2021; 2020; 2019;2018; 2017; 2016; 2015; 2014; 2000-2009
Was 2022 a good year for you?
Yes, especially the second half. I started the year still quite badly burned out from the end of 2021, which took me rather longer to get over than I expected. But by late spring I'd managed to take an awful lot off my plate, and perhaps more importantly, I managed to refrain from filling it up again as soon as I thought I had the least hint of available capacity. I remain conscious that 2022 has been a horrendous trash fire for much of the world, and slightly embarrassed by how shielded I am from much of it, but don't actually think that making myself miserable over it will help anyone.
What did you do in 2022 that you'd never done before?
Became part of an evangelical congregation. Had interesting and meaningful conversations in spoken French.
Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Apparently I was hoping to sort out my sleep pattern, which hasn't really happened. I have some vague goals for things I want to do better/more/more consistently this year, but nothing so concrete as a new year's resolution.
Did someone close to you give birth?
No, although my middle sister is due at the end of January.
Did anyone close to you die?
No.
What countries did you visit?
Wales, France, Scotland.
What would you like to have in 2023 that you lacked in 2022?
To be honest, there isn't much that I've been personally feeling the lack of in 2022. The main thing I want in 2023 is a place on the Theology Tripos, which I only realised I wanted relatively late in this year.
I would like a functional penis, but I think that's probably not going to happen until 2024.
What events from 2022 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Starting to practice Spiritual Direction for real, and realising that doing a theology degree is something that I really want to do, and that now is as good a time as any for it.
What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
Resisting the temptation to take on too much.
What was your biggest failure(s)?
Nothing is really standing out.
Did you suffer illness or injury?
I did eventually succumb to plague, but was lucky enough to be only mildly affected and make a full recovery.
What was the best thing you bought?
Like last year some of the the best things I spent money on were holidays and my spiritual direction course, and in addition my A-level courses. I am also very excited by my new kitchen.
Where did most of your money go?
Kitchen, mortgage, charity, groceries & bills. I have been rather remiss in giving to charity this year (see kitchen), but will make sure that gets caught up by the end of the financial year.
What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Soooo many things! When I was writing this last year I was too burned out to be able to remember feeling excited about much, but I have properly made up for it this year. Mostly I have been excited about spiritual direction and learning new things about language and theology, and also going on holiday in France, and cycling, and the way my faith has developed through exploring St Luke's.
Compared to this time last year, are you...
i. Happier or sadder? Sooo much happier.
ii. Richer or poorer? Probably about the same? I've only been working three-four days/week for most of the year, and we spent an awful lot on getting the downstairs done, but I didn't actually have to dip into my savings.
iii. Healthier or iller? Mentally much healthier. Physically about the same - I still haven't really managed to get back into good exercise habits, because I've been prioritising other things.
What do you wish you'd done more of?
Not at lot really. In some sense I wish I'd done more exercise and music practice and cooking new things, but there isn't actually anything I'd want to cut to make room for them, and I certainly don't wish I'd pushed myself to cram more useful stuff into each day.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Basically nothing.
How did you spend Christmas?
We were at home, giving the new kitchen its first major test run, which went extremely well. My sister and some of Robert's family came for lunch, and we wildly overcatered, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
How was your religious year?
Let me explain. No, there is too much, let me sum up...
- I started the year having just realised that I believe I have a vocation to the priesthood, and had a bunch of conversations with a bunch of people about what it might mean to explore than, given the current stance of the Church of England on ordaining people in same-sex marriages
- At that point I was also still doing an awful lot of practical stuff to keep St John's running through Mthr Alice's maternity leave.
- Shortly after she returned I started worshipping at St Luke's, at least in part because I wanted there to be a visibly queer and visibly devout presence within the evangelical wing of the church.
- I continued with my spiritual direction training, and have now taken on two directees, and this feels so right and like one of the most important things I have ever done
- I decided to go back to university and study theology, which may or may not have some impact on what my path to ordination looks like if one ever opens up to me, but is also incredibly exciting in and of itself
Yeah, this year was big, but now I have a much clearer sense of what my path is for the next few years, and whilst I have very little sense of what happens after that, I feel remarkably relaxed about leaving it up to God to show me when the time comes.
Did you fall in love in 2022?
No.
How many one-night stands?
None
How has your romantic life been generally
Last year I said "![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
obandsoller and I continue to be very much in love and to grow together in mutual support and comfort. I would like it if we had more time together when neither of us were exhausted, but we do a very good job of carrying the load for one another. I occasionally think that it would be nice to have a secondary relationship, but then I think about how much effort dating takes and recoil in horror." which is still broadly true, although my interest in a secondary relationship has declined.
