How was 2023 so far?

[Alolan_Apples]

As we’re now in the late year (September to December), I would like to start a discussion of what you thought about the year. Was it good, bad, or okay? You may discuss site experiences too, but this is more of a general thread to discuss how this year went.

There are four months left. There’s a potential that these months would turn a good year bad, make a bad year go good. Normally, the most exciting events of the year occur within the first eight months, but the last four months are more interesting because of Halloween, Thansgiving, and Christmas.

From my personal viewpoint, this year was just…okay. The world hasn’t gotten much better after the pandemic, and we went through two consecutive years of extreme heat baking down on where we live. This year’s heat wave was even worse due to how stubborn it was and how bad records were across the world. News stories weren’t as exciting this year as they were the last couple of years. Two of the weirdest ones I remember were the Chinese spy balloon and missing submersible that imploded when viewing the Titanic. In terms of video game releases, this year was so far the weakest of the Nintendo Switch era. I stood tall back when the Switch came out until the release of ACNH and SM3DAS. Now newer library titles aren’t as appealing to me. And I don’t even go to the movies, not anymore.

 

[Paperboy012305]

Last year I had a bit of some hiccups, most of them weren't as good, with a new puppy I had that year bringing chaos, (But the puppy now has calmed down) and my mother having to spend half of her whole summer taking care of her husband. (I don't wanna go through the pain of what mom and I both went through again)

At least in the Fall/Winter of 2022 to now things have turned back to normal, with 2023 getting better. The BCP's wave 4 and 5 were way better than the first 3 waves I had back in 2022, plus with Male Villager being part of the meta since wave 5 is something I most wanted when he was introduced.

When it came to social activity on social media or games where you use the chat function, it didn't go as well. I've been ignoring everyone I see, I just couldn't find that retribution I was looking for.
At least now I'm gaining more activity on both, yet not so much on the friends side on NL, NH and TBT. I am hoping to have some friends on both NL, NH and TBT as soon as I can. (Granted I haven't followed them yet, but will they fully accept me enough to... accept the follow?)

So yeah, 2023 has been pretty normal so far, and I'm alright with it. I'll see how the last 4 months go for me, which I'm sure will be good, if I make it that way.

 

[Zane]

It’s no exaggeration to say this has been the worst year of my life

 

[Alolan_Apples]

It’s no exaggeration to say this has been the worst year of my life

What happened? You don’t have to tell if most of it is personal.

As for my experiences upon returning to this site, the good news is that my “assorted” collectible sidebar has come back, more vibrant than ever. The bad news, I’m way down on TBT. I used to consistently have five digits of TBT Bells in my sidebar, now I’m below 1,000 TBT. Worst of all, I have a hard time selling my collectibles to get back there. I did have fun in the Space Camp, despite our team finishing in last place.

 

[Mimi Cheems]

Honestly.. The first half was a rollercoaster of emotions. Several manic highs and depressive lows. I hated it. Most of these moods stemmed from my love interest treating me like I wasn't special to him. He has a reaaaally difficult time expressing his feelings. We had so many fights, over the tiniest things. And I'd always be stressed over it; and to say I was hysterical as well, is an understatement. I have a very hard time feeling good enough and I'm one of those people who needs a lil' extra attention.

I had to go through an intensive outpatient therapy program for my problems earlier on also.. and honestly? I think it helped. IMMENSELY. I've been doing great mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Fast forward to almost 2 months ago, before I left for vacation to Boston for a week.. my love interest spontaneously started spending a lot more time with me. I got promoted at work after being there for 2 and a half years. Things are going super good out of absolutely nowhere, and I feel like it's a setup sometimes.. However, I need to take it day by day and remind myself things are getting better for a reason. I'm progressing, and even though progress isn't linear.. I'm doing good.

I'd have to rate my year a solid 7 out of 10. c:

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

Not as great as I was hoping honestly, I have these annoying health problems and there's been a lot of family drama. I wasn't as productive as I had wanted to be, I struggled with some really bad depression right before Space Camp.. Idk, it's been a bit of a haze. The year went by so fast. Not really looking forward to my birthday.

