Another year has gone by and here I am again, writing this blog post. Funny how time flies, the older you get, doesn’t it? I don’t like it one bit.
It’s my birthday today and, as on every October 15th for the past… 5 years, I wanted to share a small recap of the past year of my life, with some highlights and some not-so-highlights, as well. It’s been a challenging year, and, I think, one of the worst years for my mental health. Yet, it also has been one of the best travel years since 2019 (oh, dear 2019, I miss you), so go figure. I guess you can’t have it all at?
This post is far from the usual bookish posts I’ve been sharing on the blog lately, it’s a little more personal, but I hope you all will still enjoy reading it!
This past year, I…
- Celebrated way too many years of blogging
- Went to Paris
- Battled seasonal depression
- Took my writing more seriously
- Went to Belgium with my family
- Finished the 2nd draft of a novel
- Missed my family
- Got kind of good at baking cookies
- Went back to London with my sister (fucking finally)
- Hit peak anxiety, fun times
- Got feedback on my book, making me believe in my writing a little more
- Started therapy
- Reached a page views goal on the blog (thank you, Heartstopper!)
- Lost a whole lot of sleep
- Bought way too many plants
- Started the 3rd draft of my book
- Went to Rome with my love
- Went to Florence, as well
- Felt worthless and depressed
- Anxiously traveled across the Atlantic with my sister again,
- Fell in love with Montréal (again)
- Climbed way too many stairs
- Went to Québec for the first time
- Got rained on on a open-top bus
- Took too many pictures
- Went to Strasbourg with my sister
- Bought too much tea (but can you really have enough?)
- Tried being more active on bookstagram… and kind of failed?
- Lived, loved, survived.
My goals for my 29th year
Here were my goals for last year and how I did with them.
- I want to be more positive
A big, gigantic fail here.
- I want to make writing a priority ✅
I’m proud of the progress I’ve made in the past year when it comes to my writing. I may have not written an entire book from scratch, but I worked hard on my 2nd draft and now edits and I haven’t given up, so… I’m pretty proud of that.
- Travel, as much as I can ✅
I’m really happy about how much I managed to travel this year. I missed it and have been craving it so, so much.
- Write another full draft of a book ✅
I’m writing this as a yes, because while I had started a second draft before my birthday last year, I finished it AND have made great progress on a 3rd draft, so…. that’s good!
- Stop doomscrolling on social media
Nope.
- Put myself out there in general and try
I tried growing my instagram a little more, I tried some things and failed in real life as well. A mid-disappointment, but well.
- Grow my blog
My pageviews have grown a bit this year, even if, to be honest, I’m not completely satisfied with this. My engagement has been kind of bad, so… I don’t know. I wish I could have done more, but I prioritized my writing and I’m not mad about that.
- Take care of my mental health
Nope.
My goals for this new year
- Carry on with my writing goals. I’m happy about how much I managed to write in the past year and hope that this streak will continue for this upcoming year. Fingers crosseed!
- Travel, as much as I can. Honestly, this goal will end up here every single year because traveling is like breathing to me. It just keeps me alive.
- Take care of my mental health. Really, really, really need to do better and to work on myself more.
If you’d like to support me and my work for my birthday, it’d mean the entire world. I have a ko-fi as well as a wishlist. Thank you all for reading my posts and being here to celebrate another birthday with me, I am so grateful for you all every single day. Thank you! 🥺😭
When is your birthday? Do you like making lists of resolutions for your birthday?
Do you enjoy reading these kind of personal posts? I’d love to know, so please feel free to let me know in comments!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIE!!! <3 I hope you have the most amazing amazing day, I'm so glad to have met you here and hope we can meet in person some day. It's so great that you've been prioritizing writing, I can't wait to read more of your work (if you're comfortable with that, of course) and hopefully sometime soon I can send you something of mine 🙈
Ahh thank you so, so much Cas, you’re too kind! 🥺🥺 and YES I’d love that, please feel free to message me on twitter or anywhere, I’d love to read more of your work whenever!! <3
Happy Birthday 🎂
Thank you so much!! <3
Happy birthday, Marie! 🎁🎈🎂 I’m glad you’ve had such an amazing past year writing- and travel-wise (Your pictures are making me seriously envious! 🤩), and I hope the next one turns out equally amazing with your mental health taking a turn for the better as well!
