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2023 was a hit and miss. Well, most times, miss. I am glad to see the back of 2023, with no going back. Having said that, there are some memorable moments of 2023, like finally being able to skydive, checking more things off the bucket list, visiting new places and doing different things. So I will be highlighting some of the good memories as well as reflecting on the bad events that have happened during the year.
With all COVID restrictions finally ending, a new challenge emerged: friendship issues that had arisen with some of what were once my good friends, including one I had been friends with since intermediate school. There was a personal conflict that caused her and me to become ex-friends, and although I will never forget that, I will move on from it. There was also minor conflict on my dad's side, which has since been resolved a long time ago, and an incident at a music festival which resulted in me being kicked out of a chat group on what was once Twitter - now known as "X". Personal conflicts with friends and family ensued. At the end of the year, my best friend stopped talking to me after my mother called the doctor on me when I was supposed to meet up with a guy I came across on Badoo, a dating site. The date never happened, as I was so upset about the conflict that ensued with my mum that I wasn't up for it. There was also a conflict over a nude bungee jump that I wanted to do, but fortunately, in the end, I got to do it anyway. It also didn't help when it was confirmed I did have PCOS - and the readings are pretty high.
If all of that wasn't bad enough, we experienced the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle hitting Auckland. The Anniversary floods were so severe that our tenant's flat was badly damaged, necessitating major repair work and renovation. Just a few hours after I completed the 5-hour Black Abyss tour in Waitomo, torrential rains in Auckland caused flash flooding. The floods reached our tenant's flat while we were in Waitomo. The cyclone also made it nearly impossible for us to sleep at night due to the intense wind and rain, forcing the entire household to sleep upstairs and, beforehand, move things to higher ground. It also prevented anyone, including myself, from going to West Auckland beaches such as Muriwai and Piha, as well as other affected beaches. The storm impacted businesses, some of which had to shut down for months, affecting the economy and the tourism sector in the North Island. We had an exceptionally wet summer, with the wet weather persisting throughout much of the year. Consequently, I wasn’t able to snorkel or take surfing lessons. Parts of the North Island were totally off-limits to everyone except residents. Adding to this mix were the cost of living crisis, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the recent events in Palestine, along with a still ongoing pandemic, and other global issues.
There were also positives to 2023. I checked off some items from my bucket list, which I had never done before—like skydiving, paragliding, hanggliding, going down the Kaituna Rapids, and visiting Yosemite National Park in California. Other good things that came out of the year were Christopher Luxon becoming Prime Minister, Kiri Allan getting arrested after crashing her car and later resisting arrest, Jacinda Ardern resigning as Prime Minister and going on a long-haul trip to San Francisco—the first time I had been to the United States since 2015 and also the first long-haul trip of this decade and since the pandemic began. Additionally, I have been traveling around the country and to Australia multiple times, in addition to going to San Francisco. I also took up horse riding lessons, which is a new experience for me as well.
In conclusion, 2023 is a year that I'd rather not repeat, marked by friendship issues, both mental and physical health challenges, personal conflicts, and even freak weather events, including a cyclone. The aftermath required major repair work, disrupting our daily routine, proving to be costly and time-consuming.
Starting 2024, with me likely having contracted COVID while in Australia, doesn't make matters any better. Furthermore, conflicts in both Gaza and Ukraine persist, along with the ongoing pandemic. However, let's hope that in 2024, things will settle down, and it will be a much better year than the previous ones.
