Celebrating YOU and the Year gone 🎉

I only thought of five lmao, I know these aren't very impressive but I'm personally proud of them :D

1. Learned a lot of favorite songs on guitar + improved my playing in general

2. Quit my caffeine addiction and replaced coffee with decaf

3. Started working out regularly and thankfully gained a bit of weight (I'm still borderline underweight though so there's a lot of progress to make)

4. Made my grades in school higher and mostly got rid of procrastination

5. Improved my mental health by getting rid of bad habits, such as staying up late, and prioritizing myself more.

1. Took over the lease after my lv roomate moved out. I'm happy to be loving independently and without a lazy, cheap, slob dragging me down. I've been amazed at how doable it is to be completely independent as a woman and how much I've been learning and overcoming.

2. Started working for a company and got promoted within the year while still running my small business. It's mentally and financially been overall good for me.

3. Started to payoff my debts from when I was sick. I paid off a credit card, and got the other two much lower. My credit score has been going back up and I feel hopeful.

4. Lost 30 pounds slow and steady this year. It was the weight I gained from when I had been very sick. I didn't change my eating habits or have a gym, I started working and packing food was all.

5. Made peace with the fact that my best friend and my grandpa (who I was very close with) both passed away this year. I'll always miss them both, but I smile and am grateful for all the great memories we had. Happy that I allowed myself to grieve them and didn't allow myself to feel pressured that I needed therapy for a normal grieving process.

6. Lastly, I applied to a teaching program. After reflecting and talking with my parents, plus the fact my current job is taking too much out of me while not paying enough, I decided that teaching will be a better option for me. Teaching will at least pay me enough in my state that I'll be able to knock off the rest of my debt and have better pay stubs to get a better apartment.

1. Went on a trip to Europe

2. Dropped friendship dead weight; deepened other relationships

3. Paid off a sizeable chunk of my mortgage

4. Started writing a book

5. Started trauma therapy

1. I got into a really good company. It’s been my dream company since the start of college. It took me two tries and and three years to prepare. I aced my interview, because these were all “textbook questions” from school.

2. I learnt how to pick and choose who to create relationships with. Hard decisions had to be made as to who I wanted in my life.

3. I finished grad school. It was the greatest moment this year.

4. I passed my driving test and bought my first car all on my own. My second greatest moment.

5. I was able to lose 3lbs in a healthy way. During Covid I gained weight. I listened to an ex-friend who told me to skip meals since he was doing the same. I gained weight and had an irregular eating pattern. In the end, I learnt how to proportion my meals, and listen to my body. Currently, I’m intuitively eating, knowing how much my body could eat before I get sick/full, and I try to eat less sugars, and processed foods.

As I’m writing this down, I realized how connected different areas of my life are to each other. Never would I have realized that cutting out a friend would make me lose weight. In addition, my job has allowed me to buy my first car, and that my education prepared me for my dream job.

I love this post Queen.

Here goes.

1. Dropped quite a bit of metaphorical dead weight and feel MUCH better now that I have a very small number of friends but who are worth it, and who see my worth.

2. Dropped my pickme habit of trying to make men comfortable in all situations.

3. Worked through family issues with therapy and in doing so allowed myself to let go of the unreal expectations I've had for nearly 30 years that my family will be there the way I want them to be.

4. Invested in my emotional and physical wellbeing by spending not a tiny amount of money on tennis coaching.

5. Studied a very minor language and travelled to the country where that language is used on holiday and used language to the best of my ability, which turned out to be quite well - this was unbelievably fulfilling and enjoyable!

6. Stopped online dating (what a great move).

7. Put in place a serious savings plan to go on big trip next year and/or move house in a couple of years' time.

This year has been good to me, although it started rocky. I have been in poor health and suffered a lot of career setbacks the last few years, but this year I made a lot of progress.

1. I bought my own house.

2. I began writing again and submitted to many competitions. I got placed well for my work. I also began reading again and read about 90 books this year.

3. I got into a fellowship in Italy for writing so my summer plans are booked.

4. I submitted and applied to be an FDS podcast host and will have my interview shortly. That will be so fun and I am so glad I submitted.

