2023: My Comeback <3

One of the most predictable (semi-cliché?  Broken record?) themes on this blog is a year-end post, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  Or, if it ain’t broke, fix it till it is?

My companion and I are gearing up to go out of town at the butt-crack of dark tomorrow, so I’m writing this 1-2 days early.  You’ll live 😉

I’m extremely grateful to say that for the first time in several years, I’m writing from a good place.  Really good.  In probably multiple ways.

It was time, wasn’t it?

I’ll explain everything.

So let us scan to QR code that was my 2023.

I’ll begin by saying that it was completely different from 2022.  (Thank god(dess).)

Practice – I did indeed gain more solid footing in my practice.  The roots I planted in 2022 established themselves fairly well.  The Zoom format works for all but very few.  I did indeed enjoy working with cool patients and continue to grow the practice as I’d hoped/expected this time last year.  There were times when I got so busy that I enlisted a friend’s help in answering my phone for a day or two here and there (!).

I kept my ways of doing things much the same except for a few very beneficial, win-win-style adjustments.  I became more efficient with my analyses of information and the work I put into each visit before and after.  I adopted a “new patient package” model that broke up the marathon-length initial visits into more than one visit.  I began automating more systems and migrating patient education and other information to a cloud, with the ability to create links to specific folders and files and share those links with my clientele.  Result: I do slightly less work for more revenue, and patients get more value out of it in the meantime.

While my clientele generally rocks the free world, I did notice that the universe likes to test me occasionally, and I had 5-6 people who were not-so-awesome.  One was very dysfunctional (here’s the foot we started off on), completely lacking boundaries and even going so far as to accuse me of tax evasion simply because I offered a discount for cash payment.  Another was sort of a bully who tried to worm their way out of paying for a (fairly challenging) conversation because they opted to talk by phone instead of doing a Zoom call (umm, noooo…a visit is a visit, and I charge for those; it doesn’t matter what format we use).  Another probably warrants a full post of their own, if I ever have the desire to write it – it was a saga.  Another’s first appointment seemed to go fine but I received an email from the spouse afterward, trying to tell me how to run my practice (which works very well for 99% of everyone else).  The blue ribbon, though, goes to the one whose initial visit is the first initial visit I’ve ever terminated before finishing.  They became extremely irrational, claiming to be more and more confused the more I tried to (very clearly and basically) explain some very simple concepts.  They simply weren’t having what I was saying and they were expecting something that I don’t–and can’t–do.

I diplomatically fired every one of them, pretty quickly.

Home Life – my bond with my roommate deepened into an unconventional relationship, best described as “partners without anniversaries” – and also without long-term plans, simply living in the moment, taking it day by day, and enjoying each other each day along the way.  We’re committed to each other and keeping things peaceful and healthy between us, continuing our various avenues of self-care and doing plenty of things together, too.

There are no engagement or marriage plans, and we don’t talk about “forever”.  We’re not together because we need each other, although you can’t really help depending on each other and working as a team, which is fine.  We live our independent lives and keep our independent identities, having a right to our independent tastes and all that.  We take time for ourselves and focus on our own growth and improvement.

But we tend to enjoy many of the same things and we do spent a lot of time doing a lot of things together.  We’re not necessarily joined at the hip but we are often seen together.  As different as we are, we share much in common.  We share an understanding that we’re exclusive to each other, and we’re not going to see anyone else.  We each have several friends of the opposite sex, including some exes, but there’s no suspicion or other chilly feelings about that.

We simply love each other and enjoy each others’ company, walking fine lines between cooperation/togetherness and autonomy/unique identity, and we’re committed to keeping it that way.

Home Environment – that has changed very recently–hugely, and for the better.  We moved from our bright (but north-facing) and cozy 640-sq ft 1-bedroom into an open, spacious, and sunny 1000+ sq ft 2-bedroom, which gave me a separate space designated as a home office, a specific professional space to work that feels all growed up.

The sun streams brightly and beautifully through the windows throughout the day in winter, touching us as we wake up and bathing me as I work well into late afternoon.  The cats have room to romp, chasing their “dope mice” (catnip-stuffed furry toy mice), and sometimes each other.  They’re adjusting on their own timelines.

Almost everything is unpacked and semi-organized.  The only tasks left are the bathroom (where the items are still mostly boxed), connecting my printer and scanner, setting up my sprouts and microgreens supplies, moving my keyboard in and setting up our “party (music) space”, and cleaning up the minor miscellaneous odds and ends throughout.

Self-Care – this area of my life took off hugely.  I continued the late-2022 trend of giving myself permission to downshift in the evenings and on weekends and holidays.  I went to the pool mid-day for my sunlight dosage, without any feelings of guilt.  I blogged (a bit) more and journaled semi-regularly, too.

