Hi, friends! Happy first day of February! With a new year comes a new monthly recap series, and I’m really excited about this one. This post is broken down into 5 sections: good stuff, hard stuff, stuff I recommend, bookish stuff, and goal stuff (wherein I’ll update you guys on how I’m pacing on some of my yearly goals). Sound fun? I hope so!
Good Stuff
- Attending the Silent Book Club in Tampa – This is a new book club that is exactly up my alley! We met at a coffee shop in Tampa, chit-chatted with each other for a bit, and then spent a full hour in silence, reading our books. It was so nice! Afterward, we did a book exchange. I had a lot of fun and already have the February meeting on my calendar.
- Finding a psychiatrist – My anxiety has been unmanageable for many, many months and I finally decided to do something about it. I’m now seeing a psychiatrist, someone who is warm and compassionate and committed to helping me feel better, and I have hope that I will finally get my anxiety under control.
- A really excellent annual review – I had my annual review this month, and my director spent most of it bragging about me, which felt really satisfying. She also gave me a score of “significantly achieves expectations,” which was only handed out to a small number of employees in our organization. I know I had a really good year, career-wise, and this really validates that.
- Winning my work’s fantasy football draft – This was such a fun surprise! I started off the season on the struggle bus, but my team got it together at the end to pull off a nice win!
- Lots of time spent with family – One of my favorite things about January is all the time I get to spend with my family to watch all of the playoff games. For a few weeks, we spend nearly all of Saturday and Sunday together, which is really fun and makes my heart very full.
Hard Stuff
- A doctor’s appointment from hell – I’ve already documented this doctor’s appointment. I was hoping to get a follow-up survey from the office after my appointment, but I never did, which means I’m going to need to call their office to lodge my complaint. It must be done, though.
- So much anxiety – I was hoping that the new year would mean my anxiety episodes would magically disappear, but surprise! That has not happened. It’s been another tough month of having that low hum of anxiety rippling through my body on a daily basis, and it really fucking sucks.
- The Dolphins losing their playoff game – Ugh. Will I ever see the Dolphins win a playoff game in my lifetime? I am proud of how they played, though, especially since we had to use our third-string rookie against a very good Bills team. Next year!
Stuff I Recommend
- The Traitors (Peacock) – My mom recommended this show to me and told me I needed to watch it so we could discuss it. I am obsessed. It brings together reality TV stars (from Survivor, Big Brother, The Bachelor, Below Deck, etc) and regular people and they live together in a big castle in Scotland. Three of these players have been chosen to be traitors, but only the traitors know who each other is. Every night, the traitors meet to “murder” someone in the group, and the other people in the group (known as the “Faithfuls”) have to try to find out who the traitors are. It’s fascinating and fun, and I can’t get enough of it.
- Comfy lounge pants – I bought these pants in December because I just couldn’t pass up the pattern and how cozy they felt. I wear them paired with a nice top on weekdays, so I look presentable for video calls while still being ridiculously comfortable at home.
- Kindle pouch – For the longest time, I’ve kept my Kindle Paperwhite in a case and on a whim, I decided I wanted to go case-less and just use a pouch for the times when I need to throw it in my purse. I love this pouch! It’s slim and very protective and looks pretty, too.
- A 2023 desk calendar – I bought this beautiful handmade desk calendar from Etsy. I like being able to see the whole month at a quick glance.
- BBQ cheddar mini meatloaves from Iowa Girl Eats – I don’t know if I’ve ever shared this recipe with you guys, but it is my go-to meatloaf recipe. It is SO GOOD and makes excellent leftovers.
Bookish Stuff
- # of books/pages read: 11 books (3,831 pages)
- Favorite book of the month: Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
- Least favorite book of the month: Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
- Books I abandoned: Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto (abandoned at pg 110; the plot was just so over-the-top and silly) and The Idea of You by Robinne Lee (abandoned at pg 175; the romance was stressing me out so much!)
- Format breakdown: print books (4), e-books (4), and audiobooks (3)
- Genre breakdown: Mystery/thriller (4), romance (4), contemporary fiction (2), nonfiction (1)
- Most recent book acquired: Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind by Judson Brewer (During one of my anxiety spirals this month, I Googled, “best books on anxiety” and this book was on a lot of lists. Let’s hope it helps!)
Goal Stuff
- Go for a walk every day (19/30) – Progress, not perfection, right? In February, my goal is to do just a little bit better!
- Drink a bottle of water every day (13/31) – Oof. This one is not pretty, but it’s a starting point! I do better about drinking water on weekdays, less so on weekends.
- Complete 100 Peloton workouts (9/100) – I am right on track with this goal. If I can keep doing 9 Peloton workouts every month, I’ll meet this goal no problem.
- Watch 6 movies and 6 standup specials – This month, I watched Glass Onion. I was really excited to watch this movie because I loved Knives Out and I liked it okay. It didn’t fully meet my expectations and I thought the ending was rather unsatisfying, but there were some fun twists and turns I wasn’t expecting. 3.5/5, I would say.
- Establish a better morning/nighttime routine – I’m still working on the nighttime routine, but I do feel like I’m doing a lot better with my morning routine. I have a list of tasks I need to accomplish every morning before I start working and most days, I accomplish them!
What’s a recommendation you have?