2019: Year in Review

A New Year - and a new DECADE - are just a couple of days away. Eeee! Cue the nervous excitement.

While I 100% support making New Year’s resolutions and intentions - I wrote mine down this morning! - I think there’s value in looking back on the past year and reflecting on our wins (and our losses, too) so that we can use those teachings as we move forward in life.

So, in the spirit of reflecting on the past, I’ve put together my 2019 Year in Review, with some of the most memorable moments from 2019. Here goes!

I left my corporate job and started working for myself.

This was my biggest goal for 2019, and I am so thrilled and proud of myself for finally making this dream happen. For YEARS, I had been wanting to take the plunge and become a full-time freelancer, but it always felt too scary and too lofty of a goal. I had a hard time thinking of how I could actually make it work. I decided that 2019 was going to be the year I start getting my shit together.

I started slowly at first: dreaming up projects that bring me joy, who my ideal clients would be, and what my ideal workday might look like. Then I began pitching my writing to more publications, created a website, started saving money, and by August, I was mapping out detailed strategies and actionable next steps I could take to get the ball rolling. Slowly but surely, things started to take shape. I had a clearer image of my ideal work and how I wanted to live my life.

On November 27, 2019, I officially left my corporate, 9 to 5 job and entered a new chapter in my career as a freelance writer, editor, and tarot reader - one that’s both exhilarating and frightening!

I wrote openly about my tarot practice for the first time.

My tarot practice started about 5 or 6 years ago, and ever since then, it’s been a little secret of mine that only a few people knew about. That is, until I wrote about it publicly.

For the past year and a half, I’ve been a contributor for the online magazine, Shut Up and Yoga. When I mentioned that I had an article idea about using tarot with meditation, they were super curious and open to publishing the piece on their platform. (I was beyond giddy.) It took me a while to write, namely because tarot means so much to me and it was hard to be succinct about something I could go on and on about (alas, few people want to read 2,000+ word articles nowadays).

Once it was published, I shared it on Instagram. At first it was terrifying because I didn’t know how people would react (would they see me as weird or crazy or lame?). But then I realized, who cares?! (One of my New Year intentions is to stop being such a people-pleaser…). It doesn’t matter what other people think. What matters is that I’m pursuing something that fascinates me, and I’m brave enough to share that with the world. (Thank you, tarot, for that newfound bravery!)

I opened an Etsy shop and IG account dedicated to tarot.

That article about tarot and meditation really got the wheels turning and I decided to take it a couple of steps further. There was this part of me that really wanted to devote more time and energy into tarot readings. So, bringing with me all my doubts and insecurities, I decided to open myself up to new people and new opportunities. I started an Etsy shop with a variety of different tarot readings to suit people’s needs and curiosities, and I launched an IG account dedicated solely to tarot, called @tarotwithjo. Feel free to take a look and follow me if you’re at all curious about what you find there. :)

Special shout out: I couldn’t have done either of those things without the teachings of Lindsay Mack. Her Tarot for the Wild Soul course completely transformed my tarot practice and gave me a profoundly deeper understanding of what tarot is and how it can serve us if we allow it into our lives. Thank you, Lindsay, for your generosity, kindness, and wisdom!

After some serious family illnesses, I realized life is too short to dilly-dally.

Both of my husband’s parents got really sick this past year, which took its toll on us and our family. It was really scary for a time, as we didn’t (and still don’t) quite know the ultimate outcomes of their illnesses. It made me realize that none of us - no matter how healthy and fit we are - truly know how long we have on this Earth. It was my wake up call to stop procrastinating on certain projects and life goals, and just DO THE THING and STOP WAITING AROUND. Life is too short to “wait until tomorrow” or “next week” or “next year.” I still have trouble with procrastinating (who doesn’t?) but it’s something I’m consciously working on.

I became an Auntie to another niece!

Being an auntie is seriously so much fun. I just wish we lived closer so I could see my (now three!) nieces and nephew more often. Being around young kids has brought a renewed sense of wonder into my life that was, sadly, waning before. Kids have the gift of seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, truly. Here’s what being around my nieces and nephew has taught me: 1) don’t be afraid to act silly and play, 2) hug and say “I love you” more often, and 3) put the dang phone down and live in the present moment!

***

A big realization for me this past year was that, if I wanted to change my life, no one was going to do it for me. I had to put on my big girl pants and be the one to make shit happen. Did I mention that this year was one of the most emotionally taxing and exhausting years of my life thus far? Turns out, making serious changes can get extremely uncomfortable and it’s just plain hard! But through it all, it has allowed me to forge ahead with new ideas and a new vision for how I want to live my life: with more authenticity, intention, and joy.

So thank you, 2019, for all your life lessons. Let’s do this, 2020!

First Ever Blog Post + Why I'm Getting "Sober Curious"

It’s taken me about a year to muster the courage to write my very first blog post. Part of it was plain old procrastination, but there was also the issue of what to write that I agonized over for months. After all, it’s the very beginning of something, the inception, the planting of a seed so to speak, so it better be good, right?

That’s just too much pressure, in my opinion! We’ve all got way too much stress in our lives as it is, so why create even more unnecessarily? This morning I decided to give myself a break and just write something.

One of my favorite writing teachers always said, “Write what you know.” Okay, so, today, here’s what I know:

I’ve been “sober curious” for over 100 days and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. I’ll give you a bit of background: In January, I buckled down and did my first Whole30, a topic that probably deserves its own blog post. If you’re not familiar with the diet - or rather “lifestyle” as the founder would say - it involves giving up a laundry list of food groups (grains, added sugar, dairy, beans, the list goes on), alcohol being one of them. I happened to also be reading Ruby Warrington’s latest book Sober Curious at the time. The book inspires and encourages readers to have their own “sober curious” journey, so to speak, by giving up alcohol for 100 days. I figured, if I was already giving up alcohol for 30 days, I could try for 100.

Last drink before my Sober Curious journey…

I did the math. 100 days = 3 months and 10 days to be exact. I started on January 1, 2019, so my 100 days officially ended on April 10, 2019. It’s now April 20, and I’m still going strong.

After the first few weeks, alcohol’s power kind of evaporated. I no longer have that habitual craving for a glass of wine at the end of the day. What’s replacing that craving, however, is a massive truckload of emotions and feelings that come in waves.

Yeah, wasn’t expecting that. All of a sudden, I feel way more deeply than I have in a long time. Getting sad news feels like I’ve been dropped into a pit of overwhelming despair, a happy moment becomes blissed-out joy that makes me want to jump around and hug everybody, and moments of self-doubt resemble sheer panic. It’s both hair-splitting and invigorating at the same time. It also has me feeling like I’m going kind of crazy.

If I may quote Ruby Warrington herself:

“The good thing about sobriety is you get all your feelings back. The bad thing about sobriety is you get all your feelings back...”

But I’m also getting better sleep, my gut is healing, I have clearer skin, and I finally feel like I have some clarity and focus in certain areas of my life.

Is this all from giving up alcohol? Could be. I like to say I’m still in the beta phase, so time will tell. But I do think that saying ‘no’ to the sauce has set off a chain reaction. Instead of relaxing on the couch each night with a glass of wine in my hand, I’m doing more things that bring my soul joy. I’ve dedicated more time to my writing, I’ve stuck to a consistent exercise routine, I’m reading more, I’m cooking more wholesome meals, and I’ve been falling more in love with my tarot practice. All these things combined have created a perfect recipe for deep, inner soul work.

There’s so much I could write about on this sober curious journey so far - so much that I’m thinking about writing a much longer piece that really explains the highs and lows in greater detail. Stay tuned!