It’s that reflective end of year time and the word that comes to me for 2023 is balance, or more accurately how I’ve been attempting to feel balanced throughout the year. I came out of 2022 feeling pretty darn exhausted and in need of some real rest, which I think I did a pretty good job of in the first half of the year. As I said, I was looking for balance, not flat-out chilling, so there was lots of fun things going on this year too.

Travel always makes the annual highlights and this year was a pretty good one in that respect. I’ve had three different theatrical and book-filled weekends in London, the most idyllic few days in Alpine France visiting Annecy with my bestie which included the crazy occurrence of me paragliding and the ultimate happy moment of reading by the lake in the sun. I managed to squeeze in a lil weekend trip to lovely Vienna later in the year too.

Back here in Scotland, I’ve continued to pursue my island-hopping adventures and made it to 4 new ones this year. I’ve loved these trips filled with ferry rides, good food, long walks, dips in wild waters and beautiful scenery. In September, we had my brother and sister-in-law visiting from Australia and together we went on a jaunt up to Inverness for some family time. We did some fun things like picking strawberries, book shopping and trying curling (the ice sport) but best of all was just hanging and chatting on the sofa.

On top of that week, I’ve thankfully had a good amount of family time (despite living 3 hours away from everyone). While they were visiting, we had a wee ceilidh for the Scottish family to celebrate their marriage last year. Then for my sister, the wedding preparations continue and are starting to heat up as it’s coming around so soon. My sister also graduated with her paramedic degree recently (she’s awesome) and now I’m home for a couple of weeks for the festive break and everything feels nice and chill.

This year has brought a lot of music fun, particularly in May when I had Eurovision in Liverpool, Beyoncé and Harry Styles gigs all a week apart. While it was pretty hectic, it was also epic and hugely enjoyable. Eurovision was a total blast and I can’t wait to do it all again next year. Beyoncé is everything (even if I’m not quite tall enough for standing crowds!). Harry Styles was a chill time sitting back with a pint and enjoying the sunshine. Then later on in the year, I got to see queen Jessie Ware again at the Barras.

So, yeah, between all the big activities detailed above was a lot of chilled time doing lovely everyday things like cooking and cleaning, hanging out with pals, reading loads (annual wrap-up coming soon…), going out for dinner, getting back to dance classes, enjoying the sunshine in the park and many more things that aren’t particularly notable.

I had a big life change in the last quarter of the year which may have knocked me way out of balance. I changed jobs and made the move back through to Edinburgh from Glasgow which was exciting but all a bit stressful. I’m starting to transform the flat into my own home which involves a loooot of cleaning, prep and DIY, so I’ve become a regular at B&Q. As anyone who’s renovating knows, not everything has quite gone to plan but I’m getting close to finishing my first project: the living room. I am so excited to be making the space my own but it’s also taking a lot of energy, time, decision-making and money to make happen so I guess that’s somewhat of a balance too.

It’s been quite a year with some core memories made. I look forward to settling down a bit more, finding more structure and continuing to pursue balance into next year.