What I’m grateful for doing in 2023

Make Mondays Great Again #11

Author

Peter Sinclair Fleeton
December 25, 2023

2023 is coming to a close and I wanted to think about what I was grateful for accomplishing during this year.

Once I sat down and thought about it, it dawned on me how many things I had accomplished this year. All the while I was thinking 2023 had been rather uneventful.

So, here’s my list of the accomplishments I’m most grateful for in 2023.

Finished my bachelor’s degree

In January of 2023, I finished my last exams and received my bachelor’s diploma.

I had been in the process of getting my degree for four and a half years, so it was an amazing feeling when I finally did it. And in my last exam, I got the top grade even though it was an oral exam, and oral exams make me anxious. But I proved to myself with hard work that I was capable.

I summarized my process for the exam in the following post (one of my first, so please don’t judge on the quality 😅😂)

Worked full-time for 6 months

Once I finished my exams I decided to work more at my job to save up for my trip to Thailand.

I work in a car rental shop in Denmark, where I help customers rent cars while I try and upsell them on insurance and such. It’s a job that demands a lot from you mentally and personally. And as an introvert, it forced me to step out of my comfort zone.

But it was perfect — preparing me to be more open towards people before I travelled to Thailand.

Backpacked in Thailand

For 3 weeks in the summer, I went backpacking with my girlfriend in Thailand.

Before this trip, I had never been to any part of Asia. And it was a giant culture shock in many ways. But it led to me getting a lot of experiences and was another thing that pushed me out of my comfort zone this year, and made me less anxious and open to people and what goes on around me.

I hope for more travel time in the new year.

Started writing on X August 31

On August 31, I made my first post on X (the one I embedded at the top).

I had been looking around the space for a few days and watched hours of content on YouTube on how to be a creator on X (Twitter). Suddenly there was a voice inside my head that said that I was capable of doing it. So I did. And it taught me the lesson of starting without knowing how, and believing that I will somehow learn how on the way.

I will forever be thankful that I on that day sat down in a shopping mall and spent an hour writing my first-ever thread.

Started on my master’s degree

The following Wednesday, I started my master’s degree.

When I had finished my bachelor’s degree 7 months prior, I didn’t know if I was going to start again. But working for 6 months I had no doubt in my mind. I wanted to finish my degree.

And now the first semester is almost done — 3 more to go.

Took a creative writing course

During my first semester, I signed up for a creative writing (fiction) course.

During this course, I’ve learned so much about writing. Knowing I was starting this course also gave me a push in the direction of starting to write online. I saw this as an extra form of practice.

Next semester is creative writing non-fiction, which I’m looking forward to.

Weekly Resource

This week’s resource is not related to this newsletter in the strictest sense.

It’s a podcast episode that I stumbled upon today, the night of Christmas Eve, as I’m writing this.

It’s an interview with internet creator Justin Welsh, which I am going to be watching this week.

Weekly Highlight

This week’s highlight is a post I posted on X this week about a little known novel, which is considered to be the first modern novel written in Japan more than 1.000 years ago.

Free Resources

Until next time…

This is the last newsletter for 2023, so I wanted to recap the year.

I hope you will continue to follow along with me in 2024 😁

Merry Christmas and have a happy new year 🎄🎉🎆

What are you grateful for doing in 2023?

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