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The time between Christmas and New Year’s is a strange time. Many people that I have talked to feel as if that time goes by in a bit of a haze. I would agree this year it’s been a bit of a haze for myself. Therefore, it’s wild to me that 2023 is already over. As with every year, we will take some time to look at the year as a whole. I know that we tend to do little micro updates at the end of each quarter, but there is something special about reflecting on the previous year before planning for the upcoming one.
Even with our little updates, it has been made abundantly clear that plans change. Whether that is travel plans or everyday plans, they change. I mean, look how much our hopes and plans for 2023 lined up with what we did. However, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Let’s start with Lisa’s year.
Lisa’s 2023:Year In Review
Another year has passed, and another year in review to write.
To be honest, I’m not looking forward to thinking about this past year and its ups and downs. I did not enjoy 2023 very much—especially the first half. But overall I think 2023 has helped me grow a lot. I’ve been reflecting a lot, made big decisions, and started taking care of my mental health. Although 2023 wasn’t a great year, it has taught me many things.
January
Let’s start in January: The start of the new year was great. We spent New Year’s Eve at a friend’s house and had a great time meeting new people, playing games and having great conversations. I remember breakfast the next morning, that was good too. January was busy, my mental health was not in a good place, and I was starting to feel like I needed a change.
February
When February came around, life was even busier. I felt like I was at work nonstop, and spent all of my free time trying to gain energy to make it through the next week. Now I know, that I need to set boundaries and slow down at times, but then I hadn’t realized that yet. Jenson and I did some exploring around the area where we live, but nothing too special.
March
March was the month when travelling finally started again and my mood was getting better. Probably because it’s my birthday month, whoop whoop. I went to Lisbon with my mom to visit my sister, who was there for an internship. Jenson decided not to join, so we made the best out of our short girl’s trip. I ate some delicious food, saw beautiful artwork and drank a liquid salad at a small bar. Sounds weird, I know, but it truly tasted like a salad. I don’t understand the magic behind that one, but if you ever get the chance to try it, you should. Only a few days after that trip, Jenson and I went to Rome with two of my ex-coworkers. The trip was great, although I don’t recommend going on vacation with your coworkers. Lesson learned. Ate amazing food again, I love carbs. It’s on my bucket list to visit Italy at least once every year, I am in love with the culture, the food, the atmosphere and the people. March was great.
April
April came around, spring started to arrive. Work wasn’t as busy, which was nice. I did look at another job because I realized that my workplace wasn’t good for my mental health, myself and my relationship with Jenson. April wasn’t really exciting, boring everyday life.
May
May brought some upwind. You could feel summer arriving, the winter slump was finally over. I didn’t have to work much, which was good. Instead, I spent my time with scouts, going to Croatia with my family for a short trip and feeling better. I had my interview for the new job, which was much needed since I was starting to dread my job. Not a nice feeling to have. Saw people I hadn’t seen in a while, planned a lot of different scout camps and activities, and made the best out of the good weather.
June
I feel like June is always a chill and busy month at the same time. The beginning tends to be busy, everyone is looking forward to the summer holidays while having to finish things before then. June was the month I took the first real step into getting my mental health on track. I realized I couldn’t and didn’t want to continue the way it was. I didn’t like my job, I didn’t have a plan for the future and I thought “This can’t be all that life has to offer. There has to be more!” As per the recommendation of my family doctor, I went to see a psychiatrist. And am I thankful I did. Summer was here, and I was ready to embrace everything it had to offer.
July
July started strong. I went to my scout group’s summer camp, which was nice. My whole group went, and it was fun to see the once-small kids become teenagers and become more and more independent. Wow, this sentence just made me age 30 years, but it’s the truth. Afterwards, began my last shifts at my old job. You can be certain that I was counting the days. I felt like the future was bright, and I couldn’t wait to see what it held for me. Then the day was finally here: my very last shift. I made the best of it, for dinner, we had a nice McDonald’s picnic in the park. What a way to say goodbye. And then I was off to the biggest adventure of 2023: The World Scout Jamboree in South Korea. Multiple years of preparing, planning and meeting people all led to this once-in-a-lifetime experience. If I had to describe it with one word, It’d be adventurous. This post is not here to tell you all about it, but maybe I’ll write one in the future.