And since you asked – I always LOVE reading personal posts like this one! Maybe that’s because I’m just a naturally nosy person, but I also like how posts like this one make me reflect on my own life and goals… And of course, there’s the additional perk of your travel photography!
Thank you so, so much! 🥺🥺 That’s so kind of you to say. I’m always nervous about personal blog posts for some reason, so I’m so happy you’re enjoying them!! 🥺
Happy birthday Marie! I hope you have a fantastic day! I’m proud of all the things you have accomplished, and I love the photos you took (you can never have too many to look back on). Here’s to a good year ahead!
Thank you so much!! 🥺🥺
Happy Birthday! You went on so many wonderful trips!
Thank you so, so much!!
You’re welcome!
Coincidential that you’re only a year older than me, as my own bestfriend, and you also have a close birthday with her- she’s October 19th!! A very happy birthday to you, lovely Marie 🥰
Although you say you didn’t took care of your MH as you wanted to, I’m very proud of you for starting therapy! Onto a good path, Iknow when I faced it myself I had a little fight with my parents as I really didn’t wanteed to go- eventually I caved, thanksfully!
Glad you got to see your sister and travel alot too xx
Ahh yay that’s so cool! Thank you so, so much Kristina 🥺 I’m happy to hear it’s been beneficial to you, I hope it will be for me, as well. Thank you so, so much for your kind words 🥺
In any way it’s a good start! Might you get a good therapist, otherwise keep searching for the one who truly understand you xx you got this
thank you so much! xx
Happy birthday, Marie! Glad you enjoyed Montreal, it’s a gorgeous city, one of the prettiest in Canada I think. Quebec City is also lovely too, if you ever get the chance to go, especially during the summertime.
I too can relate to always doomscrolling on social media. It’s a bad habit that has its consequences, but perhaps muting certain words may help filter out the bad stuff!
Thank you so much, Emily! I adore Montréal so much and Québec city was absolutely wonderful. I can’t wait to hopefully go back, someday! 🥺
That’s a great idea, yes! I need to control my screen time more attentively, as well. Hopefully I can do better!
Thank you! 🥺
Happy birthday!! I’m sorry you struggled a lot with your mental health this year and I’m so jealous of all the traveling you’ve done. I wish I was in a position to travel. My birthday is coming up on December 2.
Thank you so much! I really hope you will be able to travel sometime soon, keeping my fingers crossed for you! 🥺 and yay, that’s soon!! <3
Happy Birthday Marie ❤️🎉🎂 I always like these reflections posts~ ~ all your travelling and writing sounds amazing! It must be so nice to see so many places. I need to start travelling (but I hate leaving my dog, lol)! I hope you are able to travel and write as much as you wish before your next birthday 🥰
Best of luck taking care of yourself, and your mental health! 💞
Thank you so, so much for your kind words, Sophie, it means so much! 🥺
Happy birthday! I’m glad you got to travel to so many amazing places this year, but it sucks that it hasn’t been the best year for you mental health wise. I really hope this next year is better.
I’m also 29 and will be 30 in April, so I’m not sure how I feel about that. I definitely don’t feel like I should be turning 30 soon! I don’t know at what point I’ll finally feel like a real adult!
Thank you so much, Laura! <3 I completely get the feeling, I don't understand where time went and I am far from feeling like a "real" adult, either, ahah. Maybe we never really will feel that way, who knows!
Happy Birthday Marie!! It’s okay if you didn’t do all your goals, you still did a lot!! Keep writing, and keep working on your story! Make your mental health a priority, keep going to therapy and take care of yourself! Keep traveling!
My mental health took a nose dive this year. This was one of the worst years for my anxiety and before it got too out of hand like it had in 2019 I went back to therapy. I left one job, set up dreams for another. I traveled more than I have in years just like you! And I got back to working on my own book. Second draft!!
