My Top Nine Instagram photos of 2023

2023 was somewhat better than 2022. Despite catching a bullet I was trying to avoid over the past few years, a new issue with my physical health, ending a long-term friendship and a disappointing Christmas, I particularly enjoyed spending some quality time with family and existing friends, visiting new places and taking part in several sculpture trails. My anxiety also subsided in the latter half of the year.

January 

Battersea Power Station and Chimney Lift 109

My anxiety from last year continued into this month because I knew I was going to return to my flat after having stayed with my parents for Christmas and New Year just shy of 3 weeks. Nearly a week after I returned, I received the worrying news that my paternal grandparents were ill, but they soon recovered. Towards the end of the month, I received a distressing phone call that made me have a major meltdown and a flashback of a difficult moment in the past.

Highlights of January were visiting Battersea Power Station and my dad staying overnight at my flat before he attended a business meeting in London.

February 

My mum and I at the Marmalade House, Chepstow; my gluten-free ham sandwich, crisps and coffee cake.

I continued to have disturbing thoughts of being misheard and misunderstood over the past year this month. I was also frustrated when I learnt that it would take longer than I expected for my housing application to become active. Despite these low points, my anxiety this month was not quite as bad as it was the previous month. 

Later this month, I stayed with my parents again. During this trip, I had dinner with them, my sister and her boyfriend; visited Bristol, Chepstow and Cwmbran and my paternal grandparents; and sprinkled some of my maternal grandfather’s ashes onto a fishing lake that he and my dad had attended. 

March

My Comic Relief Red Nose Day 2023 selfie

After having done a sleep study in January, I received a diagnosis of moderate obstructive sleep apnoea. This diagnosis was my biggest medical concern in March. In other news, I was relieved to hear that the person who seemed to have had the most trouble hearing me and understanding me last year had moved on elsewhere, although I was worried that they would come back into my life someday. To my surprise, I didn’t see that person at all in 2023. 

April

Some photos of Spring Harvest at Butlin’s Minehead: My dad and me in front of a Spring Harvest photo opportunity background; my Perfectly Imperfect kintsugi art (that I sadly misplaced); my family and me at the Wheelhouse restaurant in Minehead; me with Leah McFall and her book More Trust; my parents in front of a Butlin’s photo opportunity background.

This has been a difficult month for my mental health. A miscommunication issue while I was away with my family for my mum’s birthday and Easter has made me not enjoy my holiday as much as I would have liked to. I had destructive intrusive thoughts despite not acting on them, was more forgetful than usual, and I misplaced things. Setbacks aside, the highlights of my trip were my mum’s birthday tea; shopping trips to Cwmbrân and Newport; and most of my first Spring Harvest trip at Butlin’s Minehead. 

In terms of my physical health, I caught a cold later in my Easter trip. I took part in another sleep study that also confirmed my sleep apnoea diagnosis.

May

My 36th birthday presents

I had a rough start this month because the support staff in my block of flats were unavailable to support me with cleaning for the first time since the cleaning rota was introduced last year. The reason for this is because they had a lot of paperwork to do. This made me so unsettled that I didn’t feel like doing much else for the rest of the day and I felt bruised inside.

Whilst staying with my parents for my 36th birthday, I fell ill again, although my illness made me stay with them for longer than I expected to. Before my illness, I enjoyed a walk in Tredegar Park, Newport, with my parents, had my haircut, ate a birthday McDonald’s with my parents, and visited my paternal grandparents.

June 

My Little Mermaid Wild deodorant set; my CPAP device; me wearing my CPAP mask.

I returned to London at the beginning of this month when I felt better from my illness. Despite this, I received some unwanted items of mail and an equally unwanted text message from someone I had blocked from Facebook last year because I didn’t feel comfortable in my friendship with them, especially when I met up with them in person in 2015. I also thought my mental wellbeing wasn’t good enough for the friendship. I recycled the items of mail, blocked the person’s number and deleted their text. When the time was right, I sent them a letter saying I no longer wanted to see them again. I also had some personal struggles this month that I prefer not to explicitly discuss in this post, but they were eventually resolved. 