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2023 has just started, with nearly a month into the year now - and things are looking much better this year than 2022! Especially with the certainty now - and with Jacinda Ardern stepping down, and that almost all covid restrictions are lifted. So now I should find it a whole lot easier trying to accomplish some goals, especially working towards what I really want to be - a fashion designer, a model, an artist and a photographer - and getting a job! Also the other good news is that I am now 5 years seizure free (I have epilepsy unfortunately), so if I have the time, I can move towards studying the road code and learning how to drive - although, given the environmental concerns we face today, if I get a driver's license, I will opt to drive in a more sustainable vehicle, like choosing a car or a motorbike that runs on electricity instead of petrol. This year, I aim to be a happier, healthier person and go on more adventures, and get a job. I also have goals for taking up new hobbies and meeting new people, and making friends with them. Just as with any other year, I aim to be kind and nice to people, be organized - especially around social media posting and content creation, plans for events and daily or weekly routines such as skin care. I will also partake in new experiences that I have never done before, and go to events that I've never been to before, and the same with new places and trying out different and new types of food and drinks to me - places that I've never been to before, and food and drinks that I've never had before. Unlike previous years, I also am going to put my health first - especially my mental and physical health, in addition to happiness, as usual. I will be cutting out toxicity from my life, including removing toxic people, try to consume less negative news* - especially news surrounding the Covid 19 pandemic! And I will be thinking about the positive things this year and will aim to be a positive person who can contribute to the community more. And when I mean health, I mean reducing stress, spending more time exercising (another bonus is that being fit means I can enjoy doing adventures and extreme activities), eating well, spending quality time with friends and family, and making sure I am in good health through checkups. Oh, and I will try to avoid getting sick as well. Covid isn't much of an issue for me, but isolation is not great, having done it last year. *Bearing all of this in mind, I will, of course continue to be concerned about any global event, including Covid, the economy, the war in Ukraine and other issues. But I will be trying not to be so anxious or stressed over it as much now that we are in more certain times, now that covid restrictions are almost gone. I have pursued extreme sports (including bungy jumping) and bodyboarding as a hobby, a new one that was born out of the pandemic and will be taking up more, which will be a mixture of good things. I have also been to high teas and have done luxury shopping, both of which are new hobbies that I have started in late 2021/start of 2022. This year, I will take up more hobbies, in addition to continuing on with the usual hobbies like gardening, painting, baking, blogging and photography etc. Some of the hobbies that I will likely take up this year includes:
New experiences that I can think of doing this year include:
There are many others, but there is too much to list, therefore this is not an exhaustive list. The most important thing though, is that I will strive to be stress free this year, although that will be a bit of a challenge given the unfortunate events of the past few years - given Covid and the passing of my father and the fallouts from those events. Even more importantly, I will enjoy doing what I do best, and live life to the fullest. And as with any other year, I will try to achieve my goals and resolutions, and work towards being a better, a happier, kinder and a healthier person.
This year, has proven to be much, much better than last year, with the obvious reasons of the lockdowns limiting my movements and affecting me mentally. Still, this year wasn't all smooth sailing - it was in fact, not only a year that was whack-a-mole, but this year also had many hiccups along the way. It was tough, with a lot of uncertainty at the beginning of the year, worrying about the pandemic and potential future lockdowns, ongoing worries about the economy (including rising costs) and business impacts, and the war in Ukraine, which started very early this year. Also noting that we had just emerged from a form of a regional border lockdown for the unvaccinated this year too (which thankfully did not apply to me as I was vaccinated before the regional border lockdown was lifted).
One of the memorable parts of this year was travelling overseas for the first time since the pandemic began and the death of my father. The overseas travel happened a month before my birthday - but it was a part of my birthday celebrations, as I went to Sydney to do luxury shopping, which we bought a lovely Chanel scarf, a Furla bag and some other items. We went back to Darling Harbor and Circular Quay as well, both of my favorite areas to dine in. We went to a part of Sydney which I believe we have never been before - Shark Island. It was also my first time jet boating overseas, although I have done it many times in my own country. When we got back to Auckland, this was followed by more luxury shopping, which we bought a nice Alexander Wang bag, and two Givenchy items from a designer boutique in Parnell. This then follows a trip to Queenstown for my 25th birthday, in which I did a bungy jump at the Kawarau gorge, went on the Nevis swing and hilariously got tossed upside down, and back to the Shotover Canyon swing for another fun and adrenaline inducing activity. Concerts and events were another thing - from concerts and music festivals to fashion events like those hosted at restaurants where I was given a complimentary drink and a set course menu, treated to a fashion show on most occasions, and given a goodie bag to take home. Other times it was about mixing and mingling, and there was one event that was based on an auction (What Women Want) that took place at the end of August, just before we went on our first overseas trip, to Sydney - since the pandemic began. Six 60 made history again, as it was the second time they have ever performed at Eden Park stadium. I also went to Friday Jams for the first time ever, and the concert/music festival was such an amazing experience with an awesome vibe.
