While some people can’t believe 2022 is coming to an end. I feel like the year passed at a steady pace and was filled with great events.

First, my statistics of the year. I had a goal of 30 books.

I will never get to read as many books in a year as I did in 2019 (where I read 130 books) because my life has got a lot busier and instead of have hours to read, I tend to fit my reading into any spare moment I have.

This year a mystery was solved. The “unknown lump” on my hand, something I’ve had since 2016 and something that continued to grow in pain over the years was finally revealed. Though I had already had an ultrasound and an MRI on the lump, both had been ‘inconclusive’ and I was left with unanswered questions and a lot of pain. When I moved into my current home and changed doctors, I thought I’d give finding answers another go. I had an ‘inconclusive’ x-ray followed by a referral to a hand specialist. Through this hand specialist I had another ultrascan. Here I found my answers.

I was part of 4% of the world’s population who are born with an extra muscle in their hand. In my case, the extra muscle was laying between the tendons of my index and middle finger and was pressing down and causing all the pain. Within that 4%, I was even rarer because of the pain I was experiencing.

Luckily, this extra muscle wasn’t attached to anything. My hand was operated on and the muscle was removed in February. There followed a month in a cast and 3 months of physio. My hand is now almost back to normal. The scar is slowly turning while and I almost have full mobility back.

By the time June rolled around my new kitchen arrived and for a while my living room turned into box city. With the everlasting DIY of my dad and help from my brother-in-law, my new kitchen was fitted and ready for use come the end of August.

Car tragedy struck at the beginning of August. My trusty Polo who turned 18 this year, all but collapsed on me. The estimate cost of fixing her totalled over 5K, so it was time to find other wheels. Luckily my parents had been chasing the idea of a new electric car so we did a little swap.

In October I got the flu! I was off work for a week and then I worked from home for a week. I haven’t been that ill in a couple of years. I got through 4 boxes of tissues, 5 packets of ‘cold and flu’ tablets and generated more mucus than I had ever thought possible.

When September dawned I found myself with an additional workload. An employee had left and rather than replace, I was asked to take on the role in addition to my own. It was, in hindsight a very stressful transition and in the months that followed we coined the term ‘secret squirrel’ anytime we encountered a shit-storm left by said ex-employee.

The efficiency and praise I gained from taking on this new role and streamlining it into something that was actually workable earned me the pay rise I had been asking for, for just a little over 2 years. The little bit of extra money came just as the ‘cost of living’ crisis began and has honestly been a godsend.

I am a serial gifter, I love nothing more than giving gifts to others, so while people around me weren’t thinking about Christmas until the December weeks, I’d finished my Christmas shopping in October and had spent under £300 for 24 people. (Yes, I have already started on Christmas shopping for 2023).

As the weeks wound down and the Christmas period approached, a chance visit to my parents for an early Christmas celebration with my sister, had us all come down with COVID. Turns out the ‘flu’ my mum had wasn’t the flu!

I was very grateful to have had my two vaccinations and 1 booster shot because I understand how serious it could have been for me to have had COVID and be completely vulnerable to it. As it was, having COVID felt like the tail end of a mild cold. I had 1 day of hot and cold shivers. I had 1 night of aching muscles and no sleep. The most annoying part of is really is that 1 week after I’d finally tested negative, I was still coughing like I smoked 5 packets a day. My dad, got off just as lightly as I did. My sister ended up in bed for 3 days unmoving before she started to feel better. My mum had it the worst and the longest.

As 2022 ends, I look forward to 2023. There are some big family celebrations in 2023. I’m actually going on holiday for the first time since before COVID. I feel secure in my job. I’m finally at a place financially where I’m not living paycheck to paycheck. I feel positive about the new year.

My Book Goals for 2023 are:

Listen to 15 Audiobooks.

Read 50 books.

Bonus – Try to read 50% of my Kindle Library.

No Impulse Buying!