Hollyisms

Personal ramblings and thoughts

A review of 2023

I haven’t wrote a yearly review in quite a few years. I think my last one was a review of 2019, so it’s kind of understandable that I took a few years off given that the world was turned upside down in 2020.

If I had to sum up this year in one word it would be “struggle”. The struggle was well and truly real.

It was a year dominated by illness. It took 8 months of feeling unwell before I finally got a diagnosis of chronic sinusitis and the news that I would need surgery to fix the issue. I’m still waiting for that surgery (it looks like it won’t be until July 2024) and until then I’m going to have to continue living with these awful symptoms that have plagued me all year. Fun.

This illness had a huge impact on everything this year. I’ve never felt so exhausted and I’ve never struggled as much with motivation as I have done in 2023. My physical health had a massive toll on my mental health, and I spent most of the year in survival mode.

I was also incredibly burnt-out from work. I had a ridiculous number of projects from 2022 that had to roll over into 2023 due to various circumstances; none of which were my fault. I felt so out of control in my business; I struggled to take on new projects because I was trying to deal with all the projects that had dragged on for far longer than they should have.

It’s only now that I’m reflecting on the past year that I realise the burnout I was suffering was probably contributing to the issues with my physical health. All in all, I was a bit of a mess.

But despite this, 2023 wasn’t a complete write-off. I actually managed to achieve one of the biggest goals I set myself this year, which was to get our kitchen extended and have a brand new kitchen installed. It was a big job that took the majority of the year to complete (from reaching out to an architect in January to the final piece of the kitchen being installed just a couple of weeks ago) but I’m so happy with how it’s all turned out.

Let’s take a closer look at what happened in each month this year:

January

  • Turned 29 and was fortunate enough to see Peter Kay live on my birthday.
  • Started feeling unwell with cold-like symptoms. Who knew I would still be feeling unwell almost 12 months later. 🤒
  • Treated myself to my first Apple Watch.
  • Reached out to a builder and architect to start planning our kitchen extension.

February

  • Went to see Weird Al in concert and drove into Manchester city centre for the first time; something that I was absolutely terrified of.
  • Went to the gym for the first time ever! And I didn’t hate it! In fact, I’m still going. 🤯
  • Got discharged from the physiotherapy.
  • Started scanning and digitising my family’s old film photos; something I’ve been meaning to do for years and that I’m so glad I did in the end.

March

  • Tried to go to Paris. Got as far as the gate before finding out we couldn’t travel. Cried for a week.
  • Daisy got spayed and we survived a difficult couple of weeks with her looking like a lamp.
  • Reached out to an architect and builder to start making plans for our kitchen extension.

April

  • Had a makeover at Charlotte Tilbury because I thought it was about time I learned how to do my makeup.
  • Had a little holiday to Wales and got really lucky with the weather. It kind of made up for missing out on Paris.
  • Had a lot of kitchen design appointments.
  • Went to see the RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 4 tour with a friend.

May

  • Work began on our kitchen extension!
  • Went to watch a Eurovision semi final preview show because Eurovision was held in Liverpool this year.
  • Went to see The Dark Knight at the cinema for the 5th time.
  • Went on a hen party and actually enjoyed myself, to my surprise.

June

  • Said goodbye to our old kitchen and started living off ready meals.
  • Survived a weekend alone (well, just me and Daisy) when Tyrone went to Germany for work.
  • Launched a digital product shop for my business.
  • Went to see the Pet Shop Boys in concert.
  • Went back to Shropshire for a family barbecue.
  • Went to Chester Zoo for an adults only evening which was the dream!

July

  • Took myself off for a spa day to get away from the kitchen chaos. It was very much needed.

August

  • Finally got a diagnosis for my mystery illness!

September

  • Made it to Paris! We spent a couple of days in Disneyland Paris and a day exploring Paris.
  • Rode Space Mountain again. Yes, this needs it’s own point in the list.
  • Our new kitchen was delivered!

October

  • The kitchen fitter started work and we finally got a working kitchen again!
  • Celebrated our 14th anniversary.
  • Celebrated Tyrone’s 30th birthday.

November

  • The kitchen was (mostly) complete.
  • Had a really successful Black Friday with my two businesses.

December

  • Booked a trip to Japan! We’re going to Tokyo for two weeks in May in celebrate our 30th birthdays.
  • Went to see Måneskin in concert.
  • Hosted Christmas at our house in our new kitchen!

How was 2023 for you? What were your highlights?

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