It’s been a while since I’ve done a blog post but in 2023 life was lifin and I just didn’t have the emotional, mental, and sometimes physical energy to read and blog like I had been. I was so ready for 2023 to be over, the closer we got to the end of the year the more my excitement went up for the new year. I am usually not a “new year new me” type of person but the way 2023 had me down and out I knew I had to do something to change my negative outlook. I also turned 40 three days before Christmas, and I didn’t want to start my 40’s off in a bad head space. 

I needed to take a new approach to life.

All my life I have let the fear of what could happen get in the way of me accomplishing some of the things I have wanted to accomplish. When I read Michelle Obama’s The Light We Carry she said “Our hurts become our fears. Our fears become our limits.” In that moment I realized just how much I have let fear be a limitation. I had never realized I wasn’t doing something because I was scared, I just knew I had what I thought was a valid reason why I wasn’t doing it. But the reality is the reason was something I came up with to help me justify allowing my fear to limit me. But like my forever first lady Michelle Obama said “The unknown is where possibility glitters. If you don’t take the risk, if you don’t ride out a few jolts, you are taking away your opportunity to transform.” My 40’s will be all about transforming, riding out the jolts, taking the risk, and soring. 

With this I decided I was no longer going to be the pessimistic person I have been most of my life. For the last 12 years I have been with the most optimistic person I know, and it would irritate me when he had such a positive outlook on everything. As I am sure I irritated him with my negative outlook to almost everything. Finally, after all these years I am trying it his way. Optimism coupled with not letting fear limit me has made such an improvement on my mindset in such a small amount of time that I can’t help but think and feel like a new me in 2024. 

So, I guess I said all that to say “NEW YEAR NEW ME” clique I know but I am putting in the work to be a better version of myself not only for the new year but for the next decade of my life. 

With this reinvention came some new goals I had for myself and while I am not at the point where I am ready to share my personal goals, I will share my bookish goals. 

Every year I spend all this time making a 500 + page digital reading journal for myself (because I can’t find one that I like) and I use it for the first month and never use it again. What a waste of time right? Yeah, I know. Again, this year I spent hours enhancing this journal, so I am determined to use it this year.

If you have been following me for a while you might have noticed I like to read through author’s catalogs, well this year I am setting a goal or maybe it’s a limit because I can get carried away reading through catalogs that I don’t read anything else. 

I am a romance reader, it’s my favorite genre. However, I enjoy other genres as well. I started branching out of romance and urban fiction for the first time in 2021 and found out there were many genres that I enjoyed. Last year however, I read only romance, of course there is nothing wrong with that, but I want to get back to reading other genres I enjoy. Included in this is to read at least four classics, and one nonfiction book a month. 

I also want to increase my engagement on Instagram. I am bad about posting a post and walking away not responding to anyone. I don’t mean to do this but to prevent myself from being tied to my IG all day I say I will come back later and check on my post. Well later ends up being a week later and by that time no one wants to hear back from me lol. I am also a person who just double taps and keep scrolling so I want to slow down and leave comments more in 2024. 

Anyway, I know this has been a long post, but it’s been so long since I blogged and I had a lot to say lol. If you made it this far in the post thank you. I hope we all have a great 2024 and may we all reach our bookish goals. 

Be ready to read more from me this year. I have some ideas on some series I want to do on my bookstagram and blog this year. So stay tuned…

Happy Reading in 2024!!!