2022 | Rewind

2022 was a year both chaotic and revelatory, when many swirling pieces came together and clicked into place.

Big questions like where to live after my lease ended, if I should move out of the DC area entirely, and what the implications of that decision would be on everything else in my life circled my brain for months. As early as March, I was seriously thinking about moving back to North Carolina. COVID had shifted my thinking on living in DC — it’s expensive and it’s far from family — and when I became an aunt in May (the other big change of the year), I knew it was time to go back home. I waited out my lease then moved back down to Raleigh at the end of August. I stayed at my parents’ house for a few months while searching for a place to live, then in late October moved into a house with a lifelong friend and have been happily settling in.

My job also took a stressful turn in the summer. My organization hosts an annual conference, this year for the first time since pre-COVID, and between planning an in-person event for the first time in three years and having the person in charge suddenly drop out of work due to a family death, it was the most stressed I’d been in years. 

And it's strange now that these stressful situations/decisions are over how much energy I have to devote to other things. While my mind was preoccupied with whether to move and how to put up boundaries with a bad roommate and balance work, I had no capacity to think about other things or plan long-term. But now that I’m in Raleigh with a good roommate and no looming decisions hanging over my head, I have time to plan and set goals, and I more or less feel like my life is resuming its normal course.

As far as travel, I’m back at it. This year I traveled to Pittsburgh, Savannah and Tybee Island, New York City, England (London, Canterbury, Stonehenge, and Bath), and took local trips to Annapolis and Baltimore. I hiked often at Great Falls. I did a weeklong staycation in DC in April after feeling burnt out from work. A friend and I rented a Getaway House cabin in Asheboro for a few days in May. I also petsat on the Occoquan for a couple weeks throughout the year, which I loved, as always. 

2022 was also the return to live music. I hadn’t been to any shows since before COVID, and returned with a fervor. I was lucky enough to see my three favorite bands this year — Nightwish, Florence + the Machine, and Foals — and I also saw Patrick Droney, Yumi Zouma, HAIM, and Marcus Mumford. 

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And finally, my favorites from the year.

// books
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Queen of the Tearling trilogy by Erika Johansen
Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronivitch
War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
Handle With Care: How Jesus Redeems the Power of Touch in Life and Ministry by Lore Ferguson Wilbert

 

// albums
Life is Yours by Foals
The Planets by Gustav Holst
Harry’s House by Harry Styles
Dance Fever by Florence + the Machine
Renaissance by Beyonce
Decide by Djo
 

//films

The Batman
After Yang
The Banshees of Inisherin
Bullet Train  

 

//tv shows
Atlanta
Justified
Barry
Better Call Saul
The Bear
Derry Girls
Slow Horses