Chapters of 2023 || Recapping and Reminiscing a Wonderful Year

2023 was a good year.

It wasn't the most memorable or happening (like 2022) but it was a comfortable year. I had great times with the people I love, worked on my passions, improved my health, and have many new fond memories.

Unlike my year-end wrap-up posts of the last two years, I will treat this more like a journal. In 2023, I realized that I love it when my blog posts contain memories and accounts of changes/growths. I love reading them after years and seeing how my reads, hobbies, and life complement each other. I have many points to cover in this year-end reflection post.

Grab a drink or a snack and settle down as I take you through my 2023.

reading 📚

I did not have much of a reading goal in 2023. I started the year with a goal of 10 books and increased it a few times. I read 132 books in 2023. It is considerably less than the 170 books I read in 2022 but I'm not disappointed. My picks were great and I'm satisfied with my reading.

As you can see, most of my reading was emotional and lighthearted. It is because 73/132 were romance books. I read 25 "dark" books which is surprising. My reading moods were mostly positive though.

My only goal was to read longer and harder-to-read books which I believe I have achieved. In 2023, I kind of cured my aversion to big books. I read 17 books that were over 500 pages long.

I specifically planned to read three big books which have been on my shelf for years—The Priory of the Orange Tree, Killing Commendatore, and Maximum Ride. I didn't enjoy all of them but I'm happy I finally read them.

I read 10 non-fiction books which is less than the 12 I wanted to read. However, some of them took me longer to read and were hard to go through, so it's fine. I read really good non-fiction books and it has made me warm up to the genre much more.

A lowkey goal that I'm always working on is reading more paperbacks. Reading ebooks is very easy but I find that I enjoy paperbacks more. In 2023, I read 34 paperback and 8 audiobooks. They're not much compared to the 90 ebooks I read but it's not a bad number.

My average rating was 3.41 stars which isn't great and lower than last year but I don't mind it. I was not enjoying many of the romance books I picked for a while and I've been experimenting with different kinds of books. I gave 5 stars to 17 books which is a lot! A few of them were rereads but I'm happy with that.

Speaking of, I reread a lot of books. 22 of them! Most of the time, it was for comfort. I reread comfort books whenever I felt down. Some of the rereads were because I got the paperback versions and wanted to annotate them. I didn't care about not reading new books because the rereads made me happy. That's what matters.

A notable fact: I read 6 books by Abby Jimenez. In a surprising turn of events, I read the author's entire backlist because I liked one of her books. I usually don't do that but I want to do it more often—explore authors' backlist.

2023 was the first year I reviewed every book I read in wrap-ups on the blog. Previously, I would read too much or skip reviewing if I didn't have much to say about them. But this time, I made the effort to explain how I felt and why for every book even if it was a short or unoriginal book. It helped me articulate my thoughts better and pick better books to read. I love that I have a review for every book to reference back to or share. I want to continue reviewing all of my reads.

Some quick reading facts:

• Longest book: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
• Shortest book: Galatea by Madeline Miller
• Average length of books: 378 pages
• Hardest books to read: How to Read a Book and Invisible Women.

About halfway through the year, I realized that I was hating the romance I was reading. Everything sounded so appealing but wasn't actually good. Several disappointing reads later, I decided to stop reading romance as much. That decision saved me from going into a reading slump.

By the end of 2023, my romance reads reduced heavily and I'm glad. Reading fewer romances allowed me to be more picky, trust my gut, and not go with hyped books as much. Quitting social media helped too. (I even wrote a discussion post on how social media affected my reading.)

My only official reading goal for 2024 is to read 100 books (which I spoke about in detail in my 2024 goals post) but I have a few lowkey ones that will always be a work-in-progress.

I want to read interesting books without looking at popularity. I want to go through my backlist, take recommendations from friends, and pick intriguing books at the bookstore. I want to buddy read more. A few of my friends and I are planning to buddy read one book a month, let's see how that goes. I planned for the A-Z reading challenge but I'm not taking it too seriously.

Also, I'm switching to Storygraph! I tried importing my data from GoodReads a couple of times before and they didn't import properly. It annoyed me so much that I deleted everything and gave up. This time, I moved data for a couple of years manually and am going to use Storygraph as my main reading tracker in 2024. It has better features than GoodReads so I'm excited. I don't think I'll be updating Goodreads at all. Maybe if I'm very bored. Add me as a friend on Storygraph if you're there too!

blogging 👩🏻‍💻

2022 was my best blogging year with sky-high stats. 2023 wasn't too bad but it paled in comparison and hence, I'm a little disappointed.