I am going to validate you and say you’ve done great. You had a rough year but you survived and that is what is important. I look forward to your blog posts so much and your sister Nyx’s as well!! Thank you for making your blog in the first place because when I joined WordPress originally years ago, your blog was my inspiration. So well done and put together, and such compelling posts!! Here is to another day alive on earth!! Happy birthday!! <3 🙂
Thank you so, so much! 🥺🥺 I’m so sorry that this year has been tough for you, too, but I’m happy you got to travel a lot and yay for writing progress! It seems like we’re on the same path here, I love that ahah <3 Here's to hoping this upcoming year can be better for our mental health <3
Thank you so, so much for your kind words, I'm all emotional now 🥺🥺🥺 I appreciate you SO much, thank you for being here! <3
Happy belated birthday! I hope you had a wonderful day and I’m sending you love and virtual cake! I am so excited to see where your writing takes you and I am here cheering you on all the way! The only correct answer is, no you can never have too much tea, you just need more storage space in my humble opinion haha. I adore all your travel photos and I’m proud of you for starting therapy. Mental health is exhausting and your best is going to look different every single day – you are doing your best and I am so proud of everything you’ve accomplished this year even when you having low periods. *squishes in a hug* 💜
Thank you so, so much Clo! 🥺🥺
(and yes, we can never have enough tea ahah, never!)
Happy Belated Birthday!! My birthday is in February. I don’t do goals for the year.
Thank you so much!! 🙂
Happy Birthday!!!! 🎉💜 (again, belatedly)
I hope you had the best day! I love reading your look back posts, it’s always fun to look back at all we’ve accomplished in a year and you did a lot! Lots of good stuff to overlook the bad stuff! I hope you have yet another amazing year! ❤️
Thank you so, so much! <3 <3
You’re welcome! ❤️
Happy Birthday Marie! Take time for yourself everyday even if it’s only 10 minutes. Your mental health and well being are the most important things in life. Have a wonderful year this year!
Thank you so, so much, Deborah! <3 <3
happy birthday, sweet friend ♡ sending you so much love always
thank you so, so much! <3 <3 <3
Belated happy birthday, Marie! Mine was on 14th but if I listed my year like this it would be more downs less ups but I love your idea and I would like to write my own such post from next year.
Thank you so much! And happy belated birthday to you, I hope you had a lovely day!! <3
belated happy birthday, Marie! hope this year brings you good opportunities and great days 🙂
Thank you so, so much!! <3
It’s probably a little late to wish you happy birthday sorry! I never thought about using that special day for a moment of reflection – good idea though. What a year you’ve had, so many trips to fabulous places and time with the family.
Not at all, thank you so, so much, you’re so kind! 🥺🥺 I always like using this particular day to reflect a little bit on the past year, yes! Thank you so much for your sweet words! 🥺
I’m so so happy that this year was the year that you put your mental health as a priority and started therapy! It’s done wonders for me, and I hope that, even with time, you feel much better. Wishing you the happiest of birthdays! xxx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
Thank you so much, Melina! I’m so happy it’s been good for you, I hope it will work out well for me as well, fingers crossed! <3 Thank you so much!! 🥺
Happy birthday, Marie! I’m so sorry this has been a rough year, but I’m glad that there were some good moments and that you had things to look back on that made you happy and proud. I’m wishing you the very best year to come!
Thank you so, so, so much Malka, this means so much 🥺🥺
Belated happy birthday!! Your travels look amazing this year!! 😀
Thank you so, so much! <3
Happy belated birthday!
I’m sorry your mental health was not the best, but I’m glad you decided to start therapy. Sometimes you have to reach the bottom to realise you need help. I started therapy last November (wow, it’s already been a year), and it really helps.
I love these pictures, it’s so great that you got to travel to all these places! Do you have a favourite?
I liked how you described that traveling is like breathing to you, because I feel the same! I had the chance to travel to England first this summer, and it was honestly life-changing. I’m now addicted to traveling, haha, I wish I could just go wherever and whenever I wanted. 😂
Thank you so, so much Morgan 🥺🥺 I’m so happy to hear therapy has been good to you, I hope it’ll work out alright for me, too.
My favorite city is always London, but Montréal really comes to a close second, I just adore it there so, so much. It’s so hard to pick favorites, definitely feel lucky to have been able to visit these places <3 I hope you'll get the chance to travel a bit more in the upcoming year!! <3
This is so late because I haven’t blog-hopped in what feels like months (and it might actually be months) but HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY! I know the past year has definitely had its ups and downs, but I hope the next year ends up being the best yet, especially with your mental health, but also with tons of traveling and writing wins.
I am always cheering for you and I adore you utterly. ❤
Nicole thank you so, so much for your kind words, this means SO much🥺😭🥺😭🥺😭
Always and forever, Marie!! ♥