Thank you, 2023
By Erin Deborah Waks
I did a lot in 2023. I accomplished so many items on my Bucket List, it's kind of crazy.
I kicked off the year working at one major newspaper, then got my Diploma in Journalism.
I lived in Morocco for three months, learning Moroccan Arabic and traveling to all the places I'd been dreaming of visiting.
I went solo traveling in Sydney and Melbourne, spending hours trailing around art galleries and drinking coffee.
I moved back home and saved some money. Enough to know I could book a weekend trip to Paris if I felt it absolutely essential.
Then I started my new job; I should say, my dream first job. A job where I get paid to write, to fix other people’s writing. And even on the days where I’m tired and grumpy and would rather be in bed, I consider myself extremely lucky for that.
Alongside the milestones, the important events of the year, there were all the moments in between that gave my year meaning. The quintessential Erin moments.
I met some new people. Some really cool new people. I had plenty of great conversations about important things and nonsense things. I spent more time on myself. I read Vogue and Cosmo every month. I clocked up more hours writing in coffee shops than ever before, more hours in the bath reading trashy romance novels, more hours watching good movies with even better humans.
I had some fabulous nights out, dinner parties, an elaborate birthday celebration, perfect brunches. I went on some dates. Some really good dates.
So 2023 was a good year. Great, even. I prioritised myself in the most important ways, saying no to things and throwing my internal people-pleasing voice out of the window. I let myself experience new things and I let more people in.
I’m grateful for this year. But in truth, just because it’s January, doesn’t mean it’s an automatic closing of a door and opening of a new one. Nothing really changes for me between 31st December 2023 and 1st January 2024. It’s not a monumental entrance into a new year, it’s merely a stepping stone into a new day.
And despite the pouring rain, the mountains of work on my desk and the dark skies, I’ve got a really good feeling about this one.
