How was your 2022? Mine was... weird.
I find it weird to call it weird, but I am thankful I was self-aware enough to realise its weirdness. And that's weird too!
January 2022 started promising. I was getting my writing done and was fairly regular with exercising alongside YouTube videos. I also woke up at 5:30 to go for a walk. Who was I?
Well, 2022 was looking like a bright year.
Then Easter came, and I had an accident. Thankfully, I was wearing my helmet (which I always do), and a couple of men helped me up.
But the low I fell into, I never recovered. For some reason, I could never return to my routine, energy, and mood. Mentally, physically, and emotionally, I was frustrated. Spiritually, I was lost. Then in August 2022, I got re-acquainted with my inner child, and that was a week-long crying fest.
It's safe to say that all my plans for 2022 went out the window, and I don't even remember what I had planned for myself.
I felt stuck.
But... then I also had evidence that I wasn't stuck.
My Medium publication was thriving. I went from 255 in Jan 2022 to 1527 by Dec 2022. Multiple essays of mine were getting viral and are still gathering more views. Most of the essays I wrote during this time were from a low, frustrated place. But somehow, writing them gave me a different set of oxygen to breathe.
And though I couldn't write my novel, I instead worked on my free PDF, which led to my first success on Substack.
Plus, I got into Oracle, Tarot cards, and Astrology, and they all said I am doing fine. But I wasn't feeling fine. So I asked about that, and it turns out things are happening behind the scenes in my favour, and I am not supposed to know about it right now.
Great!
So I had to spend 2022 feeling like crap but knowing that actually, it's not crappy at all, though you can't see it.
That's easy to do.
And let's not forget my reproductive system, which makes me have female dread-and-existential crises almost every month.
With all its weirdness, I won't replace 2022 because it did help me get some wins -
Wore a dress for the first time, that too on my birthday.
Had a spiritual dream where I reconciled with my father. (Yes, I have daddy issues.) The dream did help me forgive him.
Restarted my novel (for the 3rd time?) but this time as a pantser and with the Creative Gods as my co-writers.
Survived a two-wheeler accident that could have taken a serious turn.
Completed my Hercule Poirot collection! And started a deep reading project into them.
Rekindled my relationship with my inner child. Hours-long and late-night conversations with my best friends helped me through my crying sessions.
Finished Journals 11 to 17.
Read 46 books and bought 120!
Got to watch the following movies and shows
Friends
Encanto
Death On The Nile
Reacher
Moon Knight
Why Didn't They Ask Evans
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Werewolf By Night
Thank God! (Hindi)
Glass Onion
Published my free PDF - A Writer's Mental Toolbox To Enjoy Every Writing Session. Helped me grow my Substack email list from 50 to 140 and counting in 4 months. Also, thank you to my other best friend/pen pal for beta-reading the PDF.
My essay Which Kind Of Writer Are You? - A Soul Writer Or A Social Writer? went viral, leading to a series of new essays diving into this concept. And now a book on this topic is in the works.
So yes, 2022, you were weird. Confusing. Frustrating. Slow but somehow not stuck. And I will still love you.
But please, next time, give me a head's up.
Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
- Elbert Hubbard