On what felt like the 99th day of January 2023, I sat down to review my journal entries for the month. I haven’t kept up a journaling habit like this in over a decade. This time, I set the bar low: Write a sentence about the day and you can call it “done,” and I think that’s what made the habit stick this time. Some days I wrote just a few words and other days, sentences. spill out of me.
Today I am sharing a look back at my month. This is what January 2023 was like for me…
On the first of January I decide that 2023 is the year in which I want to document my day to day in a more detailed way. I want to be a better historian of my own life. I start keeping a digital journal (using the Day One app) that allows me to write and upload photos.
On January 2, I write in my journal that today feels like a test. I am being pushed back into old patterns of overthinking and avoiding. I realize this because everything feels so heavy and difficult. My mind is noisy, but I decide to go ahead anyway (which turns out to be my mantra for 2023).
On the third, I have a microneedling appointment. My face is red for the rest of the day.
In the fourth, we get a massive amount of snow I try to embrace the magic.
This is the month where I announce that I will be delving further into the interior design space with content on Wit & Delight. I start offering consulting appointments. There’s so much support from our audience, it feels amazing, even though a sense of imposter syndrome still arises.
This month, we moved Bennett into his own room. She claims the guest room for herself and is very happy with the change.
We have family meals together at the dining room table more often. I make tacos one night and the kids love them. They really haven’t liked anything I’ve cooked in a long time and it makes me so happy.
Around the middle of the month, I start having really weird dreams. She suffered several panic attacks. I start reading the book Flow, and I am totally blown away.
Spending time with friends is a priority throughout the month. For one of those occasions, I make a really great pearl onion tart that only requires five ingredients (recipe is from French Country Kitchen by Mimi Thorisson). I immediately know that it is something that I will do again and again. I also learn one of life’s best hacks: making your salad dressing in a nearly empty jar of Dijon mustard.
This month I realize that one of the colors that looks great on me is bright green. I never expected this, but I wholeheartedly accept it.
On January 20, Joe and I drove north to spend a weekend at a cabin with friends. We eat brined and braised pork shoulder with couscous, apricots and fennel salad. For dessert we eat Basque cheesecake and drink fernet. We antique hunt and marvel at the harsh nature of Lake Superior in the winter.
On the 23rd I can barely get out of bed. Once I finally do, I decide to ride my bike for fifteen minutes. It becomes a forty-five minute drive that changes the trajectory of my day.
I drink a lot less this month, only when I have dinner with other people. I exercise almost every day in some way. For me, this is not about working out to change my body; it’s about exercising to feel better emotionally. It feels very good.
On the 24th, I get my period and realize my irritable nature lately doesn’t mean I’m a jerk, just hormonal. The next day, I apologize for what I said when I was dealing with PMS.
I write this post at the end of the last full week of January. This weekend I’m going to invite some friends to a raclette party. Sounds like the perfect activity in the middle of a polar vortex! The sun is supposed to rise again in the next few days, which always feels like a fresh start to me. Here’s to a fresh start in February.
Kate is currently learning to play the ukulele, much to the despair of her husband, children, and dogs. Follow her on Instagram at @witanddelight_.