5. I am building new skills and taking my career to new heights. I am not making as much money as I would like to but I am doing everything one step at a time.

6. I put down a street dog that I loved dearly, but I was so grateful to have her in my life all through my 20s and I allowed myself to grieve her. In her last few days she was adopted and she had her last meal with me. It was truly an end of an era.

7. I also started learning Japanese (been studying Korean the last five years) and looking forward to taking the TOPIK and JPLT exams next year.

I am so proud of myself and looking forward to what I get up to next year.

This is a fun exercise <3

*The most significant.....I paid off my house.

*I got an official ADHD diagnosis and really put work into the ways that I can use that diagnosis to re-align the way that I live my life and forgive myself for all of the things that I just assumed were "broken" pieces of myself

*I started working with a personal trainer at the begining of the year. I lost 40 pounds and put 10 back in muscles....better than the physical stuff it's something that I've been able to stay CONSISTENT at which is big for me.

*I'm in process of training for a half marathon....I can run eight straight miles as of yesterday. I feel pretty good about that. I'm by no means fast, but I stop when I'm finished not when I'm tired.

*I significantly decreased my social media presence which resulted in me reading significantly more books than the previous year.

*I've been working to be more assertive at work with regards to the needs of my team which has resulted in finally being able to pick new team members in a more collaborative way. When my team is happy, I'm happy.

*My toddler is FINALLY reliably potty trained....partially his accomplishment...but Imma claim it too!

1. Became more organised (got into the habit of booking appointments months in advance and gave away unwanted possessions to charity ) ✨

2. Got my 12 month post grad contract at work turned into a permanent contract ! 💖

3. Made 2 new friends, who are women (had a problem for YEARS of making only male friends ) 💗

4. Got back into my old hobby of reading books ! I've read at least a dozen books this year 😊

5. Focused more on personal style and appearance since being single. Figured out which colours suit me, skincare, signature scent and makeup 💃🏻

6. Learnt to let go of people and realise that men cannot be my friend.

7. Started learning a new language 🫶🏻

8. For the first year in as long as I can remember, I no longer have a need to be loved . I no longer crave a man ! 💜 I feel so free and enjoy my solitude now, rather than suffer loneliness.

9. Got a new job this December, that offers much experience and double the salary ! 🥳 I am hoping I can finally get my plans (mortgage, driving licence, travelling) in motion next year, after barely affording to eat for years and coming from a low income family.

After all this, I still have a horrible feeling that I could have done better. But I am still happy with what I've done this year, and what I've learned.

After losing a career track job I found another. I've remained steadily employed all this year and the previous 1.5 after a long break and a long spell of non career track jobs. I still feel vulnerable but it's better than before.

i love this post and see a lot of patterns: drop dead emotional weight = drop physical pounds = buy a house! lol

alright, let's recap my 2023:

1. worked with 8 private clients in my coaching business and and genuinely made a positive impact on the lives of mostly women (and a couple of HVMs)

2. completed a 3-month gymnastics training program with a remote coach and achieved my first bar muscle ups!

3. left a job that was endangering my life and draining my life force (made me a lot of money though!)

4. dropped a scrote who took advantage of me and had zero emotional intelligence

5. put down my beloved cat...it was hard, but i feel like i passed an important milestone. i was glad to be there to say goodbye to her.

6. placed in the top 400 out of 1000 athletes in a global fitness competition (in my age group)

7. bought (and am maintaining) a high-end road bike (this is the 2nd i've purchased with my own cash

8. started Invisalign

9. completed a certification program in AI Machine Learning...Python course is in progress

10. started Olympic weightlifting classes

11. rented my first car and went on a women's retreat rock climbing adventure--it was so fun!

12. stated playing tennis and indoor rock climbing again, just for the joy of it

13. took a financial course on investing

14. completed a certification course in Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy

15. went backpacking for the first time (did 2 trips this summer)

16. completed my first solo 80-mile bike ride

17. researched and started curating a capsule wardrobe

18. had a copper IUD inserted (Paraguard) (the first 2 months sucked, but it's such a stress-reliever)

19. ran a 10K Spartan (placed 2nd in my age group, top 8 of the 200 woman athletes)

20. roasted my first Thanksgiving turkey

wow. i truly feel like a HVW and am really happy i took the time to acknowldge these accomplishments. i was starting to feel like a loser...but that could not be further from the truth!

time to celebrate! ever onward...and honor yourselves, friends!

happy new year, Queens.

