Reflecting on 2023

Woah! A lot happened this year

Happy New Year! 🥳🪩🎉🎇 The start of 2024 has gotten me reflecting, like many others, on my experiences from this past year. I’m feeling super grateful for all of it, and I want to share some of these reflections.

🗓️My first year as a full time freelancer

In the beginning of 2023, I decided to take a big leap into doing this science communication/content creation thing full time. It was pretty scary, but I was excited to make the jump and see if I could catch myself - and I did! With the help of many wonderful people, of course. This past year has taught me a lot and I have gotten so many wonderful opportunities to share my curiosity and wonder for our planet’s ancient past with all of you.

Some of the biggest challenges revolved around learning how to be my own boss - making a work schedule that works for me, learning how to balance my work with my personal life since a lot of the time the two tend to blend together, learning how to do business-y things like registering as an LLC and keeping track of income and expenses for taxes, and so much more.

I know I’ll continue to learn as I continue this little self-employment journey, but I feel like 2023 was a big year of learning and growth for me. Going into 2024, I feel a lot more confident in myself and my skills, and where they will take me. I’m so curious about what my future self will be writing about and reflecting on in her end-of-year newsletter…

✈️ Saw lots of cool rocks in cool places

Here are a few highlights of rocks I saw this year and why I find them cool. 🤓 See below for descriptions.

Top left: Holding up a trilobite fossil I had just found in Nevada at a designated rockhounding location called Oak Springs Trilobite site!

Top middle: Adirondack Mountains, NY in the High Peaks Region at the end of a hike, looking at the summit rocks made of anorthosite - the same type of rock found on the moon 🌝

Top right: In Bend, Oregon on a hike at an obsidian flow in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument within the Newberry Caldera. 🌋 This obsidian flow is officially the youngest rock formation I’ve ever seen in person, at just around 1,300 years old.

Middle left: In Sudbury, Ontario during a Canadian road trip I went on with my friend Cate to attend a geology conference. We saw so much fascinating geology on this trip because Sudbury is the site of a huge meteorite impact 1.8 billion years ago. ☄️ There is still a ton of geological evidence of this impact and the formation of its crater, which has since been filled in with newer rocks but is one of the largest impact craters on Earth!

Center: An abandoned iron mine in the Hudson Highlands of New York. The echo in this place was amazing, I didn’t want to leave! Oh, and these rocks are over 1 billion years old!

Middle right: Searching for Gore Mountain Garnets in the Adirondacks with my geology communicator friends Cate and Ethan. New York has such interesting and ancient geology - you’ll never get bored being a geologist in this state.

Bottom left: In an ice cave in the Shawangunk Mountains of New York. This white sandstone rock formed about 420 million years ago during the Silurian, when large braided rivers were eroding huge mountains to the east and depositing those sediments to the west. Over time, those sediments were compacted and cemented into this very strong and resistant rock, forming a prominent rocky ridge that we see today. These ice caves are super cool (literally…) because they formed over thousands and thousands of years as water got into natural fractures of the rocks and, when it turned into ice, expanded - fracturing the rocks even more. Eventually, those fractures got bigger and bigger until they formed these little caves where there is now a trail to explore them (closed in winter).

Bottom middle: My first time visiting North Carolina! This was at the top of Hawksbill Mountain in Linville Gorge, and it was a gorgeous hike.

Bottom right: An abandoned railroad tunnel through schist bedrock in Western CT that I explored this November.

🥰 Made new friends online and in person

This year I was lucky to connect with so many wonderful people, both online and in person. If you are one of those people, know I’m so happy that our paths crossed and to now have you as a part of my life. Thank you for making my life a little brighter. 🥰

🌟 Gained confidence as a creator and science communicator

Overall, I’m really proud of myself for all that I’ve accomplished and how much I’ve grown in 2023. At the start of the year, I had hopes for what the future would bring for me and my career path, but it turned out even better than I thought it would! I feel much more confident now as a science communicator and content creator, and am feeling very open and hopeful to what 2024 will look like. Thank you for being here and supporting me in any way you have this past year - or if you just joined me, thank you for being here and I look forward to connecting with you more this year. ♥️

✏️ Join me in the comments!

Please answer any/all questions in the comments, or just add your own thoughts.

1. What are some highlights of 2023 for you? Did you visit any new places, take up a new hobby, read any good books, meet new friends or reconnect with old ones?

2. Do you enjoy making goals in the New Year? If so, do you set them ‘officially’ by writing them down somewhere, or do you keep them up in your head?

3. What are some things you hope for in 2024? Big or small!