I also have done some awesome experiences for the first time in my life, such as Waitomo blackwater rafting, reverse bungee in Surfers Paradise, parasailing in Taupo and visiting the interactive Ripley's - believe it or not! museum in the Gold Coast.
The end of the year also was fantastic as I attended Coca Cola Christmas in the park for the very first time in three years, with one of them I missed due to being on holiday in Queenstown - in 2019. The other two were, of course, due to the pandemic related restrictions. I also went to the Gold Coast for the holidays, which is a first for a non Sydney related destination in years (I love Sydney, but it is awesome to travel to different places). In addition to kicking off summer with a blackwater rafting adventure in Waitomo, we went to Taupo and Rotorua for a bungy - and some fresh prawns. In the Gold Coast, of course we spent time at the beach in Broadbeach and did shopping and of course, we went to theme parks. And spent time at Surfers Paradise, too!
My favorite bungy this year that was the most memorable was the Auckland Bridge Bungy, where I dressed up as a creepy schoolgirl, and put on spooky makeup to do the 40 meter jump. It later tuned out that I dressed up as Addams from Wednesday, as people pointed out that I looked very much like her after the jump. It was not only so much fun, but it was the first bungy that I did that involved makeup. I also loved dressing up, and the photos turned out to be quite spooky and awesome, making this jump one of my favorites so far (Other being the Nevis due to its height)! The staff at AJ Hackett (link for anyone who is interested in doing their activities in New Zealand) were amused and they could tell I had a whole lot of fun, given it was halloween and that I loved dressing up for any occasion - and also wearing makeup on any day just for a good photo op, in addition to looking good and feeling confident in photos, as my face has unfortunately, naturally got acne and other flaws.
The downsides of this year was that I had to suffer the impacts of the lockdown on me - and the fall outs also resulting from it. One of those impacts was me (other than stress related to the lockdown) still not being on speaking terms with a couple of friends as a result of the lockdown, and the friendship issue has, unfortunately, consumed me this year, and which in turn had a very bad impact on my mental health. Another was worrying about potential future lockdowns and the economy (including inflation and the cost of living crisis) which only added to my stress. Rising crime across New Zealand, including and especially ram raids, burglary and theft, only added to my stress and worries, along with gun violence (the US is already bad enough with too many mass shootings in 2022, we didn't need our own). As if gun violence in the world and NZ, in addition to a pandemic wasn't bad enough already, add monkeypox to the list - another disease introduced to countries where it didn't exist before is the very last thing anyone wanted.
Then as if getting a period before bungy jumping of the Kawarau gorge wasn't upsetting and embarrassing enough, being forced into isolation after a household contact tested positive was even worse. Much to no one's surprise, however, I also had covid - although mild, it still did count as a very faint line was shown (even the faintest of lines are positive) although we recorded it as negative as we were totally unaware of what it meant at the time. To cap it all off, the wisdom teeth extraction was the absolute worst - I was bleeding for approximately a week, I couldn't drink alcohol for more than a week, and I couldn't even laugh or smile in the first few days. I could only have liquid food and drinks for that time. Luckily, I was able to make a quick recovery just in time for Halloween, where I did a bridge bungy, in a costume. Still, the intermission period right after the operation and just before Halloween was the worst. If all this wasn't enough, many beloved celebrities including Olivia newton-john, in addition to Queen Elizabeth, passed away this year, and tragically, at the tail end of the year, fashion designer and founder of luxury label Vivienne Westwood.
With 2023 at it's very beginning still, I am looking forward to what 2023 has in store for us this year, including major sport events and concerts! I will also be travelling more so now that this is the first full year with total certainty. Although 2022 was an awesome year in many ways, and a far cry from the horrors of 2021 and 2020 especially, there have been rough and not-so-great moments that definitely will not be missed.
Photo on blog cover by D5 Render on Unsplash |
AuthorI am Natalie Dunn. I am a feminist who believes in gender equality and rights for everyone. I have many passions in life such as fashion, beauty, adventures and travelling. Archives
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