January Amanda truly had no idea what the coming year held… so many plans that went sideways and so many plot twists and surprises (some of them quite excellent ones… some not so much)

WOW! Only writing once a month was supposed to give me more time to process the year, but it somehow made the whole year feel like it went by even faster! 2023 was… a roller coaster. I really don’t know how else to put it. 2022 was this huge build up up up from several half marathons through the giant bucket list of accomplishment of the NYC marathon followed by an epic Disneyland trip and all the holidays. 2023 was all the ups and downs of post marathon life with so many twists and turns and lessons. I’m certainly not going to recap ALL of that, but I am going to recap what showed up on the blog this year and how some themes turned out differently than I’d planned, but in some really excellent ways.

My themes for the year of J were: Joy, Java, “Jar life” which was quickly replaced by “Jam” after I fell in love with our record player, and journaling. I’m going to work my way through recapping those things in reverse order…

JOURNALING: I thought that blogging on here less would lead to revisiting physical journaling again. And while in some ways that did happen- I returned to my Write the Word journals and dabbled in some morning pages, the biggest thing that materialized from my journaling theme this year was revisiting my old journals and journeying back through what I’d written from the end of high school up through finishing undergrad. This is an ongoing project and will continue in the new year, but I have learned SO MUCH from reading my old writings and I am so glad I gave myself the time and space to do this by pulling back on the more public blogging here. I haven’t decided what my publishing schedule for next year will look like, but I know that I needed the space this year to share a little less and reflect a little more.

JAM: Speaking of space to reflect, actually using our record player and gifting myself the time to enjoy a full album has enriched my life so much. Letting myself fall in love with music all over again had been one of the highlights of this year and I’ve found myself singing so much more- a habit that really took a nosedive during the pandemic lockdown days. My enjoyment of Taylor Swift really led me down a full blown Swift rabbit hole after going to her concert in the spring and her albums have taken up more time on our turntable than anyone else, and her diverse sounds became the soundtrack to my year with all its ups and downs.

JAVA: I didn’t write about it much, but I did enjoy plenty of it. With only 13 posts this year, Java got short changed a bit, but I am very glad I got to share about achieving my goal of ditching the chain coffee shops whenever possible and finding local places I love. (Something I will definitely continue in the new year!)

JOY: This theme got the most number of posts BY FAR. Probably not surprising as I consider joy to be deeper than happiness, and so the things that bring me joy I feel a greater urgency to write about on a regular basis. I wrote my traditionally open letters to all three of my wonderful kids. I also wrote my traditional birthday reflection. I shared about books that brought me joy and made me think. I wrote about the joys and challenges of family road trips. And of course I wrote about the perennial joy of hiking season.

It’s funny, my word for 2023 was supposed to be “focus” but I have honestly felt like this roller coaster of a year was immensely disjointed and instead shifted to something else that I can’t even put a good name to… it became a year of whimsy, or giving up plans and giving into the moment, of saying yes to things that surprised me, of wrestling with what is real and what can be real with a little more work… I don’t know how to sum all that up in a word.. maybe open-hearted? vulnerable? curious? What I do know is that I am already brainstorming what my year of K might include and what 2024 might look like… but first I am giving myself a little break to set some new goals for 2024 and refocus on making holiday memories with my littles. That’s why I’m indulging in my once a month posting and sharing December’s post nice and early. I’ll see you in 2024 in some form or another, and I hope you have a very merry, blessed, and joy filled end to 2023 in the meantime.