I was reading through one of my favorite Substack newsletters, Emily McDowell’s ‘Unqualified’, and at the bottom of her recent post on her thoughts from 2023, there was a list. She referenced that she got the suggested ways to bring in the New Year from Lacy Ann Young, and I loved them.
I took a screen shot so I could do them today, on New Years eve, to honor the end of this 12 month parcel of my life, and share them with you.
Here is the list:
So let’s give this a go, shall we?
1. Pull out your calendar and walk through the year month by month. Give each month a theme name and sum it up in a sentence or two
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January - Choices This month was the in the new year since we moved back home to NC from Washington state, in the stages of choosing what we want our life to look like and how to settle back in to a familiar place but in a new way.
February - Demolition & Decorating We tore down the old, rotting chicken coops on my property piece by piece which took a few days or work and I started re-decorating our house that we had moved back into for a while.
March - Beginnings & The Beach I started this month on the NC coast, camping with my parents and a childhood friend, starting to grow Evergreen Era Design, and the beginning of Yoga Teacher Training!
April - Wellness A month filled with therapy, biking, yoga, camping. I dipped my toes into a part time gig being an e-bike tour guide around Asheville (that didn’t last long unfortunately…) and cried a lot in our YTT circles.
May - She’s a Boss! I captured my very last elopement on one of my favorite trails with an amazing couple before closing that portion of my business I ran successfully for the last 7 years. I also hired on a contractor to grade a road, managing the project fully myself. Two things I am quite proud of!
June - Connection Lots of time spent with friends and family, picking blackberries on the property, going for walks, picnics in the summer sunshine, celebrating the end of YTT with everyone, free concerts outside at the library amphitheater, and more. Got my website for Evergreen Era Design up and running!
July - Deep Summer Dreaminess A month spent doing all the things we love most - Outdoor concert at the Salvage Station (our first big event in a while), paddling the French Broad, tubing the Green, planting and herb garden, Hiking to deep blue swimming holes, biking over rocky landscapes DuPont, Rafting the Tuck, traveled to a new city and celebrated my 31st birthday.
August - Interviews I got a dream part time job with Hillytree Design, but didn’t get the full time visual creative producer job in the bike industry. Lots of joys and disappointments amidst sunny days at the river with friends, solo hikes on the parkway, and trying my hand at bread baking.
September - Slowing Down Embracing the last bits of summer with my first time camping on the property in T@bby, dips in nearby streams starting to chill, teaching a friend photography, and taking photos of a million mushrooms lining new trails I explored.
October - Life shifts The month started with a mix of everything in life - medical procedures, work gigs, and personal adventures. It ended with our world turned upside down when we brought our new pup, Luna, home from the random adoption event we stopped by.
November - Adjusting The first month of figuring out how to be a puppy parent filled with tears, hard convos with Ian, and lots of google searching. Also, our first bout of Covid that cleared our schedule for 2 weeks.
December - Training & Snuggles A deep dive into training myself in releasing my deep seated anxiety and need for control, while also training Luna how to ‘stay’ and walk on a leash. A slow energy ease into winter with one big adventure for Ian’s birthday on bikes.
2. Think about who you were, what you did, and how it felt. Was it aligned or misaligned? Do you want to offer any words of gratitude or call your energy back from a specific event or place?
This was a really hard year but a beautiful year all the same. A lesson on how to embrace the dualities that exist in our lives all the time.
On the painful side, I was navigating a mix of various health issues, concerns, and discomforts while also navigating what to do for work and money. Both of those things can be quite stressful on their own, but fielding them together has been quite the challenge.
On the beautiful side, there were so many enriching, heartfelt, and enjoyable experiences throughout it all (as you can see in the year wrap up above).
I think am simply grateful for the deep work I’ve done to try and live my best life while loving others well.
3. Pull your expenses and make a pie chart (banks and credit cards will automatically do this). See where you allocated money energy. What was your favorite trade of money energy for an experience you wanted to have? What was your least favorite?
This obviously isn’t all of my expenses, but it is my credit card spending, so I figured it would give you a good idea. Since I didn’t have much income this year, I didn’t spend much money.
I spent A LOT of money on shopping this year - and that was because I was finally decorating our house in a way that I love. It also was a way to show people my style for my interior decoration business, so it was an investment. I don’t regret any of that spending and really love how our home is coming together. If anything, as my budget grows, I hope to be able to purchase more high-quality and sustainably minded materials.
I will definitely continue to spend money on making my home feel good and more functional in the future!
As far as my least favorite trade of money energy…. I honestly don’t have one.
I have always been a bit overly frugal with my spending, and saving makes me feel safe, so spending frivolously is not in my nature. This year I particularly stepped out of my comfort zone with all the big spending I did on Yoga Teacher Training, grading a road into the property, and decorating our house. I drained one of my savings accounts fully, and although I did have moments of worry throughout, I was doing things that i’ve always wanted to do.
That’s never a waste and at the end of the day, I’m still financially okay! Very grateful for all of that.
4. Pull a photo of yourself from each month and put them in a folder on your phone. Go photo by photo and speak kind words to yourself. What do you notice about who you were in that moment? What do you want to celebrate or grieve?
Though I decided to do keep this more personal and did this portion in my brain, here are the photos I pulled for the year and placed into a 2023 album.
January, February, March, April, May, June
Lots of gentle care and encouragement being sent to this girl who has been trying her best to heal and live and love (herself and others) as deeply as she can.
July, August, September, October, November, December
5. Declare 2023 complete with love and gratitude, and welcome 2024 by speaking all the joy you know is coming. Make a list of what you’d like to invite, experience and live into in 2024.
I invite the bravery to embrace imperfection.
I invite an acceptance of anxiety, fear, worry and the willingness to feeling it all, learning what it wants to teach me then letting it pass.
I invite the new experience of caring for a living thing, our pup Luna, and all the new memories it makes for us and our little family.
I want to experience Evergreen Era Design growing to serve more people and make the world a more beautiful and peaceful place to live in.
I invite the hard things in life as lessons - as teachings to learn from and purposeful things to experience.
I want to live into my most confident self, speaking my truth while continuing to honor others.
I am wishing you all a lovely New Year, a sweet ending to 2023, and so much love for a 2024 filled with all the deepest, most beautiful and purposeful experiences life has to bring!
