Letting Go of 2022

We've just started a new year, so it's time for my annual letting go of the (previous) year post. I normally post this on New Year's Eve but wasn't able to this time, so I'm posting it today instead (even though it's not one of my usual posting days). :) You can see my past year-end posts at the links below:

Letting Go of 2017: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/12/letting-go-of-2017.html

Letting Go of 2018: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/12/letting-go-of-2018.html

Letting Go of 2019 + Starting a New Decade: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/12/letting-go-of-2019-starting-new-decade.html

Letting Go of 2020: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2020/12/letting-go-of-2020.html

Letting Go of 2021: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/12/letting-go-of-2021.html

 

2022 was an up and down year for me and probably for a lot of people. It had been the first time in two years when things were feeling a bit more "normal" after the pandemic and all the lockdowns. All restrictions were basically dropped in the UK in March but things have still felt a bit strange. I wrote a mid-year reflection post in June. You can read it here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2022/06/mid-2022-reflections.html

If you follow numerology, the Universal Year Number for 2022 was 6, so 2023's is 7. It's supposed to be about spiritual and personal growth and evolution. Read more about the universal year here: https://astrostyle.com/7-universal-year-numerology-horoscope/

My Personal Year Number for 2022 was a 1, which means that for 2023 it's 2. It's about partnerships and co-operation. I normally use the book 21st Century Goddess for my year number, but I have also used this resource a couple of times (it helps you calculate your personal year): https://feliciabender.com/monthly-numerology-forecast/#calculate 

Also check out this article for more on the universal year and your personal year forecast: https://www.numerology.com/articles/numerology-news/2023-numerology-predictions/ 

 

Reflections

This past year I was able to get back into belly dancing a bit more regularly, attending haflas with my belly dance group, and workshops and classes with Lianna Greene and Nadia Undine. I also did a workshop with my local mental health resource centre in May (the first one I'd taken since the pandemic) and went on a walk with the centre in September.

During the last quarter of the year, I also got back into going to Meetup events. Pre-pandemic I attended my local Happy Cafe (part of the larger group Action for Happiness). That particular one never started up again but there are face to face Happy Cafe meetups in Brighton again, so I went to a few of those. I hope to continue going this year. 

Apart from that, I did my regular park walks and also went to the beach and the countryside a few times. As with the previous couple of years, I wrote quarterly updates over on my seasonal living blog The Seasonal Life. Visit this post for the Summer-Autumn updates (and the previous ones; I haven't done Autumn-Winter yet): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/10/summer-autumn-update-2022.html

Blogging wise, I wrote about the same number of posts as last year (16 compared to 15). As well as my monthly gratitude lists, I did a few posts, mostly in the first part of the year. Those were When You've Been Down for Too Long and Law of Assumption- An Alternative Way of Manifesting (an alternative to the Law of Attraction) and my mid-year post.

In the second half of the year, I wrote a post recapping my Feeling Your Emotions series (2 and a half years after I began it) and a little update in my November gratitude list, called November Thoughts.

In "world" news (not just my personal news), there was the war in Ukraine, shootings in America, the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in June and a big change to US abortion laws. I wrote a bit about those events in the Mid-2022 Reflections post. 

In September, the most significant event in the UK was the death of the Queen on the 8th. Most of us have never experienced the death of a monarch before and have only ever known the Queen ruling (since her reign lasted 70 years). So, it was really quite strange. And of course, sad for her and her family. We were in an official mourning period until her funeral on 19th September. It was televised; I saw some of the procession taking her back to St George's Chapel in Windsor and then some of the funeral and burial online later.

Her oldest son Prince Charles is now King (known as King Charles III) and his coronation will be in May. It feels a bit weird to have a king now!

In other royal news, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle released their long-awaited Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan at the end of the year. I don't have Netflix but if I did, I would watch it. I was surprised that they were making a documentary, since I thought one of the reasons they left the UK was to have privacy (although they have now said they never specified that), but I can understand why they wanted to tell their own story. I hope that going forward they can live the best lives for them. :)

We also had a lot of change with Prime Ministers! In July the (then) current PM Boris Johnson announced that he was stepping down as Conservative leader and Prime Minster. He was replaced by Liz Truss in September. But she didn't last long and resigned less than two months later (becoming the shortest serving PM in history)! She was replaced by Rishi Sunak in October.

I think it's cool that Rishi Sunak is the first Indian Prime Minster. Although the most important thing to me is that he does a good job (not to dismiss the significance because it does matter, I just mean that we need someone who knows what they're doing regardless of race/heritage, gender etc.). I think with how certain things were handled during the pandemic and the current cost of living crisis, many people have lost faith in the government. However, they are trying to help with energy bills and other costs for low-income households, which is a good thing.

Releasing

I struggled a bit in 2022 due to feeling hurt and excluded in a certain situation. I have ups and down with my mental health, and went through periods where the depression and/or anxiety was worse during this past year. There were better parts too, but then I didn't have a very good end of the year (due to personal reasons) and then this year started with being "ghosted" by someone I thought was a friend. (I also had a couple of weird incidents in the past few months with people blocking me on penpal sites for no reason that I knew of.) So, I've been feeling like I'm at quite a low ebb recently. 

The start of a new year has an attitude of "New Year, New You!". But as I've mentioned before (in my first letting go of the year post in 2017 actually), I don't believe in pushing myself to feel better when I can't. And I don't think any of us should. In fact, my whole Feeling Your Emotions series is about trying to accept different emotions.

I've covered ways to release your year in previous year-end posts. You can find them at the links at the top of the post, or by clicking here, here and here. I also wrote a bit about it in the Letting Go of 2021 post: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/12/letting-go-of-2021.html

 

Resolutions/Intentions/Goals

I first wrote about setting resolutions, intentions and goals (and the difference between them) in the Letting Go of 2017 post and again in the Letting Go of 2018 one. I hope you find them useful if you want to make a resolution or set an intention etc. (And if not, it's fine! It's totally up to you.) :)

Some years I choose a Word of the Year. You can see the ones I chose up to 2020 in my Letting Go of 2020 post. I don't always choose one but for 2022 my word was "Amazing". However, I didn't feel that I really had an amazing year, so I'm not sure if I'll choose one for 2023! Sometimes I get disappointed if they don't seem to work for me. I don't feel like setting any intentions right now either, but I might change my mind later. You can set them any time of the year, it doesn't have to be at the start. :)

Check out this post to read about Dominee from Self-Love Rainbow's (formerly Blessing Manifesting) Word of the Year for 2023 and previous years: https://www.selfloverainbow.com/my-word-of-the-year-for-2023

If the idea of setting resolutions or choosing a word for the year doesn't resonate with you, then you may like this post from Huong of She Sweats Diamonds. It's about choosing a phrase/motto to live by for the year: https://www.shesweatsdiamonds.com/new-year-new-beginnings-happy-2023/

Or if you'd prefer an approach of easing into the year, check out this post from Catherine of The Blissful Mind: https://theblissfulmind.com/ease-into-2023

 

So that's it for now. I hope that everyone is doing well and had a good Christmas and New Year (or any other festival you celebrated). Or if you didn't, I hope that things get better for you. And hopefully you found this post helpful if you wanted to reflect on/let go of the past year and look ahead to the new one. :) This year it will be Falling Petals' 10th birthday! Next month actually. I'm planning to do a birthday post, so look out for that. :) 

How was your 2022? Happy New Year! Wishing you a peaceful start to 2023. :) 

Photo: Buckingham Park, Shoreham-by-sea. Moonsparkle 2022.