259: 2022 Recap and What’s New in 2023

Well, friends, we have come to the end of 2022. This is my last episode of the year!

Before I recap this year, thank you for listening to my podcast. I hope that it adds value to your life.

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How are you spending the holidays? How will you bring in the new year? I hope you feel happy and fulfilled as we wrap up this year and head to 2023.

Let's recap 2022. Riz, and I brought in 2022 here in our home with his daughter Yasmine and our minpin Papi Chulo. That night we sipped on a glass of champagne and enjoyed chocolate-covered strawberries while playing cards. I recall watching a post by a favorite coach of mine who was making herself available on Instagram for those who wanted to bring in the new year sober. She was offering them support. I thought, maybe this is how I would like to bring in every year.

The first quarter of the year was pretty quiet. I subscribed to a meal service called Green Chef, and cooked and filmed several of the meals before I decided they had too much-added fat. As a result, I never shared them on my social media or Youtube channel.

I then went on to purchase three vegan cookbooks with traditional Mexican recipes. This year I did a couple of food demos online and at the Tulsa VegFest. And each time, I prepared a vegan version of a favorite Mexican dish. I was excited about the idea of returning to my roots. In case you do not know by now, I love to cook and enjoy teaching people whenever I get the chance. I wish I had more time to film myself in the kitchen.

Things began to pick up in April when we decided to travel to our sailboat in Florida with our dog. This was the first time Papi had ever been on the boat. He is truly becoming a great traveler. We had an easy week in Florida.

In May, Riz and I had college graduations to attend. His daughter and my niece are the same age and graduated from college one week apart.

These were opportunities for us to spend time with family. This year was quite a year for my podcast. I hired a team who helped me to rebrand my podcast. I remodeled my studio to optimize the workspace and to create a room where I also felt comfortable resting. The changes felt great! I asked listeners to participate in the rebrand and some of the changes I wanted to make.

In addition to the rebrand, I added one more episode per week. This year I produced over 110 episodes. This was so much work. The idea was to highlight a guest on Tuesdays while maintaining a solo episode on Thursdays for myself. But there were times when I had more people on the podcast than I could manage. So there were weeks when I released interviews without having my solo episodes. This felt like I disconnected from you, my listener.

This new rebrand greatly influenced my view as a solo female podcaster.

In August, I headed to the Podcast Movement Conference, where I networked with other females, some of who were Latinas. Building relationships with other female podcasters and entrepreneurs has been significant for me. We will talk more about this in future episodes.

Regarding vacations, we went down to Cancun, where we quietly spent days just relaxing and enjoying the beach. We had quick trips to Houston as we visited my sister and attended a retreat. We went to Orlando, Florida, for the Lifestyle Medicine Conference. And then, we had a pleasant weekend in Charleston, SC where Riz reunited with his former college roommates.

I feel grateful for these opportunities to travel after two years of feeling confined here in Dallas. These trips served as reminders that life continues to happen and beauty continues to exist.

November and December have felt tiring as I've continued to stay busy. I hosted a speaker here in Dallas and partnered with two other incredible women to make the event happen. I helped create two online educational events that will help motivate and empower other leaders in the PlantPure Communities Pod Network.

When I go through these busy phases, I disconnect from social media, rarely check my email, and interact less by phone. And as we approached Christmas, I suddenly felt exhausted, drained, and depleted. I could not function enough to produce episodes for this podcast. 

My creative side was not able to flourish. A few things help me to get out of this rut; one is spending time in nature. Unfortunately, we've had a few freezing days recently. Spending time alone and getting enough rest helps me to restore my energy. Also, spending time in the kitchen allows me to enter a state of flow that makes me feel zen. And so this is what I did for Christmas. I made tamales for three days. I said earlier that I love to cook and enjoy traditional Mexican recipes. I am fortunate to be a recipe tester for one of my favorite chefs Dora Stone. She is the creator of Dora's Table, a food blog that offers traditional vegan Mexican dishes in English and Spanish.

Dora is in the process of working on a future cookbook. There are several of us who are recipe testers. A tester receives a recipe, follows the instructions, makes the dish, and provides feedback on everything from obtaining certain ingredients to the flavors of the dish. I made pozole, ponche, and tons of tamales this past weekend. I found relief in working with my hands and creating foods that are comforting and which take an effort to prepare.

Next year, I will change a few things on my podcast. I plan to work less and make things easier for myself. My goal for next year is to improve my quality of life. Another goal is to create more opportunities to connect with you. So I am looking at live streaming and creating a private group for my listeners.

Finally, my friends, I am entering 2023 sober. I made this decision six months ago after I had been on a sobriety coach. I continue to work with my life coach, and my anxiety has decreased. I invite you to continue following me on my wellness journey as I care for my physical, emotional, and mental health.

May you wrap up 2022 with inner peace, love, and happiness. Happy New year!