I Think This Is Going to Be a Good One

Hello dear family, friends, and random Indian guys who follow this blog!

No, I did not perish miserably in this past year. (My family knows this. I hope my friends know this. But I thought those three Indian guys who follow this blog might be worried, and thought I should pass along the word.)

No, I am very much alive! *kisses the sweet ground* (And still writing chaotic intros, I’m sorry.)

I’m trying to remember how long it’s been since my last post and sudden disappearance from the old blog… And what has happened in my life since then. 😅

Ah, yes! June. I remember now. This was the month I met the love of my life. My “soulmate” as some would say. 😊 The one to whom I pledge my faithfulness till the end of—

Alright, alright.

I picked up the bass guitar, guys.

It was kind of an accident. My family was putting together a worship band for our church last June, and we were all joking about the various instruments each of us could play (including but not limited to the triangle, kazoo, mouth harp, and hurdy gurdy). I was planning on playing drums originally, because that has been my consistent Spring/Summer hobby. But then I started messing around on the bass, and realized it would be an easier instrument to learn in the short period of time we had to throw together something presentable for a worship service.

Long story short, it quickly became one of my favorite instruments. It was love at first slap, my friends.

But anyway, that was a really new experience for our family, and a fairly busy time as we became more involved in our church, and learning new skills. So I think that was my excuse for the “oh, I can skip one week of blogging. It’ll be fine!”

*proceeds to disappear until next year*

2022 In Review

If I were to write a review for 2022, I would first of all say it was amazing.

It was one of the first years in a long time that actually felt like a good year. And maybe you could say that was a mindset shift for me, where I simply decided it would be a good year. But I mostly say God is responsible. I had so many moments this past year where I got little glimpses of God’s limitless Grace and Love, and honestly that’s what made it amazing. No doubt about it.

I wish I could gush about those moments like I do my enjoyment of the bass guitar, but many of them are indescribable. And I don’t always like to talk about them, because they often feel sacred to me. Like something I just want to hold in my heart. And maybe that’s wrong of me, but I can say God is infinitely good. And He’s reminded me of that over and over this year.

This year also came with a lot of challenges though. I’m still learning how to be kind (thankful for all of the wonderful examples I have in my life, though 😏). I’m still learning to be bold and run after the things I’m inspired to do. But I’m also learning life is a journey. And I’m learning how to let go of perfectionism, and to keep doing the next right thing and stay faithful in all those little ways.

So yes. It’s been a good year. 🙂 Here are a few highlights.

2022 Highlights

~ That time my brain was really confused with the new year, and jumped 3 years into the future. Not sure why this is a highlight, but it is.

~ Watching the sunrise with my dog while practicing drums in my dad’s shop. I found it an interesting way to watch the sunrise when you can’t actually see the sun rising—all you can see is the way it lights up everything it touches. (I believe my dog found this phenomenon just as wonderful as I did.)

Also spending time with my dog before she passed away later that year. That was one of the harder parts of my year, but I am thankful for the time I had with her in 2022 watching sunrises and sunsets, napping with her while I was sick, and working on art or music while she hung out nearby.

~ Artist Talk. Only three people will understand this, but I want them to know it’s been amazing. 😉All of it. 💛

~ Watching To Kill a Mockingbird in theater with my siblings (absolutely no filter, it looked like that in real life). I also reread the book near the beginning of 2022 and that was definitely a highlight worth mentioning. Please go read it if you haven’t already. 😉

~ Space Boy. Just Space Boy.

~ Doing Inktober with Sam and getting these awesome reference pictures. He is going to love me for sharing this.

~ The 2022 Gingerbread Sukkah Party. It was as lit and chaotic as it looks. Too much candy was eaten. Sam’s sukkah was beautifully constructed and disproportionally unstable. Mine fell apart and had to be glued back together about 17 and a half times. And yes, that is a crude replica of the Gingerbread Man from Shrek. We were very proud.

~ Going spelunking with friends and having the opportunity to overcome one of my minor fears: claustrophobia. They told me it would take 8 minutes to crawl through this passage, but we panicked powered through and did it in 4. 😂

~ Musado! I finally started attending the martial arts classes that my siblings and parents have been taking for a while now (and raving about), and it has totally lived up to the hype. I’ve really enjoyed learning the concepts, and doing all the physical work, and learning so much about Korean/Samurai culture. It’s been lovely.

We also celebrated the 77th birthday of modern Musado, and my sister and I enthusiastically made this cake for our class. Possibly the most epic thing I have ever created.

(I had a few more art-related highlights in the past year [including the recent opportunity to face another one of my fears: the fear of falling off of ladders], but I’ll save those for a later post. 🙂)

Going into 2023

This year was a little overwhelming as it began. I feel like there’s been a lot happening in my life for the past couple months. I’ve had a lot of days where I’m busy and working all day. And then other days where there’s not much going on, and I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing. 😅 It’s been a little chaotic, and in some ways I feel like I need to wait for things to settle down a little before I try and make any goals for the year.

But another thing I’m learning is that life doesn’t wait for you. And you can’t always wait for it to slow down. Sometimes you just have to jump right into the mess and overwhelm, and make things happen. And use those in-between moments to rest and assess where you’re at and figure out what little things you can do to take you closer to your big goals.

And you know, I have a good feeling about 2023. I’m not so naïve that I think everything will be bright and beautiful and exciting and happy all the time. I’ve already seen enough heartache in the past couple weeks to know that won’t happen. But I believe in redemption. I believe that even the hard times, even the heartache, there is grace to be found.

So I’m staying optimistic. I think it’s going to be another challenging year, but I believe it will be a good one too. I hope it is for you too. 💛

And here is where I’d like to promise I’ll be back next week with another post, but due to a rather large art project that I’ve been working on, that most likely will not happen. 🥲 I do hope to be back soon with an art dump, though. Hopefully it won’t take me another half a year. 😜

Until then, stay lionhearted. Stay faithful. And talk to me in the comments! What one word would you use to describe your 2022? What were your highlights? What fears did you overcome? And what fears do you plan on overcoming this year? 🙃 I always love to hearing from you.

Peace out.

~ Chalice