2022 reflection and 2023 vision board

howdy pals!

for my first monday blog post, i figured i’d do a 2022 reflection! i’ll talk about what i did, what i learned, things i worked on for floraternum, and more! 2022 was a big year for my life and the life of my store. it was absolutely not an easy year, but it gave me the opportunity to find myself again. read til the end because i have my 2023 vision board to show you all too!

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so, the very beginning of 2022 was wild because i ended up getting covid, but i was soon back to trying to create art! as the semester started, i had little to no time to work on it though. i was incredibly burnt out from other things i was working on. towards the end of the semester, my time opened up more and after it was over, i got my job at the craft store. then, on june 15th, my roommate and i moved into our apartment together! i was able to set up a lot of space for my crafting supplies and get to making again, especially with my discount on art stuff at my job!!

when the fall semester started, things started to get pretty bad, i wasn’t receiving appropriate accommodations for my health and safety on campus and i was stressed constantly. i wasn’t paying attention to my artwork nearly as much, and i was in a dark place. some time in october i decided i would be leaving school. around that time i also signed up to do a farmers market on campus, so i stuck around to do two fridays of that. here’s some pictures of what i had made and a work-in-progress picture of the sign i had made.

when i left school for real, when i stopped going to classes, events, and i was finally officially withdrawn, i just felt so much relief. in no way should everyone go and drop out of college, but, at least for now, this was a good decision for me. my school was no longer looking out for me and it was hindering my learning and my life. i had so much more time to work on my art and myself, i had basically none before, as the time i had off was spent recovering from my days.

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so, i guess to just reflect on this year, i find it hard to come up with a good description of 2022 as a whole. a good portion of the year was wasted in survival mode, but in the times i had clarity, like over the summer and after leaving school, i was thriving. i think it was a good year for learning about myself. i know what i don’t want and what i have to demand. i know my limits and what takes me out of my element. i gained more discipline, self respect, and self awareness. it wasn’t a good year as far as my mood, but it was a year for a lot of fresh starts. closed some doors, opened some windows, you know the vibe.

going into this year, i have high hopes. and i had high hopes last year, but they were along the lines of “i want xyz thing out of my control to go well.” this year it’s more like “i hope i have the strength to bring my dreams into reality.” i want the focus to be about me getting better, not the things around me. or comparing myself to others. i have a bad habit of doing that. i put all sorts of related mantras and such into the vision board i made, which are all pictures i saved on pinterest. i thought it came out cute, let me know which one is your favorite!

anyways, i hope 2023 goes well for you and your loved ones. thanks for reading, and i’m super excited to start this year with y’all!

best,

art