Last Updated on December 31, 2023 by Natalie
Every year, I write an end-of-year wrap up, highlighting the places I’ve traveled during the year. This was really easy in Mexico because we traveled so much. We went home to see family once or twice a year. We also took two or three vacations per year. Life was sweet in Mexico. How is life now that we are back in the states? Is there still any travel? And what do I mean about the year being nature themed?
Life and Yearly Review for Blissmersion 2023
This was our first full year living in the United State of America since 2017. 2017 feels oh-so-long ago now. Yet, as I read through my memories from December 31st in years past, there were so many accounts of us flying home on New Year’s Eve. Travel is exciting and I’m still always glad to be home (wherever it is and while in Mexico, the being home feeling was split between two countries).
⇒ Hiking at Oak Openings Metropark, located in Whitehouse and Swanton, Ohio
Goals Achieved
- Walk 205 miles
Achieved this on December 13, 2023. That was a great day! We did one last hike on December 31st and I added a couple of miles to achieve a cool 212 miles for the year.
- Finish writing 1 story
I half achieved this goal. I have technically “finished” two stories total, but I hope to make them longer so I don’t know if having endings counts as a finished story when they are lacking 30,000 words? I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this past November and managed to write an additional 16,000 words in November. That felt AMAZING.
Goals Failed
- Read 100 books
I’ve read 14, which is far cry from the previous two years (129 books of 100 read in 2022 , 236 of 100 read in 2021, and my all time high of 246 books read in 2020). I’m not actually that upset for missing this goal. I’ve been using my time to write but mainly my time is used to educate my children and drive what feels like a zillion miles to go places for educational activities. I’ll adjust my book reading goal for 2024.
Disclaimer
Blissmersion is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Posts on this site might contain affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission. All trips, tours, etc were paid for by me and I’ve not received freebies for my comments on tours, hotels, or destinations.
The Being Home Part
We’ve been living back in the USA for a year and a half already. It already feels like we’ve been away from Mexico for much longer. I’ve experienced a fundamental shift of sorts. We had expected to be embarking on another international assignment after Mexico. I realized while we were preparing the international move home that I didn’t want to do another international move anytime soon. That feeling of not wanting to move again intensified once we were back home. By the time the interviews came around for another international position, I was mostly hoping that we wouldn’t be selected. We’d settled back into Ohio living and I’d settled hard.
I settled so hard, in fact, that I didn’t even want to move into the house we finally bought because it was much farther away than I’d hoped to be from where we’d landed upon returning from Mexico. The kids and I made friends. Good friends. We have so many activities and it didn’t really feel overwhelming. Moving away from that was unexpectedly jarring. The advantage of staying in Ohio and not moving internationally, is that we can still participate in the activities; I’m just driving a lot.
I’m slowly adjusting to where I live and I realized that I am in a new phase of life. I don’t want to travel the way I wanted to when I started the blog. Traveling sucks. It gets more and more ridiculous and we the people just suck it up. Inflation has also hit us hard, so exotic vacations are out of the realm of our travel budget. That’s okay with me for now. As much as I love beaches, mountains, and all the new and exciting places, I have also realized that I yearn for vacations in nature and some solitude. If not solitude, then quiet. My new house is pretty quiet. It’s also dark because it’s far away from the light pollution of a large city.
On Nature and Doing Hard Things
I’ve been doing a lot of reading about nature, discomfort, and other topics; the loss of quiet areas, really the loss of nature sounds being a huge problem in our lives. One of the best books I read this year was The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. I read it and then listened to the audio book with my kids (there are some bad words in it, should you also be interested in listening to it with your kids. The curse words are mostly during recounted conversations). In this book, I was introduced to the idea of misogi, doing a challenge that you have a 50% chance at failing, even when you do everything correctly. Also, don’t die. It’s part memoir and part full of information that is fascinating regarding movement, nature, and so much more.
Since this book, I’ve pursued similar books, mostly landing on books talking about nature, including The Nature Fix by Florence Williams. It presents similar information and the author also intersperses personal experiences that came from researching the book.
Another book that I’m working on reading is less about nature and more about resilience is Do Hard Things by Steve Magness. This more sports-oriented, but it applies to more than just sports and I found the information rather interesting.
Though a friend of mine called two of these self-help books, I really didn’t get that from them. Maybe they are, though. I have an increased interest in nature and it’s positive effects on us (“The Nature Fix” talks about how we get the positive effects of nature even if we disliked our outdoor experience- as long as we keep our phones out of our hands, at least!) Maybe nature is a great way to help yourself, though!
