.
• Multiple concerts with family and friends.
• A pivotal year in parenting. (Age 15 is a LOT.)
• A realization that even the smallest finger on your non-dominant hand is really important and breaking it is kind of a big deal.
• COVID sucks. 0 stars. Do not recommend.
• Gained some perspective that only comes with getting really sick.
• So much more, I’m sure, but I want to finish this post in like the next 6 minutes, so if anything is that important, I’ll publish an addendum. Idk.

Welcome 2023

As we head into 2023, I plan to continue with this progress. I have personal writing projects to attend to, financial improvements I need to make, and big fitness goals to conquer. I didn’t quite stick to writing here more frequently over the last few months, but I intend to work that into the plan moving forward. The biggest takeaway on that is that striving for perfection means nothing gets done, so expect a lot of imperfect posts from me in the new year.

You’ve probably heard it said before that without a plan, a goal is just a dream. Or something like that. I’ve already gotten to work setting up regular writing time, goal check-ins, daily workouts, and financial tools. I’ve got half a schedule made for my freelance work, and a loose plan for how it all ties together. The rest will come together over the next few days.

I hope you’ll follow along on this with me, and maybe we can all learn from each other the best ways to get where we want to be, wherever that is.

Stay tuned. There’s more to come in 2023.