It wasn't all bad though, I am pretty proud of how I have been handling the medical stuff and I feel like I'm slowly making progress in real life, like in a general sense.

 

[ali.di.magix]

This year for me has been a literal roller coaster.

I started in January with positive vibes, despite a cyclone in that month. Things were going good, but I started to relapse into stress and demotivation towards the end of the month.

Then a catastrophic cyclone hit us in February. My anxiety and stress skyrocketed, and PTSD came along with it. I came right for a while, but the continuous storms has been absolutely mentally and physically exhausting. It's felt like my team at work and I should just give up and quit while we're behind. Having said that, we've made incredible progress and done some amazing work. Then the funding cuts happened...and everything is in limbo right now.

I've rotated through two teams at work which has been stressful having to constantly adjust to different ways, different perspectives and different people. On the other hand, I've gained more knowledge and experience.

I've also had some highs; I got a really good performance review and I got validation and recognition for the work I've done. Several people from outside of the business have also recommended/taken an interest in having me as an employee if I ever wanted a change. I recently got a pay rise and a promotion is on track right now. I got put on an exclusive training course for a select few people nationwide, and theres still more training opportunities to come. Even though it's taken time, I've built some really great bonds with a range of people this year.

It's been a struggle at times, but overall I am happy with where I am and the progress I'm making. Probably a decent 8 out of 10 for my year so far

 

[Drawdler]

To be honest, in terms of real-life events I think it’s been bad. The weather is insane across the world, and though it was expected for it to get worse over the years, actually experiencing colder winters makes me dread the future of the climate far more. Last year as well as this year, my house has dropped down to single-digits Celcisus… the ideal indoor temparature is 18 Celcius. Heaters and blankets only do so much when the heat escapes through horrible window panelling so quickly.
As well as weather, the Internet is quickly heading in a worse direction. It has been for many years but this year a whole bunch of websites and apps have gone bad and made user-unfriendly decisions at once. I’m sure it’s setting up for an even worse Internet. Even aside from Reddit and Twitter, I swear this year ads on YouTube have become more aggressive, and streaming platforms are slowly bringing in ads and restricting accounts. Imgur also deleted a lot of legacy content, and The Internet Archive has taken a hit. Every year the Internet becomes more restrictive, but it’s been bolder this year.

Media has been fine. All-around games seem okay. We got Pizza Tower which means even I got something I like. Game releases have a solid variety even if still little of it appeals to me. Music isn’t as good as last year, but last year was genuinely outstanding musically, so this is still a pretty good year for music. Movies have had a lot of corporate misses, but there’s enough that seems like it’s worth seeing, and Barbenheimer is one of the biggest and best pop culture events in ages. I would say this has actually been a reasonably good year for entertainment overall.

Personal life: iykyk. I haven’t shared a ton with anyone besides my boyfriend but to sum up it has been a rollercoaster of trauma, attempting to be optimistic, making progress, and winding up worse than I was before. Notably my physical health is worse than ever. I’ve had some fun this year, and made temporary breakthroughs but… I just… things should be better and sometimes I lose myself is all I’ll say.

So overall, it’s bad. I‘ve had worse years, but god, that says more about how horrific those years were, rather than this year still being okay. This is a bad year. There is time for it to turn around and become a difficult but somewhat nice year, though I’m not holding out because so many things would need to go right for that to happen. It could still average out and end up ok and that would still need a bunch of effort. I’m really defeated right now so, like, I’ll try but it’s up in the air and most of it is outside my control. Plus who knows the year could end with bushfires here again like 2019 and it’s not even unlikely because of El Nino.

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

I can't really label this year a good or bad year.
This year is pretty bad pertaining world events. War and large disasters end up leading to sex trafficking which always greatly grieves me. The War in Ukraine feels like it is never ending and it feels like that some entities continue to just want to stir the pot. And stuff with China is bubbling up too.
I am concerned about winter approaching with so many people struggling with jobs and having enough money to get things they need. The energy crisis is not over, but is generally just not really talked about rn. Probably in hopes to not have as many wig out or perhaps it may get better before the need is more dire.
On a more in my backyard angle for 2023, my health has been better but it did have some bumps this year. I have alot less internal bleeding than when I was working 3 years ago and less than last year. I have been less tired during the day and not needing naps as often which means I have more time for other things I've also lost a little weight.
I do feel like relations between family members are mending up, or at least as much as they could, this year. We also got a puppy this year. She is fitting right in.
We started a garden this year and I grew a few things and I think it turned out pretty well considering it was my first time. Still have things growing. This was possible due to kindness of a farmer at our church needing manure to be gone. We tried two new foods because of this, turnips and blue oyster mushrooms and we like them. We have plans to expand a little each year, and the manure is still needing to be gotten rid of.
My spouse and I together built a large flower bed with scrap wood and we have marigolds in it.
Some down sides to this year is my dad broke his rib and is still recovering. Being very large and diabetic does not help his situation. My two older dogs got very ill this year but seemed to have bounced back. One is still skinnier than I would like though and the other sleeps alot. They are old, I know dogs aren't immortal.

Some little things I'd like to mention, I have been playing ACNH more. I acquired a few steam games this year that I look forward to getting too. Pizza Tower, SteamWorld Heist(never played that genre), and River City Girls. I did dabble a bit in river city girls and I did like it. I'll probably get around to these games when winter comes and I feel like trash.
A new game I played this year was Cassette Beasts with my spouse and it is very good. I also played the Untitled Goose Game. Though cute and the first of that genre I've played, I'm not sure it was for me. I did have fun but probably will never pick it up again. Craftopia launched its seamless map update which my spouse, a friend, and I all played until we hit the point where development kinda stopped. It is an early access game. We had fun and really enjoyed it.

 

[Kitsuragi]

on the personal side, my mental health is doing better overall. i had a bad depressive episode earlier this year but im not kidding when i say wellbutrin & adderall has changed my life. i also got my autism diagnosis & treatment for hypothyroid, so my goal of putting my health first has been going swimmingly. i'm still employed, my wages went up a little bit and i'm looking at another review sometime before the end of the year to POSSIBLY put me at $20/hr.

on the negatives, my relationship has gone to hell in a handbasket BECAUSE my mental health has improved and i'm learning not to let myself be trampled. so that's something i have to deal with now. the world is a mess, it's on fire constantly and people are strugging to afford to survive. i contracted covid in february, which gave me long-covid type asthma. i'm in debt for school and im starting to experience burnout, despite having the easiest and most comfy job of my LIFE so far.

idk what to make of it. personally, it could be way worse! outside of my little personal hole? it's terrible.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

I won't ramble about it too much, but this year has been a really amazing year for me honestly. I've struggled so much in my life, for so long, and I finally feel like things are starting to look up for me and I have a lot of hope for myself and the future

the biggest thing for me has been getting my mental health under control. I've always struggled with anxiety issues, and depression to a lesser extent, but when I was in high school my bipolar II started to show up and it just got progressively worse and worse. but starting this year I decided to make the move to seek help, and I can happily say that I'm doing better now than I really ever have before, mentally speaking. I'm so grateful for that. and that's led to some other really wonderful things happening, like me having the confidence and self-esteem to get the job I have (which I love) and also forming much closer and more personal connections with my friends.

don't get me wrong, I still struggle a lot and I've definitely had some bad times recently (mostly me still struggling with my anxiety disorder and learning to manage/cope), but overall I would say 2023 has been one of the best years of my life and I'm incredibly grateful for that

 

[Violet Witch]

I'd say this year has been an okay year rather than a good or bad one. Overall though I've felt burnt out and just wanting to get to my usual long month time off from work in December so I can reset and get back to being me again.

