Deja Vu 2022

I'm a bit late joining the New Year's party. It's 7 January already and I haven't yet put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, on any of my sites. This personal blog post has been brewing for a while, but it's taken a few days of reflection to decide whether I was actually going to write an end-of-year, start-of-year review and resolutions post. The social media guys are way ahead of me. It seemed as if they'd only just finished washing up after Christmas lunch before there was a rash of posts wishing every man (and woman) and their dog a happy new year. And then the Noom adverts started to pop up, and I knew the end of 2021 was truly on it's way.

Whilst it's traditional to look back over the year just passed, I tend to share the view of a Swedish vegan food blogger I follow, Malin of Good Eatings. "While it's usually not beneficial to dwell too much on the past, it's a good thing to reflect ... and see what good things we can take with us into the new year."

So, what can I say about 2021? Well, for us it witnessed a massive about turn. I think the fact I stopped posting for over a year speaks volumes. Although I planned to pick up blogging again once we were back home in France, settling in has taken more time than I expected. And, on the plus side, my newly revived business has taken off much better than I anticipated. Many (or most?) people have had enough of Covid, and despite my hermit-like existence I, too, am beginning to feel weary. In 2020 I took the lockdowns, the distancing, the online shopping in my stride. I am an introvert after all. I'd much rather have my shopping delivered than trek round with a trolley. It wasn't a bad year for me: I lost weight, got fitter, did yoga everyday, grew vegetables... and then it was 2021. And I just couldn't keep it up. I was missing my work, which I'd wound down to care for the inlaws, the weather wasn't great for yoga outside, and then it became clear I wasn't welcome any more. By chance, I read a Facebook post that set me on track to renewing our residency permits, buying a stop-gap (or maybe even permanent) home and setting off on the long road back. Enough said. 2021? Charles Dickens' iconic words sum it up:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... 

Will 2022 be better? Who knows. One thing I have learned is to take it one step at a time. No resolutions, only intentions. I know how I would like my life to look: yoga, meditation, writing, reading, learning, walking, vegan food, animal welfare stuff, travelling, campervanning. Woah, there's hardly time to pack all that in. I tried to design a "perfect day" back in October. Did I stick with the plan? No, of course not! Within a few days the lemon juice and water upset my stomach, the dogs wouldn't wait while I did yoga before breakfast and I ended up eating lunch at four o'clock 😅 Of course, I'd like to be writing three blogs a week, as I did in 2018, and I'm determined to get all my Vivez-vegan.com content revised and back online this year. For now, my plan is simpler ... I'm doing Yoga With Adriene's 30-day programme Move and, dogs willing, we're trying to do a half hour brisk walk every day. I'm cutting down (but not out) the snacks and trying a few days of Dry January. Small steps 🚶‍♂️