![Goodbye 2022 Hello 2023](/assets/images/blog/2022/12/23/00-cover.png)

2022 is not a year I will remember particularly fondly. Well the same can be said for 2020 and 2021 to be honest but 
2022 was especially bad. It wasn't all completely terrible I had a few exceptionally good times. My lad turning 16 was 
great. Our weekend down in London for the UFC was the highlight of the year and maybe my life 😎! I also turned 40 and had a great couple of 
weeks in October. Celebrations that lasted 3 weeks that included nights out in Manchester with friends, a night out with 
the family and close friends which started with a fantastic Indian meal and then ended with an awesome house party, and
finally a nice night out with just the parents watching stand up comedy. 

But that's 4 good times in the space a full year. Everything else felt like 1 long boring repeating day. 2022 was the year 
in which I broke up with my long term girlfriend who I thought I was going to grow old with. I thought by the end of 
2022 I would have left the country and would be starting to live the life we'd been talking about and working towards 
for the last couple of years. But alas it wasn't meant to be.

For the last 6 months since that happened I've kinda drifted, day by day with close to zero motivation to do anything. I
decided to take a month off, which turned into 2, then 3 and has now been close to 5. That's 5 completely pointless and fruitless
months where I've moved forwards not 1 step closer to my goals. I'm pretty salty about that. Upset with myself for taking
the easy way out and sulking :/

Another thing I've struggled with this year is I've not been able to exercise. Exercise got me through 2020/2021 but 
unfortunately I ended up with a Hernia from over doing it. I thought it was going to be fixed early in the year but sadly
the operation was cancelled because I wouldn't play ball with the stupid Covid requirements. My mood and motivation 
definitely suffered when I was unable to exercise and I found myself drinking more and more instead, and this was before
I broke up with my girlfriend!

One positive I can find from this year though is I started to meditate and I saw immediate benefits. I started to cut back 
on my drinking, almost entirely eliminating drinking at home. I felt better and new ideas came to me and I started to 
find some motivation for the first time in months and from here I decided that I'm going to make big changes in 2023.

In 2023 I am going to have my first year in my adult life without Alcohol. I thought about doing "Dry January", then it was 
suggested that I aim for 90 days instead to re-wire my brain and relationship with Alcohol. But honestly why stop there?

After doing nothing for half of the year I never want to be this unproductive again. I want to see what life looks like
when I throw myself 100% into my work. When there are no distractions, no hangovers, just 100% focus on hard work and 
dedication to my personal health and well-being. 

So there it is. That's my plans for 2023. More dedication to my work and my future. More meditation. More reading 
(which also slowed down significantly this year). No boozing. At all. For a full year. 

It's not going to be easy. With the exceptions of the odd dry month here and there over the years I've always drank beer.
I've formed so many associations in my brain that include beer. Watching UFC? Beer. Friday afternoon. Beer. 
Day ends in a Y. Beer.

But I'm going to take it day by day. I have the app on my phone ready to go. I'm actually really excited about it! 
I'm excited to see what I can get done and who I can be without Alcohol.

One things for sure. 2023 is not going to be a repeat of the last few years and when I write my end of year blog post next
year I will not be filled with the same regrets that I have this year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone from me :) 


TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!

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