August
The Jamboree was going on until the middle of August. While the teenagers I was looking after had left, Jenson joined me in Seoul. After a few days there, we caught a plane to Mongolia to visit some family friends. I loved Mongolia. It is such a beautiful country that lets you experience true freedom. At least that’s what it felt like for me. Mongolia is now one of my Top 5 places I’d visit again. The culture, the nature and the spirituality made an impression on me. After coming back, I had a few days to get rid of the jet lag, before “real life” began again. I started my new job, which was pretty chill at the beginning, went to see AnnenMayKantereit again and enjoyed the rest of the summer holidays.
September
Soon I realized that I would have a lot more free time with this new job. That’s why September was filled with seeing friends, taking time for myself, and spending time with Jenson. Since his birthday was coming up, his mood declined, but we made the best of it. School started for the kids at work and to me, it felt like a new beginning too. I started to try and find out what it is that I want to spend my time doing. Before, I had all these different obligations and felt like so many people were relying on me. I started to learn that I needed to give other people some of my workload, I trusted others more and started to like myself again. My mental health was much better, I soon realized that changing jobs was the most important and biggest decision I made in 2023. I am so proud of myself for doing that. I would probably be burnt out, if I hadn’t changed jobs. In addition, I realized that I do not want to be dependent on a job and that I like to do what I want when I want.
October
October came. Jenson turned older and broke his back, and I became his short-term caretaker. Nothing too exciting. Jokes aside, October was another rough one. Jenson was in a lot of pain, and I didn’t realize how much a back injury affects one’s ability to do pretty much anything. I’m not going to lie, it was exhaustion, but I also believe it made us grow closer. I think we both realized how much we love each other and how unconditionally we do it. Furthermore, I started therapy and boy do I love it.
November
November came, which also meant winter was coming. Winter for me is always a bit tricky. I love snow and the tranquillity it brings, but I also have a hard time getting things done when the days are so short. Jenson and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary, which is absolutely wild to think about. Other than that, November was pretty slow and relaxed.
December
December for me usually means a lot of scout stuff to do. Not only do we have a Christmas Market which we organize every year, but also our annual Christmas Party. I am just glad I managed to get all my Christmas Shopping done in Mongolia. Yes, everyone got a cashmere touque this year. The scout events were great, Christmas as work was the weirdest Christmas I’ve experienced so far, and Christmas Eve turned out great. There were a few hiccups along the way, but in the end, it all turned out much better than expected.
I guess looking back a 2023 made me realize that maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. I learned many lessons, grew stronger and started my path to loving myself and truly being happy. Honestly, I am looking forward to 2024 and am excited to see what it has to offer. I can feel the beginning of a new era in my life. Furthermore, I am thankful for my friends and family, and especially for Jenson. He supports me when I am at my worst. He has taught me lessons, I didn’t want to, but had to learn. Plus, he makes me feel like I can achieve anything I set my mind to. Let’s make the best out of 2024 and see what my next year in review has to offer.
Jenson’s 2023: Year In Review
This year has been unreal. Looking back on everything, I had forgotten just how much has happened in the last year. It was just over a year ago that I finally became medicated for my severe ADHD, and the first few months of the year were focused on finding the correct dosages. It was those struggles that drove me to dedicate May as the month for posts about Mental Health. After all, May is mental health awareness month.
First Quarter: A Shift In Our Content Planning.
Early in the year, I had a conversation with a friend that led me to realize a major part of what drives me. If you’re not interested in reading about that, then TL;DR: Helping others. That is one of my biggest goals. Therefore, there has been a bit of a shift in our released content as we took an approach that was more targeted toward helping people. For now, that means helping people travel cheaply, helping people be informed about tattoos before going and getting one, and helping people understand mental health differences.
