Randoms by Rach

Looking Back Over 2021

Well. What can I say? Another year with Covid dominating our lives. I think everyone probably knows someone who has been diagnosed at some point. A lot of people will have suffered themselves. One of my neighbours spent almost six months in hospital and is now in a a rehabilitation home. She spent over a month in ICU on a ventilator. This really brought home to me how dangerous the illness can be. We weren't sure whether or not our neighbour would make it through. But she did. She is a fighter, and hopefully, she will make it back to her apartment one day.

My mental health has suffered this year. There: I said it. I think there are a few reasons for this. My physical health, for one, has impacted my mental health by making me so tired all of the time. My diabetes is still not controlled. My blood sugars are all over the place. I have to sort this out. I have to. I plan to. This coming year has to be the year I change my lifestyle.

I've had a lot of brain fog this year. Not as a by-product of Covid, thank goodness. No. It is because of my diabetes and my mental health. It means I haven't written very much at all this year. I've spent a lot of time reading as that has been easier to do. I have spent a lot of time editing with 4RV. We are almost at the end of a book I've been working on all year. That will be a huge achievement when it is published. I will be so happy for the author.

I thought it would be good to look back and see what I have achieved this year. It will help me to see that I don't just sit around doing nothing all day every day. (Not always, at least.)

I have completed another year of "The Contest Challenge"  I now have five years of challenges under my belt. That feels like quite an achievement.

As I said, reading and books have been my best friend this year. I completed "52 in 52"  I read 52 books in one year! That's massive for me. I used to only read about one a month, but I signed up for this challenge, and I completed it. I'm so proud of myself. What's more: it made me fall in love with reading all over again. I've loved this challenge, and I have made my own list for 2022. I may not complete all fifty-two books next year, but I know I will enjoy trying. Thanks to my renewed love of reading, I have created "Rach's Reading Club"  I look forward to sharing with others this love for reading.

The other activity I have completed this year is to write a poem every week for "Promptly Poetry Challenge (2023-2024)" . Writing a poem every week has been challenging at times, but there are a few poems I've written this year that I'm particularly proud of. Here are a few:

"Love Yourself" 
"Relationships" 
"Happiness?" 
"Cruelty of Cancer" 

So, my plans for 2022 ... to read a lot, to run my contests, to write my weekly poems, to review more, to edit with 4RV, and lastly, to edit my own novel. To make it through to he end. I can do all of this. If I can sort out my physical health, I know everything will be easier. So, that is my priority. Healthy eating, more exercise. And the rest will follow ... right?