Here’s the rest of it 📃

Dear Friend,

Hey there, how’s it going?

December is always a weird in-between month, past the hurrah of my birthday and Thanksgiving but there’s still quite a bit of work to do before wrapping up for the year. As work folks slowly wind down and setting their out of office auto-replies, I managed to muster up my remaining brain cells and wrapped up a couple presentations and projects before completely burning out.

This month was otherwise filled with social opportunities, from family time for my dad’s birthday and Christmas to catching up with friends from near and far. I’m grateful to have the last week to turn off my work mode, as Ian and I caught up on shows like Jujutsu Kaisen and the new live-action version of Yu Yu Hakusho. Ian even taught me how to make Pierogies!

I spent the last, dormant week of December decluttering things to prep for the new year. From physically cleaning the apartment (gotta do it before the new years), to purging 30 apps off my phone (my annual tradition), to downloading my statements and re-organizing my digital storage (via the PARA method), I hope to kickstart 2024 with more space and clarity.

In case you didn’t already know, back in April I began jotting down one(ish) sentence every day on “What’s worth remembering?”. Treeing up a bit, here are one memorable moment I had for each month as a quick snapshot for how this year went for me:

• April: I finally got to see Darren Hayes perform live after literally decades, sure, but that’s on top of an already great day of city walking. The Starbucks cashier gifted me a free blueberry scone!
• May: The clouds were so pretty during my drive to work this morning. They reminded me so much of JMW Turner’s paintings, the way the skies are painted with pink hues and pastel blues
• June: The thing I love most about Ian is his contagious sense of joy, and how his silliness always brings light and happiness to my life
• July: Sequoia National Park was amazing. And with General Sherman Tree estimated to be 2,300+ years old, some of these trees have truly seen it all
• August: We had dim sum with my uncle and cousins, and I was so glad Ian was there with me. My uncle even shook hand with him! Another thing teenage me would think it’d be a complete impossibility. Also met up with Chris for a bit since he’s in town
• September: Ian and I went to Apple Seattle, and for a moment I felt really proud for how far I’ve come in life
• October: Had a really nice chat with a coworker whom my anxiety had always suggested hates me, does not in fact hate me
• November: I have so much to be thankful for on this birthday. The tough part is realizing and embracing this love that I do have over the lie that I don’t that’s deeply etched into me.
• December: Ian and I made pierogis from scratch today! It’s like biting into a fluffy pillow (one filled with mashed potatoes and cheese, no less)

And with that it basically wraps it up for my 2023! I wish you a wonderful year ahead. As always, thanks for reading and being with me on this journey. You can always reply and let me know what you’re up to, or check out past issues of Dear Friend, here.

The rest of it:

• Year-end Stats (based on daily average)
  • 🏃 Walk/Run Distance: 4.4 miles, down from 4.5 in 2022
  • 🏋️ Exercise Minutes: 57 minutes/569 calories , from 51 minutes/576 calories in 2022
  • 😴 Sleep: 7hrs 3 minutes, down from 7hrs 12min in 2022
  • 🧘 Meditation: 22 minutes, down 23 minutes in 2022
  • 🎧 Music: My most played Songs, Albums, Artists, Playlists, Stations
• The photos I took this month (link will expire by next Newsletter)
• What’s Worth Remembering for December 2023

Love wins