Next year, I hope to expand greatly on that idea of helping people. We plan on meeting with some business and content coaches to create a verifiable path forward. Whatever comes of that, we will still be having some focus on mental health, as well as our choice awards, which I fear this year will be fairly sparse.
Second Quarter: Prepping The Big Trip
The second quarter put a lot of that change in focus from the first quarter into effect. Things went well as we saved, and prepared, for our big trip to Korea and Mongolia in the summer.
During the second part of the year, we also did some minor travelling. Joining in on a family trip down to Rijeka with Lisa’s father was one of the more notable and special of the small trips we went on. As well as our trip to Italy together.
Third Quarter: The Big Trip
Eventually, the day came. Lisa headed off to Korea for the Scout’s World Jamboree. She talks about how that went in her year in review up above. TL;DR? It was bad… Very, very bad.
After I finished up some stuff at home, I made my way to Seoul via Budapest. I spent a few days bopping around and doing my own thing while Lisa was leading her Scout trip. There were a couple of times I met up with them before they headed back, but primarily I was just doing my own thing. Experiencing Korea differently than I had back in Christmas of 2017.
I was determined to get at least two tattoos in Korea this time. After all, last time I was completely unprepared. I had no clue about the rules of tattooing in South Korea. Yet, finding an artist who was willing to interview was hard. Finding one willing to interview on camera? Nearly impossible. Somehow, I managed to find a few artists willing to, and so I booked a couple of tattoos. Including one during our trip to Mongolia.
Mongolia
Mongolia was baffling. It was incredible seeing my old friends. 5 days is never enough time. Yet, we did so much in that time. Rode some camels, walked on some desert dunes, and slept in Gers!
It doesn’t matter what time of year I go to Mongolia, that place never feels real. I find myself looking and pictures and thinking the same thing I thought while there, “How is the sky that blue? There’s no way that’s real.” Yet, somehow it is. Something that blew my mind the first time I was there and probably will every time.
During our time there, I started to get sick. My eyes gooped up and my cough got rough. Therefore, I ended up on some antibiotics and eye drops given to me by a pharmacist in a small town in the middle of nowhere.
This cough sat with me for a good couple of months, but I didn’t let it stop me from experiencing things in Mongolia or getting my tattoos in Korea during the few days we were back there before going home.
Mongolia is special to me. Not only is it breathtakingly beautiful and is the place some of my oldest friends live, but it’s also the place that kind of started me off on this journey with one of my first real travel tattoos.
The Rest of the Year
From the time we got back right before September, to the end of the year, things were messy. September I spent dealing with residual health concerns and anticipating one of my least favourite days of the year.
In October, my great-grandfather passed, a fact I think I’m still processing if I am being honest. Then, near the end of the month, I managed to get a compression fracture on one of my spinal vertebrae. That was fun and still hurts something terrible.
Therefore, I’ve spent the last couple of months recovering from that tumble. I’m praying this pain doesn’t turn chronic or affect my life too much.
December meant Christmas, which was tiresome. We’ve been having some familial issues lately, and therefore I really wasn’t up to dealing with more “pain” than my back had already been giving me.
That’s why I have spent most of this December healing, preparing for the New Year, and reflecting on the things that happened this year. I’m sure there is much I am missing, but a lot of this year seems to have gone by in a blur.
Wrapping Up 2023
Hell, 2023 has gone by in a flash. It feels like I wrote the 2022 year in review just a few days ago, and now here we are again. Thank you for spending part of your 2023 with us, and we look forward to everything coming in 2024.
What did you enjoy about your year? What was the best and worst part?
As always, we believe that we should live with intention, travel with purpose, and let the world inscribe its stories upon us.
So until next time, stay authentic, stay Nomadic, and let the world inscribe its stories upon you more than you do upon it.
