Usually, I love January but this year, it was a bit underwhelming. You’ll see more about my birthday later on, but it was definitely an up-and-down month. I started off feeling very motivated. As the month’s gone on, I’ve definitely lost a fair bit of that motivation! Oh well, January is basically a trial run so next month will be much better. Nevertheless, here’s my January 2023 in review!
2023 RESET
My favourite thing about a New Year is the chance to have a massive reset. That includes planning and prepping for the New Year, decluttering your space as well as just taking a look back at 2022. There’s something about going into a new year with a fresh space and mind. Some of the tasks that I got done include:
- Reflected on 2022 and did some pre-2023 journalling
- Set up my budget for the year
- Set my yearly goals, as well as for Q1 and January
- Started Reflected on 2022
- Organised my calendar for Q1
- Decluttered my bedroom, wardrobe, and home office
- Had a massive cleaning session in the kitchen and re-organised the cupboards
- Did a huge digital declutter: re-organised my external hard drive, tidied up my email inbox, and sorted through my internet favourites
I’m going to share my weekly/monthly reset routine on the blog soon as well as the new routines I’m implementing in 2023!
MY 30TH BIRTHDAY
So on the 14th, I had my big 3-0 birthday. I’m an introvert so I knew I wanted it fairly low-key. I went to the pub with my family, spent my birthday day shopping with my parents and then went on a solo trip to London for a couple of days.
However, it also made me realise that I don’t have many people in my life. It got me thinking about the relationships in my life so I’m trying to rectify that and make plans with people. It’s obviously hard when I’m self-employed and most of my friends work 9-5 but we’ll find a compromise somewhere.
It also got me thinking about where I am in my life right now, including work, health, and personal stuff. If you’re not a journalling person, I’d definitely recommend trying it every so often because it was incredibly therapeutic for me. I didn’t realise that I had quite so much to get out of my head but I felt so much better afterwards!
JERSEY BOYS IN LONDON
During my London trip, I had planned to see a couple of shows but I struggled to get on-the-day tickets for anything! Luckily, I managed to get to a Sunday matinee of Jersey Boys and had such a great time. Nicole Scherzinger and her fiance Thom Evans were in the audience and I’ll say no more on that!
The trip was lovely to escape country life. I’ve not done any shopping for a while so it was nice just to wander around. Unfortunately, I got food poisoning from my free Nando’s meal so missed a press night on the Tuesday. Nightmare!
ARSENAL BACK ON TOP
This might seem a bit ridiculous but Arsenal winning makes my whole week. Typical sports fan, I know. Our men’s side is top of the league, which is a rarity so I’ll enjoy it whilst I can, and our women’s side is also fighting for the title as well as other silverware too (fingers crossed).
I know Arsenal fans are disliked amongst other football fans so I try to stay out of that drama! However, I’ve definitely found that women’s football fans are so much more pleasant. And if you don’t know, I’m a proper sports fan who knows their stuff (sorry, not sorry, to all the men who’ve been intimidated by my knowledge over the years).
LOW-SPEND MONTH
Despite having a trip away and my tax bill to pay, I still managed to spend under budget this month! Whilst I didn’t save as much as I’d have liked, I did underspend in most categories. Despite doing quite a bit of clothes shopping in London, I still stayed within budget and didn’t spend as much on eating out and coffee shops. Here’s to hoping that February is as low-spend as January was!
HEALTHY HABITS
Because January is always a foodie month for me, I like to take it a bit slower once my birthday is out of the way. I’m still debating whether to start Project 50 but I need to have a bit of a think about that. I also did my first workout yesterday in god knows how long! For me, it’s about maintaining healthy habits over losing tonnes of weight. When I look after my body better with food and movement, I sleep better, my skin looks better, and then naturally, you lose a bit of weight.
I think I’ve decided to do these monthly reviews for the rest of 2023 so if you enjoyed my January 2023 in review blog post, please keep returning every month! If there’s anything you’d like me to add, please leave a comment below. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter too!