What has your professional life been like this year?
Remarkably uneventful. For almost the entire year I was working three days/week for the same client, and with the exception of one fairly short and self-contained addtional piece of work I've been using the rest of my time for church commitments (in the first half of the year), some much needed recovery (over the summer), and studying (from September onwards). The work itself has been demanding enough to be interesting, but not so much as to be exhausting.
I'm also quite pleased with how in demand I seem to be. Part of that is clearly just the sector as a whole, as is clear from the increasing number of calls from recruitment agents, but I'm also having to turn away work from direct approaches from people I've worked with before, so I think I must be doing something right. Next year I've got a fairly busy work schedule until the end of June, with 9 days/fortnight split across two clients, so I'm going to have to get more of my studying done at the weekends than I've been used to, but it should be manageable.
If/when I start the degree, it's going to be interesting to see how possible it is to manage work around that. I'm going to be very strict about not accepting work during full term, so we'll have to see whether there's going to be enough short term stuff I can take on during the vacations to keep the wolf from the door.
What is the best thing you created in 2022?
A space for my spiritual directees to express themselves in.
What were the best books you read?
I apparently stopped recording books that I'd finished half way through the year, so I'm sure I've missed some later ones, but...
Living in Love and Faith by the Church of England - this was a major part of the materials put together to help the church explore questions of sexuality and relationships, and I was very very impressed with its quality; more so than some of the other parts. It remains to be seen what the effects will be, but I am unsurprisingly watching quite closely.
A Liturgy of Grief: A Pastoral commentary on Lamentations - I initially read this in relation to my little bible study group, but ended up using it as the basis for one of my assignments in my spiritual direction course. For me it was a perfect mix of literary and academic exploration of the text, and an exploration of how we can learn from it to support people through grief.
What were your favourite musical discoveries this year?
Hrm. Most of my new musical discoveries this year have been cheesy worship songs, which are, y'know, fine, but nothing I'm really excited about.
What did you want and get?
A new kitchen! Recovery from burnout, and a sense of balance and being on top of things. A path to follow for now.
What did you want and not get?
A clear path towards ordination.
What was/were your favourite film/s and plays this year?
I had one mad day at the fringe, where I saw eight plays, all but one of which were at least good, which felt like a jolly good run. And I saw Les Miserables on stage for (shockingly) the first time ever, and love it.
What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I was 41, and it was a fairly quiet affair. Ramesh took me out for dinner the day before, which was lovely, but the day itself was a bit miserable because church politics over the Lambeth Conference was quite unfun.
Who and what kept you sane?
I wasn't really struggling at any point.
Who did you miss?
Lots of people a little bit, but I'm mostly quite content in my routines these days. Even pre-pandemic my meatspace social life had become quite sporadic because of physical distance from many of my closest friends, and the shift to having video calls become a normal part of life means that I actually do better now at seeing quite a few people than I did before.
Who was the best new person you met?
I think probably Emily, from St Luke's. It's one of those weird things where we haven't actually spent much time together yet, because life is hectic and making friends as an adult is hard, but it feels like we've really clicked in the conversations we have had, and I'm very much looking forward to getting to know her better when opportunity allows.
What are you looking forward to most in 2023?
(Assuming I get in,) studying theology formally.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2022?
Do less! I think one of the things that lead to me taking on too much was a concern that if I didn't commit to things then I might end up just wasting all my time doing stuff that wasn't particularly fulfilling because it was low effort. And over the summer I told myself that that was absolutely fine in the short term, and that outside of the remaining responsibilities I was still committed to, I had permission to only do what I felt like doing and nothing more (except that I wasn't allowed to make any new commitments). And after a couple of months of lots of playing computer games and reading trashy fiction, my energy bounced back and what I felt like doing was learning music and studying and reading improving books and starting new projects, and doing all sorts of fullfilling and productive stuff, which is so much easier to do when it's stuff that you're actively excited about.
Of course, I'm immensely lucky that I was able to pare back my responsibilities in order to make this space, and that I can maintain enough space on top of the things I have to do to fill with things that I want to do. But I'm no longer worried that giving myself permission to do less will lead to my inherent laziness taking over and leading to doing nothing, because despite a whole bunch of executive dysfunction that comes out especially strongly when I'm trying to fit myself into a box that's the wrong shape for me, I am not, in fact, inherently lazy.
