A 2023 Mid-Year Review – The Year So Far

Well, 2023. What a year so far.

At the beginning of the year, I started with a sense of energy and excitement for the year ahead. A rejuvenated idea of my goals and what I wanted to achieve this year.

And do you know what? Unlike the last few years, plans and ideas have actually been falling into place. Yes the initial burst of motivation wore off slightly as February rolled around but those goals I wrote down at the beginning of 2023 didn’t completely fade away.

Among other things, two of my goals for 2023 was to get a promotion and increase the amount of views on my blog. 

I’ve ticked off both of these and so much more, so 2023 has got off to a great start and here’s some more of my favourite memories from this year…

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I spent 4 wonderful nights in Seville, 2 nights in Lisbon eating all the Pasteis de Nata, a week in the Algarve, I saw Harry Styles and Arctic Monkeys all in one weekend, my blog has had the same amount of views in 6 months as it had the whole of 2022, I’ve done my first work trip since May 2022 to Croatia (and there was no broken foot or car stolen this time so I’m calling that a success), my sister and I had a great time shopping in London for a girly weekend, there was a day spent at Rudding Park spa, lovely meals out in Holmfirth, Leeds and Farsley, fun times spent with family and friends, and so much more.

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January to June 2023 has fully been filled with fun and lots of joy.

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So, what’s in store for the next 6 months? It’s a good time of year to take stock, to get that motivation going again. Kind of like a mid-year restart. 

For me, my main focuses are going to be my blog, my fitness and the people around me. 

Increasing the views to this blog is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Can you believe I’ve had this blog for nearly 9 years? It was always just my space for writing and creating and it was something I initially started so I could get a job writing in the travel industry. And do you know what, that worked out for me 9 years ago when I landed my first “proper job” as a Content Intern, leading onto becoming a Content Writer at a travel company. What a dream come true.

Now, although I still work in the travel industry, my main 9 to 5 isn’t so much writing about travel. So that’s why I want this space to be something more. I want to make it into something. I want to create good and useful blog posts about travel around the 9 to 5. I want to be more consistent, practice my photography so my images are better. I want to practice my writing because that’s the only way to improve. And I want to earn some money from this blog one day. That’s the goal. I know it can be done and it might take me a while to get there but hopefully one day it’ll happen.

So, goal 1, achieve 25k views in total for 2023. Also I want to write on average 1 blog post per week. I know this isn’t a lot compared to others, but it would be progress for me. And from what I’ve seen this year, bit by bit I’m making improvements and they’re paying off. I have a load of travel content to catch up on – both from travel abroad and posts from Leeds and Yorkshire, plus I’m going to start bringing back more journal style posts like this one.

Another focus for the second half of the year is to be more consistent at the gym. The first 4 months of this year were almost non-existent in terms of movement and good exercise. Winter took a good hold and I just kind of went into hibernation mode. I basically lost all motivation for my usual morning classes at the gym. It’s time to change that because I know exercise makes me feel so much better, gives me more energy and helps me focus. So, now the days are longer, I’m going to get into more of a routine and stick to it. Goal 2, an average of 3 gym sessions per week and I’d like to get my average step count for the year to 8k steps per day.

Goal 3, and this is a bit of a vague one, I need to make more effort with the people around me. Me and my friends have spoken about this and sometimes we think we’re still struggling with a bit of a covid hangover. It’s weird to explain but sometimes I just don’t think to arrange meeting up with people. Like I mean it can be weeks between me seeing some of my closest friends. After the last few years, there are loads of memories to be made and good times to have.

Goal 4 is to take part in some sort of writing and/or photography course. This is linked with my first goal and I’m excited to just learn again. Whether this is a photo walk around Leeds with Take It Easy (a film development lab in Leeds) or something a bit more robust, I just want to learn again and develop skills I enjoy.

There’s also a lot already in the calendar for the next 6 months including dog sitting our friend’s dog for a few weeks in July, two weeks in the USA in September including 5 days in Seattle, going to Seville again in October and a weekend with my friends from school in August. I have a feeling it’s going to be a good second half of the year!

How’s your 2023 going so far? Hopefully full of happy memories with some exciting plans coming up for the next 6 months!