2021 wasn’t the best year for reading. My goal of reading 80 books fell completely short with only 21 books read. Did I feel disappointed in myself? Absolutely. Did I feel guilty for not being as active in the book community? Of course. However, life goes on whether I read or not. The reading woman I was of 2019 was far less busy in her day-to-day life and the woman I am now has a more complicated and richly filled life. I do still read but I have come to terms with the difference in my reading habits and recognised that changing is perhaps a good thing, and not having the time to read 130 books in a year probably speaks highly of my social calendar.

A lot happened in 2021 that wasn’t COVID related. I celebrated 1 year in my new home. I got new windows and a front door for my home. I discovered something fascinating about myself. I attended my first craft fair. I launched my business on TikTok. I created an in-house company wellbeing website.

There are far more positives for me to look back on in 2021 than there are negatives and I do realise how lucky that makes me. I didn’t have to deal with any of my family members getting COVID. I didn’t have to worry about fake news or panic news because I have access to someone with the first hand knowledge and information. Not even my needle phobia stopped me from getting my vaccinations. Sure, they had to take me to a separate room, bring in additional nurses to hold me down, and I did have hysterical panic attacks, but I still did it.

I left my job of reception behind and negotiated with my company to move solely into HR and Health and Safety admin. I negotiated my flexible working post lockdown. I proved my work in my role at work and started to make a name for myself.

Within all of this I began studying again. I passed courses in; lean management, business, mental health, psychology, sustainable business, HR, management, and countless others.

I was still buying books, LOTS OF BOOKS. My kindle library is SO full that I can’t even remember what I have in there. My tbr books are overflowing though I managed to get them down to one bookshelf with some nifty spring cleaning. It is easy to spring clean when you can put unread books into next years Christmas box!

There are so many books I want to read in 2022 but I have learned from my mistakes and I shall not be making ANY goals on the matter. Between down time and working for my small business, my time for reading is shorter. It lengthens only when I sacrifice sleep for reading but perhaps I will make an effort to read more in this coming year. There are, I’ve discovered, only so many things you can prioritise in life and 2021 became my learn of learning and of pushing forth my small business. Perhaps 2022 will be the year I relax a little and allow myself more time to read.

Those posts on the decade of the 1970s are still coming. I’ve written about a third of them, I won’t post them till I have done everything but it has been quite fascinating so far. It is just getting what I want to say into words and making sure the posts aren’t too long and full of waffle.

As for the interesting fact I found out about myself, well…I’ve had this lump on the back of my right hand since 2016. Over the course of the last 5 years I’ve had an ultrascan, an MRI, and an x-ray which all proved inconclusive and nothing further was done. When I moved home and changed doctors, I thought I’d give things another go. Added to this was the pain. Halfway through 2021 I started to experience the most crippling pain in my right hand. It is horrible. It affects my work, my driving, and everything in-between. Though I have naproxen for the pain, I rarely take it unless the pain stops me from sleeping.

I got referred to have another ultrascan and this time…well I had a very clever doctor who noticed what everyone else had missed.

I WAS BORN WITH AN EXTRA MUSCLE IN MY RIGHT HAND!

So I have my tendon and my normal muscle, with my extra muscle lying on top. It’s pressing down on my normal muscle which is pressing down on my tendon and causing all my pain. I am now part of the 4% of the world’s population that is born with this extra muscle and within that I am even rarer because I’m one of the few that experiences pain with the extra muscle. It’s a cool thing to have in principle only but I’d rather not have the pain.

I’m due to have surgery in 2022 to remove the muscle. I won’t be able to use the hand for three weeks and it’ll take months for me to regain my full grip strength but to live without the pain will be far preferable.

Hopefully, despite my lapse in posting on here, there are still some who follow me. I hope you will continue to follow me in 2022, and the journey of books I work my way through. I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year’s.