Was 2022 a good year for you?
Yes, especially the second half. I started the year still quite badly burned out from the end of 2021, which took me rather longer to get over than I expected. But by late spring I'd managed to take an awful lot off my plate, and perhaps more importantly, I managed to refrain from filling it up again as soon as I thought I had the least hint of available capacity. I remain conscious that 2022 has been a horrendous trash fire for much of the world, and slightly embarrassed by how shielded I am from much of it, but don't actually think that making myself miserable over it will help anyone.
What did you do in 2022 that you'd never done before?
Became part of an evangelical congregation. Had interesting and meaningful conversations in spoken French.
Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Apparently I was hoping to sort out my sleep pattern, which hasn't really happened. I have some vague goals for things I want to do better/more/more consistently this year, but nothing so concrete as a new year's resolution.
Did someone close to you give birth?
No, although my middle sister is due at the end of January.
Did anyone close to you die?
No.
What countries did you visit?
Wales, France, Scotland.
What would you like to have in 2023 that you lacked in 2022?
To be honest, there isn't much that I've been personally feeling the lack of in 2022. The main thing I want in 2023 is a place on the Theology Tripos, which I only realised I wanted relatively late in this year.
I would like a functional penis, but I think that's probably not going to happen until 2024.
What events from 2022 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Starting to practice Spiritual Direction for real, and realising that doing a theology degree is something that I really want to do, and that now is as good a time as any for it.
What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
Resisting the temptation to take on too much.
What was your biggest failure(s)?
Nothing is really standing out.
Did you suffer illness or injury?
I did eventually succumb to plague, but was lucky enough to be only mildly affected and make a full recovery.
What was the best thing you bought?
Like last year some of the the best things I spent money on were holidays and my spiritual direction course, and in addition my A-level courses. I am also very excited by my new kitchen.
Where did most of your money go?
Kitchen, mortgage, charity, groceries & bills. I have been rather remiss in giving to charity this year (see kitchen), but will make sure that gets caught up by the end of the financial year.
What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Soooo many things! When I was writing this last year I was too burned out to be able to remember feeling excited about much, but I have properly made up for it this year. Mostly I have been excited about spiritual direction and learning new things about language and theology, and also going on holiday in France, and cycling, and the way my faith has developed through exploring St Luke's.
Compared to this time last year, are you...
i. Happier or sadder? Sooo much happier.
ii. Richer or poorer? Probably about the same? I've only been working three-four days/week for most of the year, and we spent an awful lot on getting the downstairs done, but I didn't actually have to dip into my savings.
iii. Healthier or iller? Mentally much healthier. Physically about the same - I still haven't really managed to get back into good exercise habits, because I've been prioritising other things.
What do you wish you'd done more of?
Not at lot really. In some sense I wish I'd done more exercise and music practice and cooking new things, but there isn't actually anything I'd want to cut to make room for them, and I certainly don't wish I'd pushed myself to cram more useful stuff into each day.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Basically nothing.
How did you spend Christmas?
We were at home, giving the new kitchen its first major test run, which went extremely well. My sister and some of Robert's family came for lunch, and we wildly overcatered, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
How was your religious year?
Let me explain. No, there is too much, let me sum up...
- I started the year having just realised that I believe I have a vocation to the priesthood, and had a bunch of conversations with a bunch of people about what it might mean to explore than, given the current stance of the Church of England on ordaining people in same-sex marriages
- At that point I was also still doing an awful lot of practical stuff to keep St John's running through Mthr Alice's maternity leave.
- Shortly after she returned I started worshipping at St Luke's, at least in part because I wanted there to be a visibly queer and visibly devout presence within the evangelical wing of the church.
- I continued with my spiritual direction training, and have now taken on two directees, and this feels so right and like one of the most important things I have ever done
- I decided to go back to university and study theology, which may or may not have some impact on what my path to ordination looks like if one ever opens up to me, but is also incredibly exciting in and of itself
Yeah, this year was big, but now I have a much clearer sense of what my path is for the next few years, and whilst I have very little sense of what happens after that, I feel remarkably relaxed about leaving it up to God to show me when the time comes.
Did you fall in love in 2022?
No.
How many one-night stands?
None
How has your romantic life been generally
Last year I said "
obandsoller and I continue to be very much in love and to grow together in mutual support and comfort. I would like it if we had more time together when neither of us were exhausted, but we do a very good job of carrying the load for one another. I occasionally think that it would be nice to have a secondary relationship, but then I think about how much effort dating takes and recoil in horror." which is still broadly true, although my interest in a secondary relationship has declined. What has your professional life been like this year?
