It’s the end of a decade, as I am reminded any time I open Twitter. Everyone seems to post blog posts or Twitter threads about how awesome their decade has been, how much they have achieved and how many things they are grateful for. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, but for people – like me – who can barely remember what they have done last week, let alone the last 10 years, this can be intimidating.
Inspired by Jenny Trout’s blog post A Decade In Pointless Review I thought I’d cap this decade off with a look back at some random stats. Have I achieved a lot? Probably. I haven’t had a bad decade. I’ve taken care of a bad health issue, have found my libido again, figured out I’m bisexual and have published a book. All in all, it’s been a good decade for me. But rather than list all my achievements, I thought it’d be more fun to just list some random stats.
So here are some pointless stats:
Countries I lived in: 2
Houses I lived in: 4
Surgeries I’ve had: 4
Organs I’ve lost: 3
Pets I owned: 7
Pets I lost: 5
Books I’ve written: 8
Books published: 1
Books read: too many to count
Blogs started: 4
Blogs continued: 2
Short stories published: 17
Articles published: 25
Blog posts written: 288
Domain names purchased: 2
Laptops owned: 3
Countries visited: 4
Followers gained on Twitter: over 2,000(!)
Lego sets purchased for myself: 2 ( wish that was more!)
Funerals I’ve attended: 1
Blankets I’ve crocheted: 4
Times I’ve been to the movies: 10
Times I went on holiday by myself: 4
Times I went to the spa: 0
Fucks given about things that don’t matter: increasingly less
Tents blown down by hurricanes: 1
Meteor showers witnessed: 2
Mountains climbed: 1
Okay, reading over these stats, I can see that some of them are definitely achievements. It’s nice to see this list and be reminded of how much has happened in a decade. Would I like to have achieved more? Sure. I would have liked to be a more successful writer by now. I would have loved to be able to work less at my day job and more in my career as a writer. But I’m not dead yet. That can all still come. For now, I’m just happy with what I have been able to do.
Maybe you feel like you haven’t accomplished anything this decade. But accomplishments and achievements are different for each person. For one it may look like running a marathon each year. For another, it may be graduating from college or university. And for yet another, it may be surviving each day for the last 10 years and still be alive in 2020. Don’t let anyone dictate how your achievements should look. If it feels like an achievement to you, then treat it as such.
And if you can’t think of any achievements in the last decade – or the past 10 years have been too painful for you to want to remember – then leave the past in the past. We don’t have to take stock at the end of a decade to check in with how we did in life. It’s enough to just exist.
However these past years have treated you, I hope the next year will be fabulous for you. However you define that!
The Insatiable Jane Travers is out now!
It’s the roaring twenties.
Desperate to escape the stifling confines of her life with her aunt and uncle in New York, Jane Travers arrives at her friend Rachel’s country home determined to enjoy a summer full of fun and excitement. Rachel has promised her risqué parties, but what awaits Jane is beyond her wildest dreams. Guided by her old flame, Sidney Fitzroy, and the sensual singer Lillian Smith, Jane enthusiastically embarks on a journey of sexual self-discovery.
With Sidney and Lillian both satisfying her deepest desires, Jane sheds her restrictive upbringing and embraces her newfound freedom. As her feelings for both Lillian and Sidney intensify, Jane faces an impossible choice: a stable future with Sidney or a lifetime of excitement with Lillian.
But how can she choose when her heart belongs to both of them?