What's in store for 2023

A new year is a time for reflection, a time to decide what small steps you can take to improve upon your life, and it can be a time for new beginnings.

I always like to look at a new year as an opportunity to take miniature steps in improving your personal life rather than trying to make a huge change all at once.

Sustainability and reality are a key factor in determining plans for the new year.

2023 is a year of the unknown for me, but also an exciting time where I can take every opportunity that comes my way and run with it.

To start, I already have some exciting things up my sleeve.

I’m working on continuing to build my experiences at Starbucks as I truly love working for the company and would love to tap into the corporate side one day.

I have applied to graduate schools and graduate school assistantships for a Fall 2023 start. I’m eagerly awaiting to see if I’m fortunate enough to be fully funded by any of the universities I applied to. Graduate school would lead me to a new place, new friends, new experiences, and a whole lot of change.

I am excited to say that I will be presenting at the 2022 Ragan Social Media Conference in March that is being held at the Swan and Dolphin Resort in Walt Disney World with my mentor, advisor, professor, second mother... you get the idea. I’m looking forward to building my resumé, building my experiences, and building my personal connections through this experience

I’m also excited to return to my happy place and experience some Disney magic, visit cast member friends, and spend time with her and her family since they left me in CT for Texas.

I’m hoping I get the opportunity to travel more, and I’m hoping I make more than one trip to Walt Disney World next year…. eagerly awaiting to treat myself to annual passes when they return.

I’m also working on improving myself through daily habits to enhance my own quality of life. I am looking towards incorporating more self-care in the sense of finding a skincare routine, practicing makeup so I can become confident in it and focusing on feeling good about myself.

I am prioritizing attempting to stress less and care less about what other people think.

I am also working on using my own education/knowledge of health and nutrition and applying it to myself. Sometimes it's hard to do the opposite of everyone else, sometimes it’s hard to nourish when you feel stuck in the house, and sometimes it's hard to just make changes. However, I am working towards increasing variety in my diet, enjoying all the foods, and focusing less on the idea of perfection. I also want to get better at drinking more water because I get so dehydrated at work. I also need to not feel guilty about resting, about fueling etc., and just live my own life because I’m on a different path than everyone else.

I want to incorporate more home workouts. I’m dying for a treadmill/desk treadmill, but it doesn’t make sense for me to buy one when I'm likely to move next year.

I also need to make time for the things that light my soul on fire. Things like recipe crafting, baking, cooking, coloring, reading, dancing and watching things like sports I love, movies I should discover and dance videos that inspire. Reading more is a big goal of mine and I already downloaded the kindle app and started a few days early with some books I discovered for free with my Amazon prime membership.

I set a boundary for myself in this new year and made sure I’ll be able to spend my Friday nights watching NCAA gymnastics. Something I’m passionate about, something I love and something that I missed out on last year as a DCP participant. Maybe someday I’ll get to professionally do work within NCAA gymnastics whether it's on the PR side or the journalism side.

Another big goal of mine is to fully focus on content creation! My parents bought me a video recorder for Christmas and I'm excited to open it to try and navigate it. I want to start doing more daily life content. I want to create more recipes and photograph more meals for inspiration. I want to use my platforms to become more vulnerable. I hope to increase brand work and increase content quality in this new year. I want to create my own recipe book one day. I already have over 50 recipes to share, and I just want to be able to use my skills to help others in their healthy lifestyle journey.

Creating life visions, setting standards high, and practicing self-care, compassion, and kindness with myself this year.

Here’s to 2023 and all that will come with it. Let’s think positive and focus on the good. While not every day will be great, there will be something good in every day. Romanticize the coffee, bask in the conversations at work, and do something small that brings you an ounce of happiness each day.

Just remember small changes lead to longer sustainable results rather than flipping your whole life upside down at once. You can make changes anytime, and please don’t expect perfection with your new year goals because perfection will lead to obsession which is not a healthy way to approach anything in life.

Lots of love to you all, and let's support each other, be kind to each other, and focus on filling our own cup in 2023.