Remarkably uneventful. For almost the entire year I was working three days/week for the same client, and with the exception of one fairly short and self-contained addtional piece of work I've been using the rest of my time for church commitments (in the first half of the year), some much needed recovery (over the summer), and studying (from September onwards). The work itself has been demanding enough to be interesting, but not so much as to be exhausting.
I'm also quite pleased with how in demand I seem to be. Part of that is clearly just the sector as a whole, as is clear from the increasing number of calls from recruitment agents, but I'm also having to turn away work from direct approaches from people I've worked with before, so I think I must be doing something right. Next year I've got a fairly busy work schedule until the end of June, with 9 days/fortnight split across two clients, so I'm going to have to get more of my studying done at the weekends than I've been used to, but it should be manageable.
If/when I start the degree, it's going to be interesting to see how possible it is to manage work around that. I'm going to be very strict about not accepting work during full term, so we'll have to see whether there's going to be enough short term stuff I can take on during the vacations to keep the wolf from the door.
What is the best thing you created in 2022?
A space for my spiritual directees to express themselves in.
What were the best books you read?
I apparently stopped recording books that I'd finished half way through the year, so I'm sure I've missed some later ones, but...
Living in Love and Faith by the Church of England - this was a major part of the materials put together to help the church explore questions of sexuality and relationships, and I was very very impressed with its quality; more so than some of the other parts. It remains to be seen what the effects will be, but I am unsurprisingly watching quite closely.
A Liturgy of Grief: A Pastoral commentary on Lamentations - I initially read this in relation to my little bible study group, but ended up using it as the basis for one of my assignments in my spiritual direction course. For me it was a perfect mix of literary and academic exploration of the text, and an exploration of how we can learn from it to support people through grief.
What were your favourite musical discoveries this year?
Hrm. Most of my new musical discoveries this year have been cheesy worship songs, which are, y'know, fine, but nothing I'm really excited about.
What did you want and get?
A new kitchen! Recovery from burnout, and a sense of balance and being on top of things. A path to follow for now.
What did you want and not get?
A clear path towards ordination.
What was/were your favourite film/s and plays this year?
I had one mad day at the fringe, where I saw eight plays, all but one of which were at least good, which felt like a jolly good run. And I saw Les Miserables on stage for (shockingly) the first time ever, and love it.
What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I was 41, and it was a fairly quiet affair. Ramesh took me out for dinner the day before, which was lovely, but the day itself was a bit miserable because church politics over the Lambeth Conference was quite unfun.
Who and what kept you sane?
I wasn't really struggling at any point.
Who did you miss?
Lots of people a little bit, but I'm mostly quite content in my routines these days. Even pre-pandemic my meatspace social life had become quite sporadic because of physical distance from many of my closest friends, and the shift to having video calls become a normal part of life means that I actually do better now at seeing quite a few people than I did before.
Who was the best new person you met?
I think probably Emily, from St Luke's. It's one of those weird things where we haven't actually spent much time together yet, because life is hectic and making friends as an adult is hard, but it feels like we've really clicked in the conversations we have had, and I'm very much looking forward to getting to know her better when opportunity allows.
What are you looking forward to most in 2023?
(Assuming I get in,) studying theology formally.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2022?
Do less! I think one of the things that lead to me taking on too much was a concern that if I didn't commit to things then I might end up just wasting all my time doing stuff that wasn't particularly fulfilling because it was low effort. And over the summer I told myself that that was absolutely fine in the short term, and that outside of the remaining responsibilities I was still committed to, I had permission to only do what I felt like doing and nothing more (except that I wasn't allowed to make any new commitments). And after a couple of months of lots of playing computer games and reading trashy fiction, my energy bounced back and what I felt like doing was learning music and studying and reading improving books and starting new projects, and doing all sorts of fullfilling and productive stuff, which is so much easier to do when it's stuff that you're actively excited about.
Of course, I'm immensely lucky that I was able to pare back my responsibilities in order to make this space, and that I can maintain enough space on top of the things I have to do to fill with things that I want to do. But I'm no longer worried that giving myself permission to do less will lead to my inherent laziness taking over and leading to doing nothing, because despite a whole bunch of executive dysfunction that comes out especially strongly when I'm trying to fit myself into a box that's the wrong shape for me, I am not, in fact, inherently lazy.
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Date: 2023-01-02 12:14 am (UTC)From: