Wow. What a year it has been! The year 2012 was one of the most important, memorable years of my life, so it only seems fitting that the tenth anniversary of that year would also be important and memorable. When I started this year, I didn't expect to enter a quarter-life crisis. I thought I already went through that three years ago. But I have learned and grown in unexpected ways in 2022.
January. I had a week off before I started my internship at the Church History Department and my final semester of grad school. I did my internship for credit, and it was the only "class" I had, so I didn't actually go to campus. I would go to work during the day, then every night I spent an hour and a half working on my graduate portfolio. I didn't have much time just to have fun. I began another year of teaching a youth Sunday School class. My new cat, Reggie, was still getting used to us, and it took a long time for him to warm up.
At the end of the month, I got sick, so I self-isolated in my room, since COVID numbers were high. But it turned out not to be COVID.
February. A pretty boring, bleak month. I went to Fillmore for the funeral of my great-uncle, even though I barely knew him. Most of my time was still devoted to finishing my graduate portfolio.
March. Fitbit recalled my watch, so they gave me a refund, and I got a Garmin watch, which is definitely better than Fitbit, even if the app is less user friendly. Because COVID numbers had subsided, I commuted by bus with my UCard. In the middle of the month, I had a severe bout of food poisoning, maybe from Lucky Charms. Later in the month, I took a field trip to BYU for work, and then that evening I saw Carol Burnett live.
April. Trail season resumed in earnest.
As I wrapped up grad school, I decided that I should start attending activities with the mid-singles ward, so I looked up upcoming events. It just so happened that the first activity I found was a fireside with Ben Schilaty about ministering to LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saints. Attending this fireside was extremely important and helpful to me this year as I came to terms with my own orientation.
May. I attended both convocation and commencement ceremonies at the University of Utah, where Doug Bowser, CEO of Nintendo (yes, really), was the speaker.
The day after graduation, I went to a Mat Kearney concert. A few days after graduation, I defended my graduate portfolio, which was a nerve-racking experience. I passed, but it seemed a little anticlimactic because I had already attended my graduation ceremonies.
June. I went to the Mormon History Association conference in Logan, and I went to a March for Our Lives rally at the capitol.
I also began consistently pulling up goathead plants, which I continued to do into the fall. I attended the musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But most significantly of all, I had PRK surgery, so I no longer wear glasses. Everything was blurry for a week.
July. I got a new phone. My family observed Bountiful's Handcart Days parade and fireworks, and I did the 5k the following week. I attended the unveiling of the Pioneers of 1847 monument to Black pioneers at This Is the Place.
I heard myself on our local NPR station, having recorded a clip explaining my Pioneer Day playlist. At the end of the month, I first attended the mid-singles ward, and I was struck by how open and vulnerable the sacrament-meeting talks were. They spoke to me in a way that family-ward talks do not.
August. I began seeing a therapist. I enjoyed the wet weather.
I helped out with a stake service project. I finally had COVID, but it was a relatively minor case. (My sister was not so lucky; she got it shortly after I got it, but not from me, and she spent a while in the hospital.) Once I recovered, I saw the Killers in concert.
September. I was sad about the insanely hot temperatures at the beginning of the month. I went to an outdoor Lower Lights concert. Trail running continued,
and I even went on a fifteen-mile run in North Canyon, the longest run I have ever done.
October. I attend the Restore Gathering put on by Faith Matters, which was a beautiful conference. I came out as gay! (Side note: I know of at least three instances where people shared my coming-out blog post with other people without asking me first. I can't help but feel violated. Like, you never talk to me, but you think you can just share my stuff willy-nilly?) And trail season continued.
My two New Year's resolutions for 2022 were to watch a holiday-themed show every day during each holiday season and to get rid of something every day. Both of these goals were harder than I expected. Watching TV is boring, especially in the summer and fall, when I would rather be running on trails or picking goatheads.
I'm kind of a hoarder (not like what you see on TV, but still), which is why I made my goal to get rid of things, but being a hoarder also made it harder. The tree hugger in me feels bad getting rid of things that are functional (the "reuse" of "reduce, reuse, recycle"), even if they aren't fully functional, even if I haven't used them in years. A lot of the things I got rid of were random papers or rotting food in the fridge. But I did try to get rid of some more substantial things. I'm only wearing this tie because I feel like I should wear it since I own it. I don't actually like wearing it, so I should get rid of it. Sure, this water bottle holds water, but since the tab to open the straw is broken, it makes it incredibly difficult to use, so I don't use it. Why keep it? I didn't clear up a lot closet space, but it did help me reevaluate why I keep things.
I really don't know what 2023 looks like, especially because I don't know what my job situation will be. But I am optimistic for a fresh start!
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