My blogging frequency reduced in 2022 and carried over to 2023. Life got more busy and I spent less time blogging. It took a while but clearly affected my stats and engagement. It took a long time to accept it and move on. I'm still disappointed. However, I understand that consistency, frequency, and luck all play a part and not everything is in my hands. As life gets fuller, I may spend less time blogging and it doesn't mean that I've failed at it.

Here's a quick rundown:

• The blog got a new look! While I still liked the previous theme, I was itching for something new. I revamped it as a celebration for this blog's second anniversary. It fits my content and voice well. I love how it looks.
• I published 30 blog posts. It's the least amount of blog posts so far. However, each of my blog posts got longer and more in-depth. 30 isn't much but each post is a product of passion and lots of effort. *pats myself on the back*
• The number of views, likes, and comments reduced in 2023. It is what it is.
• For the third time in a row, How to Annotate Books For Fun was the top post of the year.
• I continued my newsletter and did not take any breaks. I still love sending casual newsletters at the start of every month.

It was the year of setting myself to a new standard in blogging. Although I didn't post many, there are a few posts that I'm proud of:

• Required Reading || Is Academic Reading Making a Difference?
• My 2022 Blog Statistics || Analysis, Comparison, and Insights
• How Social Media Affects Reading || A Discussion

I stopped showing ads from Adsense in March 2023. Initially, the revenue felt good. Some revenue was more than none. However, after a while, I didn't like it. The returns weren't worth showing ads that broke up my posts. I could have continued for another couple of months to receive the next payout but I wanted the ads out. My Adsense account shows that I'm owed $58 but I won't get it until the amount crosses 100 and I'm not enabling those ads again.

In August, I learnt of SheMedia ad provider from Inah and signed up for it. The signup process was longer and they pay through PayPal instead of directly as I'm outside of the US but the revenue is much better. What Adsense gave me in three months, I earned through SheMedia in one month.

I earned through ads, coffees and a bit through link inserts. I feel great when the amount hits my bank and treat myself with it. The last few payments are going towards my upcoming blog hosting renewal. In total, I earned 32k rupees (around 370 dollars) which more than covers my blog expenses. I feel quite fortunate to earn via my passion <3

My blog hopping increased in 2023 and I'm so happy about it. It has been my goal to blog hop often for a few years now and I finally did it. I kept up with the blogs I followed and blog hopped to find new blogs often. I found and started following many new blogs.

After I uninstalled social media apps, it picked up even more. I stopped spending as much time on my phone but when I did, during travel or something, I read blogs. It has become an infrequent habit to open Feedly and read blog posts. I much prefer this to doomscrolling on social media.

Some of the blogs I discovered in 2023:

• Quote, Unquote
• The Bookworm's Feast
• Book Cheshire Cat
• Scribbles & Stories
• On This I Ponder
• Daisybutter
• Nikzine
• Pretty Little Scribbles

Blogging may be "dying" but there are still many amazing bloggers doing their best in this space. Blog hopping inspires me to write more.

Another thing that makes me want to continue blogging is the Discord events at the Blog & Chill Discord server! I started the server in 2022 to casually chat with bloggers and have fun. Thankfully, I was able to host many events in 2023. While not many join, the few of us who get together regularly have become quite close. I look forward to each event because it's so nice to talk to bloggers about content creation, life, and whatever else. In fact, for the next event, we're playing a game. I'm excited.

social media 📱

When 2023 started, I had given up on Twitter and wanted to focus on Instagram and Pinterest. I wasn't very motivated but I did want to try.

Pinterest fell to the side because I wasn't blogging much. Considering that it's more of a search engine than social media, I don't feel much pressure with it. I frequently use it for illustration inspiration but haven't been pinning much. My old pins are still driving traffic to the blog, though, and holding it up while traffic from other search engines reduces.

I want to pin more to promote my blog posts. I'm not making it a goal, though. My priority will be to write good content and interact with other bloggers. Promotion is secondary.

Halfway through the year, I was hating social media platforms. They were sucking my energy, didn't give me any inspiration or motivation, and simply made me feel bad. On my personal Instagram account, I only saw wedding announcements. My bookish Instagram and Twitter accounts were chaotic and didn't make me happy.

On a random July day, I impulsively uninstalled the apps. I first uninstalled Instagram and Twitter. I kept Snapchat because it's how I keep up with my friends. But a while later, I got annoyed with it too and uninstalled it. Initially, I missed it and thought that I would install them after a few weeks.