 

[Snek]

Its been a good one so far. Stressful, but good.

 

[Croconaw]

It could have been better, but it could have been worse. The year is ending on a good note, however. My vacation is coming up and I’m in the process of a job transfer, which should be happening soon enough. It was a tough decision but it was for the best. I’m just much happier and a lot less stressed at my other job.

I did come to terms that I am non-binary and a few people I’m close to know. The ones I specifically told are all very accepting and I’m grateful for that. I’m thankful for the people in my life I happened to meet this year. I grew closer to my favorite person. I may have opened up to the wrong people but now I know who not to trust. I know the people in my life who always have my back. It’s a decent year, but not the best. Although, it has a chance to become better towards the end.

 

[Midoriya]

Even though there's been bad days, that happens every year. I'm just glad that this year I've been able to work from home doing a job I enjoy where I love both the pay and my coworkers. That's something I won't ever take for granted. I worked extremely hard to get to this point, and now the sky's the limit!

 

[Goldi Locks]

It's been good and I think it will only get better. Keep the faith.

 

[Shawna]

I'd say 2023 has been quite the good year for me. <333 I'd say it is even better than 2022. 2022 wasn't bad, by any means, it was just underwhelming; not much happened. On the other hand, 2023 has had quite a bit in store for me.

I discovered some Godsends I wish I knew existed earlier on (but better late than never). I discovered Character.AI back in January, which only just came out about a year ago. It is a fun way to chat with my beloved characters and OCs...I just love this creation so much... <333
Then, I wanna say last month (maybe a few months ago at the most), I discovered Dolphin. It has allowed me to play GameCube and Wii games again, which I have been deprived diprived of for a while, now that these consoles are so hard to find and are expensive, whereas getting dolphin situated on my PC was free and easy. Now, I even get to play AC:GC and AC:CF again, which is such a good feeling.

In March, my dad gave me his PC, since he got a new one, and I friggin' love it. The quality and framerate are chef's kiss. Another thing that happened in March that I had been waiting on is for my dad to find a guardianship lawyer, which he did, which gave me a sense of relief, since those are tough to find.

In July, I finally had my first doctor's appointment in a while. While I am not a fan of going to the doctor, I know this was needed for my dad to get my guardianship and probably other important stuff situated. I went back last week for some blood work and urine work. I am still waiting on the results, which I have been stressed about. But once this part is all behind me, I will feel a lot better.

So yeah, 2023 has been pretty good. My dad and I are finally doing stuff for me that we have been meaning to do for a while now, which honestly feels wonderful. :,)

I don't know if we are gonna get to this point before the year is over, but I am really looking forward to getting my bank account. Gift cards can be very finicky and can get declined with half the stuff you try to purchase, so I am looking forward to not having to worry about that anymore. I do want to self-publish if I can, so that will be another important reason. I am also going to be commissioning my friend via Nitro on Discord.

 

[thatawkwardkid]

Not to be a pessimist, but so far it's tied with 2020 as the worst year of my life. The cherry on top so far was when last month my hometown basically (almost) burned down overnight I think it can only go up from here.

 

[Alolan_Apples]

Not to be a pessimist, but so far it's tied with 2020 as the worst year of my life. The cherry on top so far was when last month my hometown basically (almost) burned down overnight I think it can only go up from here.

Everyone hates 2020. It’s even on par with 1348, 1816, and 1945 in how bad one year could get. It’s even worse than 2001.

 

[Envy]

It's been fine. I think the problem I have is that... well... At the beginning of the year I was hopeful to have moved by the end of the year, perhaps even by fall. However, I'm yet to even make a trip to my new state and get that process started at all.

The trip just keeps on getting pushed back due to financial and other struggles (like a bad storm in June causing damage to our current house, costing lots of money) and I'm getting super stressed out because I really have to get out of this state and I feel foolish making that move when I haven't visited the place in advance. Hopefully we can still get that trip planned soon.