On Seeing Friends – New and Old
I’ve worked hard this year to see friends when the opportunity has presented itself. I still haven’t visited with a few close friends in person, which is the weirdest thing. Sometimes stuff happens. However, there were people I hadn’t seen in years and I was able to visit them, including a friend from childhood (and her mom!) that I hadn’t seen in easily 20 years. Another friend did an epic journey across the country and on her way back to her home, one of the camping spots was near my mother-in-law’s and I happened to be visiting at just the right time to see her before I headed back to my home.
Once we moved to our new house, I started driving over three hours round trip for various activities a few times a week. This has ended up being exhausting, so I did miss one friend’s birthday party in December, even though I’d wanted to go. I feel like I’ve driven a million miles in 2023, though it’s really closer to 25,000.
First camping trip set up. This tent does sleep four people, believe it or not.
On camping and nature
We did our first and second family camping trips this year. A friend and I decided to do a preview camping trip in late May at Maumee Bay State Park Campgrounds in Oregon, Ohio. I’ve started working on a post about it, but my motivation for the blog has been lacking. My goal is to write that soon. Our second trip was with a group of people from our educational co-op (everyone was welcome, though not everyone could or wanted to do it). The second campground was more primitive than the first and therefore more challenging for things like going to the bathroom. The vault toilet SMELLED by the time we arrived and obviously only got worse with time and use. So much worse. There weren’t any showering facilities, either, so I washed my hair under a hand pump well with very cold water. However, that’s exactly the natural experience I wanted.
Not necessarily to smell bad or have to wash in cold water, but to be outside for the majority of the day and to limit my online time. The kids had a blast, since we camped with friends both times. The first day or so of camping, I’d get anywhere from 15,000-20,000 steps per day. It was awesome.
Travel
We camped in Ohio in May and in Michigan in August. We spent Christmas in North Carolina. That is the extent of our travel for the year. We spent a lot of time looking for a house that met our criteria while staying within our budget. Travel and house buying don’t usually mix that well!
We focused on hiking and finding all kinds of wonderful forests for hiking. Unfortunately, the weekly hiking we were doing came to an end in May or so. We starting moving around the beginning of the school year, which changed where I can easily hike regularly. I have a few acres, so I walk my property’s perimeter, but it isn’t the forested paradise I was hoping to find. It has potential for making a food forest or at least planting an orchard, though!
The theme has really been nature this year and that was unintentional.
Goals for 2024
- Finish one story and edit it
Parameters for finishing the story is that it should be novel length and be between 70,000-80,000 words. This is daunting, even though I have two stories around 40,000+ words already. Have I mentioned that writing is challenging?
- Submit it to a publisher
This is my stretch goal. Stating it out loud is super scary!
- Do NaNoWriMo in November for the second year in a row
It’s a challenge to stay in the daily writing habit in December, but I enjoyed doing the challenge. This year, instead of signing up at 11:30 pm on October 31st, I’ll try to plan in advance. Though, it’s not my forte, so I’ll likely be flying by the seat of my pants.
- Walk 212 miles
This one is subject to change. Spending time outdoors is so important that I have considered doing the 1000 hours outside challenge as a yearly goal, but it’s hard for me to just be outside without some purpose. Hiking/walking/rambling provide the purpose and exercise. Plus, I would want the kids to do the 1000 hours outside challenge with me and they aren’t always ready to walk with me.
- Read 24 books
This is 2 books per month and fully achievable, though I still don’t know if I’ll be motivated to finish it this year. I love reading, but I find if I immerse myself too much in books I love, I won’t write as much. If I find I’ve easily met this early in the year, I’ll expand as necessary.
Last hike of the year on New Year’s Eve!
Conclusion
We were home (meaning in the USA) the entirety of 2023. We didn’t have to fly anywhere and I actually really enjoyed it. Though, I did drive to North Carolina and back and that was a tough thing, too. My travel choices are changing drastically, in part due to finances. We bought a house and intend to rewild it to bring me the nature (and maybe food forest) I crave. The theme of 2023 ended up being nature and I have a feeling the word nature is going to creep into 2024. Here’s to your health, here’s to nature, and here’s to 2024!
What were your successes in 2023? Did you have any failures in 2023? What are you 2024 goals or resolutions? Do you usually keep them? Please leave a comment below. I love hearing from my readers! If you don’t feel like commenting, that’s okay, too. I’m just happy you’re here!