One highlight of this month was playing bingo with someone I’m still happy to be friends with and her mother.

Following on from my sleep apnoea diagnosis in March, I was given some CPAP equipment to help with managing the condition.

July

Some Morph sculptures from the trail in London

This month gave me a new sense of adventure. I took part in the Morph sculpture trail throughout London on two separate days.

In-between my Morph sculpture trail days, I stayed at my family home in Newport for over a week. Despite a misunderstanding with my paternal grandparents in terms of when they would visit me, I eventually saw them the day before I returned to London. I also went shopping; had some meals out; and met up with my friends in Swansea to make up for not seeing them in May.

August 

Some more Morph sculptures plus some Tusk gorilla sculptures

I completed the Morph sculpture trail and the Tusk gorilla trail this month. I also took part in the Scenes on the Square trail in Leicester Square.

This month has been busier for me in terms of increasing my volunteering days. I did this to make time for participating in additional webinars that help neurodiverse individuals embark on career paths.

September 

Dad, me and Mum on a boat trip in Poole.

Towards the end of this month, my parents and I stayed in Dorset for a few days. We visited Poole; had a boat ride near there; sprinkled the last of my grandad’s ashes from Bournemouth Pier; and met up with my friend and her dad for lunch and a trip to a nearby garden centre. 

October

Some Croydon stands Tall giraffe sculptures; my Take a Moment eyes closed black and white selfie.

Earlier this month, I did some of the Croydon Stands Tall giraffe sculpture trail, the third London-based sculpture trail I took part in this year. I also visited the National Portrait Gallery to see the Take a Moment mental health campaign black and white celebrity portrait exhibition. I participated in the campaign myself by uploading a black and white selfie of me with my eyes closed online. It was part of a large interactive portrait mosaic of Stephen Fry with his eyes closed. At around this same time, I saw some surprising and worrying mental health-related social media posts that made me want to take breaks from social media on certain days, especially mental health awareness ones. Sometime later, the people who made these posts said they were happier than ever and made me glad they’re still here today.

I stayed with my parents in the middle of this month. I didn’t do as much as I planned during this trip because I had a cold, but I went out for a couple of meals out with my dad and visited my paternal grandparents when I was feeling a bit better. 

November 

Some more Croydon Stands Tall giraffe sculptures

At the beginning of this month, I booked a 2-night stay at the Travelodge in Swansea (please read my TripAdvisor review here) so that I could meet up with some friends there who I couldn’t meet up with the previous month. Despite a hectic first night in Swansea, one friend needing to look after a relative and another feeling a bit under the weather, I enjoyed my time in Swansea overall.

I also visited the Farewell Weekend of the Croydon Stands Tall giraffe sculpture trail where I saw most of the giraffes that I didn’t get to see first time around and revisited those I had already seen. 

December 

Some of the Snowman sculptures around London

I started this month with completing the Snowman sculpture trail around parts of London such as Chancery Lane, Fleet Street and St. Paul’s. 

To celebrate the festive season, my colleagues and I had a gathering at Electric Shuffle in London Bridge. At the gathering, I was surprised when I was made employee of the year despite only working for the organisation on a voluntary basis.

My Christmas 2023 presents, my gluten-free turkey Christmas lunch; my parents at Christmas lunch; my brother and me at Christmas lunch; Cinderella pantomime at the Warner Leisure Hotels Holme Lacy House.

My Christmas with my family was pretty disappointing. Several things didn’t meet my expectations, especially the food and activity choices at the Warner Leisure Hotels Holme Lacy House on Christmas Day. Despite these qualms, I enjoyed the quizzes, the dance classes, the Cinderella pantomime and the fireworks on the trip. Please read my TripAdvisor review of the hotel here.

To summarise the year, I have made a highlights reel of video clips and photos from the parts of the year I enjoyed the most.

I know this may sound cliché, but I have told myself not to get my hopes up for 2024, especially if I hoped for certain things this year but they never happened. Instead I will take each and every day as it comes in 2024.

Goodbye 2023, hello 2024!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!