1.     I made a breakthrough in therapy about my lack of boundaries and people pleasing.

2.     After years of financial and emotional coercion I blocked my ex-husband on everything.

3.     I reduced my screen time significantly, dumping WhatsApp chats, and reels, and engaging more IRL, which has improved my mental health significantly.

4.     For the first time in my dating life, when a toxic relationship broke down I walked away without contacting him again. 

5.     I stood up to stepmother and confronted her passive aggressive meddling between me and my dad.

6.     I built a website for my freelance skillsets, which was hard because I have no tech skills!

7.     I cut a pick-me friend loose.

What a great post! I'm loving reading all of these!

My 2023:

1. Focused on continuing education/training, both professionally and personally.

2. Successfully advocated for myself in a professional situation, and stood my ground when challenged, resulting in more income and more respect.

3. Made an extremely difficult decision that would involve leaving a field that I love for an unrelated situation -- but I will make a great deal more money. I am counting this as a win because Old Me would have stayed rooted in my comfort zone no matter how much I was suffering financially. (I want to credit FDS here for making good comments on a previous post I'd made when I was struggling with that decision. These comments were among the many things that helped me make the move.)

4. Gained so much clarity about my past and present relationships. A lot of stuff just sort of "clicked" and I was able to ease away from some people and (even more importantly, IMO) not feel a bit bad about doing so. It's also good to be able to look back and laugh, instead of just cringe.

5. I'm not sure what to call this, but looking back, I see that I've managed to tone down my "take everything personally" default reactions. Sometimes that reaction is warranted, but sometimes it's not, and I'm finally able to shrug things off and move on, consciously choosing what I used to think of as "selfishness" but which I now recognize as "prioritizing myself." I think, too, a lot of my default reactions were rooted in the low self-image I had in childhood and adolescence -- I've been doing a lot of work on that, and finally I'm seeing progress. I'm also being more selective on where to spend my anger.

6. Made some strides, musically. Enjoying that very much.

7. Did a bit of traveling, finally, and quite a lot of nature-time.

8. Developed an existing romantic relationship. It was already a good one a year ago -- now it is even better.

You didn't ask what we want to work on in the coming year, but I'm going to say those anyway. I seem to only be able to really focus on a few things at a time, so while I'm happy about the above, I'm sad about a couple of important areas where I've made zero progress or even backslid. But since I've achieved a professional/financial milestone, I'm going to be able to spend less time WORRYING (and trying to pick up side gigs), and more time doing the things I've had to neglect for the past year.

1. First of all, of course, I'm going to learn the ropes at the new job and attempt to be as kick-ass as possible, and not get derailed by imposter syndrome. This goal will, of course, continue throughout the year and onward.

2. Then, I'm going to celebrate my new income by drawing up a good budget -- I'd love to be able to come back here in 12 months and say, "I paid off my debts!"

3. At the same time, I'm going to refocus on my physical health and my physical environment. All I need on the physical health part is extra time -- and I'll have that. For the physical environment -- my home, I mean -- some of that can be achieved with the extra time, and some will be achieved with the extra space in my budget. I'm not going to spend wildly -- but there are things I've been wanting to repair or improve, and now I'll be able to do that. It's so liberating!

I quit smoking!! I had done so for many years, so standing still on the fact that I've managed to quit it still feels a little surreal?

I left my sexist job and got a new one that's more in the field I want!

I've been setting better boundaries with the people in my life (primarily by distancing myself from them) which has done my mental health a lot of good.

I got a cat this year that I'm really grateful of!

I have intentions to manage my money better in the coming year, as I'm not doing that so well at the moment. It's something I'm struggling with, but listing my intention to be better here as a positive helps me appreciate the effort I'm already making.

I really need a FDS discord, where we can roast scrotes, and be like reddit but in our safe area. That's my wish. as for the creeps wanting to invade, all the members need to speak on mic to verify that they are women.