After a couple of weeks, I didn't want them back so I decided to consider installing them after two months. When two months passed, I really didn't want them back. I installed Instagram for a day, posted a photo dump, and uninstalled it again. I check my DMs once in a while on the browser on my laptop. I don't miss reels or nonsense posts. It has been almost 6 months now and I'm nowhere close to wanting the apps back.

I miss being in the loop with the bookish community, getting to know random updates from friends, and seeing trends. Sometimes, I feel out of the loop with friends because they would discuss one of their recent social media posts. I don't miss them enough to install them back, though. I install Instagram once every couple of months to post updates or promote a blog post and uninstall it within a few hours.

Life has been so peaceful without social media. I feel like I have more energy during the day. I read more. I started journaling regularly. I go running. I stay present when I'm outside and people-watch or daydream. I meet friends often and get updates in person.

I don't miss Twitter at all. I still go there once in a while to check DMs. I go there for specific stuff like donation links for Palestine. I tweet only my blog post links to promote them sometimes. Because I was so out of the loop, I found out from a friend that it had been renamed to X a week after the fact! I hadn't kept up with the news and completely missed it. It made me realize just how less I miss social media and how I don't want to go back.

If you're considering quitting social media, I highly recommend it. If you talk to friends only on them, move conversations to pure texting platforms. Find alternatives for what you need. Soon, you won't even remember most of what you think you can't live without,

youtube 📹

I tried being a booktuber a few years back and quit very soon. Recording myself and posting online was simply not my thing. I much prefer writing and polishing my content.

After I uninstalled social media apps, I had a bunch of free time. One of my friends started silent vlogging on YouTube and it inspired me to try it as well. I love watching silent vlogs so it was a no-brainer to try it. Instead of discarding the idea, I immediately went for it after talking to the vlogger friend. I quickly loved silent vlogging my days. Check out my vlogs here!

I like that I don't need to film myself for it, I don't need to consider how I look or speak, and I can easily film outdoors. I don't have to worry about sounds like traffic or random drilling because I'll remove the audio anyway. I don't have to worry about setting all the context because I can add captions to explain.

I started vlogging at the end of July and have posted 14 vlogs so far. It's fun to experiment with something new and learn a new skill. Vlogging has introduced me to a new audience and new challenges. I even made a blog post about it to record my journey.

As I was simply trying something new and didn't know how to do it well, I didn't expect to receive a good response. But my vlogs got so many compliments, from friends and strangers. One of my vlogs got 2k views! I got about 100 new subscribers.

I've been watching YouTube videos much more as well. I usually watch videos when I'm having meals alone or when I want to relax during weekends. They give me inspiration for my videos as well Here are some channels that I've been enjoying:

• Linh Truong
• toka
• Annika's Leaf
• The Melodramatic Bookworm
• cups and thoughts
• gkyoyuki
• Maria Sisul

I will continue pursuing YouTube this year—and have a goal for it—but it won't be a priority. There are many blog posts that I want to write, many books to read, and stuff to do in daily life. I'll do YouTube when I can.

music 🎧

Music has always been a big part of my days. I'm usually listening to music as I travel, walk/run, work, and blog. Until recently, I listened to music only on earphones. Even with that, my listening time was high.

I have 2 playlists where I add songs that I like so they're ever-growing playlists. They're my go-to playlists all the time. I've always split my time between the slow playlist and the everything-else playlist. (Fun fact: one of my colleagues uses my playlist often!)

In 2023, I got a speaker and my listening time has at least doubled. Now, music is usually playing in my room from when I wake up to when I sleep. It's always playing and I love it. I'm excited to come home from work and play music on the speaker.

I got the Apple HomePod mini so it connects well with all of my devices and has Siri installed. Recently, they added voice command support for Spotify. I'm all set.

Because I've been playing so much, my mom started to like my music! Till now, she's hated anything other than Carnatic and some of Bollywood music. Now, when I play English or Japanese songs, she says that she likes some of them. I was so surprised the first time she said it that I told all of my friends immediately 😂

For a while, because I was enjoying music so much every day, I started singing aloud randomly! I started singing aloud at home for the first time and realized it only when my mom commented on it. I sang aloud my mistake—twice—at the office and only realized when my colleagues suddenly looked up or told me. I fell in love with music even more and even blogged about it. It was a great time.

Quick facts from my Spotify Wrapped:

• I listened to 54 genres, 1668 songs, and 1083 artists.
• Top songs:
  1. You're On Your Own, Kid by Taylor Swift (on repeat at the start of the year)
  2. Radio Wave by By The Coast (on repeat during the last few months)
  3. Wouldn't Miss It For The World by CHPTRS
  4. Would've, Could've, Should've by Taylor Swift
  5. Manase Maya by Sooraj Santosh, Varun Sunil (listened to this throughout the year)
• I listened for 47,761 minutes and was in the top 5% of listeners worldwide.
• Spotify classified my music as Vampire because I like emotional, atmospheric music.