I allowed myself to go out to eat more, without necessarily having to be budget-conscious.  Gone is the monotonous rotation of Indian food and MOD Pizza because I can stretch $16 into 5 days’ worth of dinners.  In came the sushi places, burger joints, and tasty gluten-free vegan dishes for the curious omnivores.

In short, I’m at the point where I can have fun again, without feeling anxious or guilty about it 😀

Physical Health – I caught 2 illnesses, one in January and one in August.  Both were mild and I recovered quickly.  January was more of a head-cold, while August had the severe whole-body pain telltale of Covid.  No loss of taste or smell.  The August bout left me with half (or less) of the alcohol tolerance I had before, which was a very welcome change, and I adjusted accordingly.  My intake had been way too high way too often before, and that is not the case anymore.

I became aware of the (unfavorable) effect of alcohol on my brain and it cleared up nicely after drastically lowering my intake.  I also became aware of the (favorable) effect of various stimulants on my brain, namely nicotine (lozenges and “snus”, no vaping or tobacco) and Sudafed.

My hearing continues to deteriorate for reasons unknown.  We have no idea if it’s related to the chronic, growing black mold exposure I now realize I’d been swimming in for multiple years.  It could be getting triggered by a certain food, we don’t know.

The minor histamine resurgence was traced to the litter box, which sometimes grows a mold of its own, a different type.  If I keep the box cleaner, it doesn’t grow, and I don’t sneeze or sniffle.  Problem solved. 🙂

Hobbies – here’s another area that grew by leaps and bounds.  I began the year a sprouting novice and evolved into somewhat of an “expert”, having harvested successful yields of multiple varieties, using multiple sprouting methods.  I even tried my hand at microgreens twice, with mixed results; one went very well, the other (which is a trickier, more delicate crop) fell a little flat but still produced some yield.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get the hydroponic garden going, nor did I start any container garden on the deck….yet.

In the summer, my companion and I started singing karaoke together, every week, and sometimes twice a week.  We have a lot of fun with that.  Our running joke is that he’s the guy who sings “girl songs” (Avril Lavigne, etc) and I’m the girl who sings “guy songs” (Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, etc).  I give him mad props for doing ballsy songs like “Take On Me” and “Rattlin Bog”!

My companion and I also made a hobby out of going to different restaurants and wineries and other places, and then writing them up on a review blog we started a few years ago.  We also try to experiment with 1-3 new recipes per week, and when they go well, we write them up on a separate site I started in 2022.  We love to DIY our own sauces, dressings, drizzled glazes, and hummus.

I’ve begun to dabble in a concept known as Living in the Private, which is a sort of “free state” on a personal level.  And I’ve kind of half-assed re-entered the world of ham radio (decentralized communication), with what little time I’ve had left over.

And in the 11th hour of this year, I did indeed meet my goal from last year of restoring my lost (and vast) music collection.  I even began downloading some new music again (!).

Accomplishments/Milestones of 2023

• Downshifting, relaxing, self-care
• Setting boundaries involving policies and procedures, hours of operation and taking my downtime away
• Terminating relationships with clientele who could not respect the above
• Growing my practice
• Tweaking my systems to be more efficient and deliver more to my clientele
• Tackling microgreens and even having some success
• Dealing with my mold exposure issue
• Drastically reducing alcohol intake, clearing up a big part of my brain fog
• Restoring my music library
• Maintaining a mostly healthy relationship with my companion
• Reaching the point where I’m realistically financially self-sufficient
• Recovering more of my creative abilities, drive, and motivation
• Resolving my insomnia; I sleep soundly most nights now (!)
• Leveling up into a much better living space

Goals/Predictions/To-Do for 2024

1. Restore my hair – it’s still pretty scraggly by my standards and in desperate need of some good healthy color.
2. Hearing aids – my pair from 2011 doesn’t work, and unaddressed hearing loss is a “modifiable risk factor for dementia”.  Yeah, let’s not go there, especially if we don’t have to…
3. Figuring out a workaround to novocain, as it’s no longer an option for me, so that I can get that dental work done
4. Continue with my sprouts and microgreens efforts, and begin my outdoor urban container garden on my newly-sunny deck (!)
5. Expand my library of patient education handouts on a variety of topics, including health conditions, miracle wonder-molecules used therapeutically, and some diet-/lifestyle-related how-tos for certain issues.
6. Nurture my relationships with my companion and friends and family
7. Maintain clean and neat living and working spaces
8. Continue to grow my practice
9. Have my old, dead iPhone data recovered
10. Explore Living in the Private, learn all I can, plan carefully, and pursue that avenue if at all possible
11. Learn how to use my new stove lol
12. Hopefully reading more (books and blogs), interacting more (blogs, texting)
13. And of course, more blogging 😀

With that, I wish everyone a Happy New Year!  I feel a sense of optimism and brightness for 2024, probably for the first time ever.