WRITTEN TRANSCRIPTION OF THE PODCAST:

Hey everyone and welcome to a new episode of my podcast My Life and Other Funny Stories. I hope that those of you who listened to the advent edition of the episodes enjoyed it but now it is time to return to more of a normal theme.

I mean, I thought about the format of the podcast because sometimes my life just gets a little bit boring to be taking funny stories from that. But as I already dipped my fingers into more general topics such as murder documentaries or English pronunciation, it won’t be such a shock to include more of those sometimes.

But that is not why we are here today. Today I wanted to talk about my previous year because as you know, we have already entered a new one. 

So let’s get into it.

Before I start, let me just remind you that you can find the transcript to the episode in the notes of the podcast.

Last year was very different from any other year before. Mainly because it was the first year of me not being a student anymore. I finished my studies in 2022 so 2023 was the first full year of work. And oh boy, did I work. Or at least for my own perception. I know there are people working more than me but I also found my limits when it comes to work.  Because I worked freelance, I worked every day, often weekends, public holidays and in a limited way also on my actual holidays. As I counted the lessons, the number shot up to over 1000 lessons, tens of students in our mentoring program and probably tens or maybe hundreds of hours creating content, preparing my materials and podcasts.

Also, I worked on my certification as a neurolanguage coach which I completed after about three or four months of practice. I am quite proud of myself as I finally invested money in myself and with that learned so much about being a good coach and tutor. I have already been applying the knowledge and I have been coaching my first clients since October. 

And of course, my whole year was followed by my studies of French. I can proudly say that I devoted time to French at least 5, but usually 6 times a week for at least 20 minutes (but usually it was much more) during the whole year. I didn’t miss one week. And I made the biggest progress of my life. Now, I am comfortable with speaking French, my comprehension (listening) improved significantly and I believe that if I continue so in the future, I can one day truly master French language (that means for me to be completely fluent). I am now ready to travel to any French speaking country and be able to take care of myself. And I am also happy to know that it is possible and if anyone wants it too, they can do it.

Talking about language and traveling, I also found time for small travels. I went to Venice for a weekend, during summer I visited Barcelona and lastly I went to France for a week to visit a friend. 

At the beginning of the year when I was writing my goals for 2023, I wrote down that I wanted to visit Athens and also Amsterdam but I didn’t. I don’t know if I want to visit them this year as the context of my life has changed a little and my goals for the following months are hazy (not very well defined) but one day I will. 

In my personal life, things have been quite complicated and that makes it hard for me to gather energy for other parts of my life. I am thinking a lot about my future and my life and still struggle a little to find my place in this world. 

The worst part of 2023 has to be my health and just medical stuff. In February I went to my new dentist and after an x-ray, he came to the conclusion that all my fillings were done badly (I got them when I was about twelve) and they needed to be reworked. So with that, I visited the dentist every few weeks for about 4 times where he fixed my teeth. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that I have my teeth fixed now but still it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience ever. On top of that, I think my wisdom teeth, or at least one of them, is growing. But like super slowly. Suuuper slowly. I can still feel just the tip of it and it has been like this for months. That causes my jaw (the bone that allows you to open your mouth) to hurt almost all the time and that goes into my head. Some weeks, I just had to take painkillers every day because without them I wasn’t able to function.

The worst part about my health in 2023 was my stomach. I had stomach issues and had to visit my GP and many other doctors very frequently. I won’t go into details, I will just say that I felt sick very often, I also got stomach inflammation in June and even though I went through all possible examinations on the planet, my results came out clean. I am fit as a fiddle according to them. This has been a very frustrating experience but I am not giving up on finding out the cause. 

In the last few months of 2023, I felt like my energy and my creativity were dying out. And I don’t think they have come back until this day. 

There will be a lot of changes in my life this year and to be honest, I am scared. But I can either resist it or go with it. And I decided to go with it. My optimistic side of me is still telling me that it can be a good year and I am determined to believe that.

2023 taught me many things and gave me so much experience which I am very grateful for. It showed me how hard I can work and where my limits are. It gave me many hours of laughter, joy and happiness. It helped me to find or strengthen friendships which are everything to me now. And even though retrospectively it wasn’t the easiest year of my life, it helped me to move forward. And that’s what is important. I realized that despite the struggles I dealt with, I am still incredibly lucky. And that I want to give to others more than I am taking. I decided to throw away the concept of expecting the same amount of love, attention, money or anything else that I give to others. I want to give more than receive.

Because it makes me happy.

I started visiting a retirement home through a charity organization. I go there and talk with older people and I read books to them and hopefully, when it is warmer, we can go for little strolls in the park next to the home. I only went a few times because my time is limited and I started in November but I want to continue that this year as well. And if you have some time to give, think about who could need it the most. You can help someone just by being with them. It is a very rewarding experience.

I am ready to see what the next year brings and I hope you will be here alongside me to witness it. (To witness something is to see something happen). 

Thank you so much for listening and if you don’t follow me on Instagram, definitely consider that because I post there every day. 

Have a lovely day! Bye.