My music tastes leaned into slow music much more in 2023. I listened to my slow playlist way more than the other playlist. After I got the speaker, since I was playing background music all the time, the slow playlist was played 80% of the time. It allows me to concentrate on my tasks while also enjoying the music.

Because I was listening to slow music more, I fell in love with music I already knew and found a lot of new songs and artists to listen to:

• I already loved all the songs by CHPTRS and fell in love with them even more. In fact, their discography is one of my favourite playlists.
• The indie/indie-folk autumn/fall playlists by alexrainbird are a favourite when I need to concentrate. I'm partial to the 2020 and 2021 playlists compared to the new ones.
• I rediscovered Night Terrors of 1927 and made a discography playlist for them because it didn't already exist.
• New artists I've been loving - Novo Amor, Boundary Run, Hollow Coves, Vancouver Sleep Clinic, sød ven
• New songs I've been enjoying (excluding ones by the artists mentioned above and in my 2023 wrapped playlist):
  • Still by David Nevory (on repeat since the last few days of 2023 until now)
  • Wherever You Are by ONE OK ROCK
  • Love Talk by WayV
  • Doushite by TakaseToya, emi noda
  • As You Don't Know by Rokudenashi

It was a great year. I listened to music across several languages and types of songs. I enjoyed days with my playlists in the background. I look forward to another year enriched with good music.

life 🌱

I don't know how this post already has 3k words because I have the most to say in this section and we're here only now. If you're still reading, you're the best 🫶

Firstly, I got a scooter this year! After a few months of test-driving scooters, I bought one. It was great! I got my license only in 2021 but didn't drive often. I really needed a vehicle to go around short distances because there's no public transport I can take in my area. I was getting tired of using autos and trying to get rides from my dad or others.

Since I got the scooter, I started riding more and am quite comfortable on the roads now. I still prefer taking public transportation if I have to travel far but I take the scooter for short distances without thinking much.

It also helped me exercise regularly. I always used to skip walks because I have to walk to the walking area and it's through a bad road. I can't rely on autos. After getting the scooty, it's no big deal so my workouts increased.

Another thing that helped me exercise more is my smartwatch. I got an Apple Watch around the same time I got the scooter. I got it because I had a voucher for an electronics store which covered the price. It wasn't a "need" for me but I thought it would be nice. And it is! The watch is so convenient to use and has become a part of my digital organization system.

The fitness aspect that the watch brings is the best addition. I like that it makes me notice my stand hours and makes me move. I like that I have move and exercise goals to work towards every day. The watch and scooter together pushed me to make exercise a part of my routine.

After walking regularly for a while, I started running. Running! In 2016, I wrote in a blog post that "I despise running" and I'm now a runner! I have running goals for this year! I would never have expected this change. It's a very surprising but welcome change.

I like going on runs now. I like that it's a head-empty-no-thoughts experience. It helps me get rid of extra energy and get better sleep at night. It gives me something to work on besides work and hobbies—something that clearly shows results if I put in work. Many of my journal entries from 2023 have updates on my runs and how I love it 😂

2023 was the year I started being physically active. Besides running, I played badminton regularly with my friends and have improved quite a bit. We try to play every week and I'm always excited to play. I want to play it twice a week but since I can't play the game alone, it's hard. Having to go to the office 4 days a week doesn't help either.

Things are opening up even more now that it's been a while since the pandemic lockdown. I started going to work in a different location in the last couple of months and we've started going 4 days a week. One would think that going from 3 days to 4 days wouldn't be much of a difference but IT IS. It makes so much difference! I'm much more tired and I feel like I have way less free time.

On a positive note, I don't have to ride scooty to work anymore. I much prefer travelling via public transport. While I'm more comfortable with riding now, I'd rather daydream and get some walking into my daily routine. Even if I miss my runs, I move and walk enough every day.

Speaking of being more physically active, because of all that I've been doing, I lost a bunch of weight in 2023. It's enough that none of my pants fit me anymore and everyone I meet after a while comments on my weight loss. (Almost every person in my office has commented on it at this point.) Since I'm not on social media, people haven't seen any updates about me exercising and only see the results. I've always wanted to work on something and show my effort through results so this is nice haha. I'm also liking body-hugging clothing for the first time!

