2023 in Review
a new year's day lookback
it’s no secret that i’m a sentimental gurl who will happily entertain notions of reflection and goal-setting that come around this time of year.
2023 was a very exciting year for me, full of life changes and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. as i look back at the year past, these are the moments that I will remember.
at the beginning of the year, i explored a career change into the food industry. i have always been passionate about food, cooking, veganism, community, and media, and, feeling a bit unfulfilled with my day job, i decided to fully plunge myself into a research and discovery process of learning about possible career paths that would bring all of these aspects together. i enrolled in an online vegan cooking course to learn culinary fundamentals. i interviewed career coaches, food bloggers, content creators, small business owners, chefs, and local entrepreneurs. i honed in on my idea—a vegan brunch/lunch café serving loose leaf tea and coffee drinks that doubled as a community events space—and wrote up a detailed business plan. i applied to an accelerator and shared kitchen program, and even made it into the first round (these programs have limited seats and are competitive). through my new connections, i was gifted a ticket to a food convention and had a great time attending. the entire process was exciting—exhilarating, even—but i ultimately decided to put a hold on my aspirations. candidly, my whole life has felt like a very calculated and predictable progression from one thing to the next (in a way, like following the instructions for a recipe), and the fact that i even entertained the idea of a total career change is something i’m proud of.
the stars aligned; dale and i were ready to finally move out of my home state. obviously, that’s what this whole blog is about! but to add some context… when we were still long-distance (in England and in US), the original hope was for me to move to England. but, foreign visa applications demand a lot of requirements to be met, and despite our best effort, me going to England was just not working out at the time. our plan b worked, however, and Dale secured a US visa and came and lived with me in my hometown of Cambridge, MA. that was in 2016. i know that i shouldn’t compare myself to others, but it has definitely weighed on my mind that most people follow the trajectory of: leave hometown → attend college → graduate → get a job & start planting roots near said college (or go somewhere else entirely). i don’t have any shame about staying in Cambridge after graduating, i love Cambridge. but there did inevitably come a point where i craved change, craved that leaving-the-nest experience, craved the ability to chart my own path. and this was compounded by the fact that i yearned for dale and i to live somewhere we mutually chose — not somewhere that was necessitated by the circumstances of visa processes or the economic challenges of being recent grads who were essentially broke. Somewhere that we could discover together. we had lived in Cambridge together for 7 years—SEVEN! YEARS!—and in 2023, the time was finally right for us to move along.
after a lot of starting, stopping, and restarting, i got my driver’s license! check this out. in august 2018, i posted the following:
you read that right. i’ve been trying to learn to drive since 2018!! it’s been a long time coming. lots of studying, driving practice, trips to the ATM since instructors only took cash, lots of bad parallel parks. but with our move to a car-dependent city on the horizon, dale really became my biggest supporter and mentor to help me finally get my license. dale easily got his US license, and got a Zipcar membership, so I was able to rent a car much more often (and cheaply) in order to practice. we found a good little neighborhood with wide streets and i practiced all of my maneuvers there until i was getting shit right on every single attempt. it felt like do or die—my learner’s permit was going to expire in september, and we were set to move in august. mere days before my 31st birthday, i passed the MA road test on my first try! i really feel like this symbolized my perseverance to overcome a fear of failure. i still find driving to be scary, stressful, and sweat-inducing, but i am working on it, and at least i have my license 😀
dale and i bought our first car! basically an extension of the milestone above, but yes, we rented a Zipcar to get to Kia of Attleboro because they were the only dealership in the state that had the exact white, 2023, Kia Niro that we had our eye on. we signed the paperwork.. i believe i was using a temporary license given to me at my road test.. then a few days later, we took the commuter rail back to Attleboro to pick up our baby and drive ‘er home. (listen, i know this isn’t the most interesting thing to read, but i really like to log all of these details to preserve my own memories, banal or not.) and the timing was simply crazy:
jun 25: road test
july 1: buy car
july 4: celebrate independence day & wait for the dealership to reopen
july 5: take car home
july 10: birthday
we’ve since been thriving in our new home of Raleigh. we bought bikes and kayaks. we discovered a small beach near our house. we explored Falls Lake and the covered more than half of the greenway. we furnished our 3bd apartment together. we went to museums, animal refuges, lemur centers, cat cafes, thrift shops, makers markets, movie theaters, and more. we went on getaway trips to Richmond VA and Asheville NC. we had our first Thanksgiving in our own home. we bought our first Christmas tree.
to wrap it all up… this year was all about going outside of my comfort zone. it was about pushing past barriers i had built up in my mind and creating the reality i always wished for. and it all happened in a year. i’m inspired to continue living my life to the fullest, and questioning the voices of self-doubt i sometimes hear. if i want something, i’ll go out and get it. and that’s my vibe for the new year 😊 cheers!
Thanks for sharing! What's your favorite thing you've discovered there so far in Raleigh?