Other than the exercise, I made a couple of more good decisions in 2023. In February, I made late goals for the year impulsively and actually stuck to them. Firstly, I didn't drink alcohol more than once a month. My city's social culture is steeped in drinking and I was tired of it. So, I made this goal. Throughout the year, I carefully chose non-alcoholic drinks when hanging out with friends. Sometimes, I went multiple months without drinking. I'm super happy about that and plan to reduce it even further. In 2024, I want to drink a maximum of once in two or three months.

Secondly, I avoided maida almost completely in 2023. I went on a gluten-free diet for 7 months a few years back due to health issues and it made a lot of difference. I started having wheat again but reduced the amount of maida (refined wheat flour).

Since foods with maida are very common, I started having it more pretty soon. Most pasta, pizzas, burgers, etc. contain maida. In early 2023, I realized that I didn't really enjoy such foods and mainly ate them because I'd go out with friends and have what they were having. So I made a goal to avoid them as much as I could and was successful.

My junk food intake has reduced a lot. When I go out with friends, I check the menus beforehand and try to suggest places that serve salads or other foods that I can eat. I'm now known for having salads all the time! What a change.

My only vice is coffee. Caffeine doesn't work on me. It either has no effect or makes me sleepy. Every time I have strong coffee, I start yawning soon. (My first cold brew made me yawn in 10 minutes! I was soo sleepy in the café. I gave the rest of the drink to a friend.) But I like the taste of coffee. I like to try different flavours and have coffee to have a tasty drink.

At the end of 2022, I bought coffee powder from a new local brand and it was SO GOOD. My mom had it twice or thrice a day and finished it in no time 😂 I've been buying from them regularly and it was enough that they came home in December. They gifted us a box with small amounts of all of the flavours for being loyal customers. So, yeah. Coffee is something I'm not letting go of.

2022 was the year of trips. I visited so many places with different people. I hoped for the same in 2023 but it didn't happen. Looks like 2023 was a year for improving regular life and routines instead. However, I did visit a few places. I went on 4 trips.

I went to Agra and Varanasi in January, Kodaikanal in July, Bhopal in September, and Varkala in December. I had a really good time on all of them. It's so fun to go on vacations with friends, even if they're only for a day or two.

Speaking of friends, I think I was much better at maintaining relationships in 2023. I'm usually horrible at initiating conversations and checking in with friends. But I've been better lately. I have multiple groups of friends so making sure that I'm spending time with all of them is a challenge—one that I aced last year.

Other than regularly hanging out with my college friends and meeting school friends, I regularly went out with friends who I met through Instagram (and we've become so close now). At one point, I was going out every weekend! We dressed up, went to several restaurants and cafés, and had good food. I kept up with close friends and became closer with friends I barely talked to before.

I went on several solo dates as well. I've never had a problem spending time alone but I took it to the next level last year. I went to local events, bookstores, and so many cafés alone. Whenever I needed some time off or wanted time away from talking to people, I went out alone. I learnt to love my company outside and got used to going to places alone so that I don't have to wait for someone to go with me.

In the last months of the year, I started journalling regularly and it was so nice! I tried morning pages—writing 3 pages first thing in the morning—and loved it. It feels good to dump random thoughts, recall the previous day, work through the good and bad things after a night's sleep, and set intentions for the current day. If I write that I want to do something, I often do it.

In the upcoming year, I hope to continue being physically active, being mindful of my food, maintaining friendships, and journalling.

endnotes for 2023

This is such a long post! I basically word-vomited for four days straight to write this. A year can be a long time if we take things day by day and put in effort to improve. This post captures almost everything from my year.

2023 wasn't a year of big changes or achievements. It was about nudging my daily life in the right direction and setting a good start for better things in the future. While I have goals for the upcoming year, who knows what it holds for me? All I can do is take things positively and try to do better in the 100 different categories of life.

Lastly, thank YOU! I haven't been very active or regular in blogging. Every time I post something, it's a LONG post with thousands of words. My WordPress editor says that this post is 5k words long and would take 27 minutes to read! I can't imagine anyone reading a post about my life for so long.

Having a space on the internet outside of algorithms and trends is a special thing. It allows me to share my passions, reminisce about life, and be who I am. Thank you for keeping up with my blog, supporting my words, and cheering me on.

I hope to continue blogging, write good content, and support y'all in return <3

chat with me!

How was your 2023? What all did you do? What were the highlights of the year? If you've posted a wrap-up that I haven't seen yet, do share it in the comments!

What are you looking forward to in 2024? Are you working on anything? Tell me everything!