2022 bookish challenges wrap-up

It’s that time of year again to start wrapping up things and planning for next year. This is the first of many posts, and I couldn’t be more excited! In 2022, I had two plus one reading challenges (one I came up with late in the year): a Rory Gilmore challenge, Getting serious with series and most recently, Dickens vs Tolstoy (which is not just a yearly thing but I wanted to talk about it). This year I finally realised that I really don’t do well with long-term commitments, but more on that later.

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31-day digital declutter wrap-up

I was really looking forward to doing this challenge, and I knew it wasn’t going to be always easy. I was right, sometimes I slipped up, some days were easier, some harder, but the most important thing is that I kept going on, even after I broke many of my rules. I was surprised at some of the things I found out, so let’s get into the wrap-up of these 4.5 weeks.

31-day digital declutter: a new challenge in October

I’m currently reading Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, which I’m enjoying greatly. There is a section that talks about a 30-day digital declutter, which took place a few years ago during January. (As most life-changing monthly challenges do. Not for me though. 😂) I haven’t finished it yet (though by the time this post comes out, I might already have), but I instantly knew I wanted to try this experiment. You know I love a good challenge, especially if it has to do something with device usage, so I’m not gonna pass up this opportunity.

Building a relaxing morning & evening routine

After watching Unjaded Jade’s latest morning routine video, I felt inspired to try and make my own. I kind of have my own habits already, and I usually stick to them, but lately, I’ve been feeling I could make more mindful and relaxing routines. Recently, I find myself picking up my phone for a quick check after I wake up, which I haven’t done in a really long while. I also have been watching way too many TV shows and movies, some of them in the evening, when I should be winding down, without a blue light screen. It’s not that these things are inherently bad, I just want to do this experiment, if I can call it that, to see if I can build other habits in a month. So, if you are interested if I succeeded, let’s read on.

Dickens vs Tolstoy: The Great Debate

I’ve been thinking and planning for weeks now, but I can finally say that I came to a decision: I’ll join the Dickens vs Tolstoy book club, that Emmie and Carolyn started in 2021! This means I’m awfully behind, more than one and a half years, to be precise, but who cares, right? *starts doubting her decision* I will follow the order they made, I thought about reading more in a month to catch up, but I probably wouldn’t be able to manage that. In this post I’m going to share all the books I’m going to read for the rest of the year. I’ll start in August, and a friend of mine might join me too, which is awesome.

2021 bookish challenges wrap-up

Hi, hello, and welcome! Today I’m going to recap both of the reading challenges I participated in in 2021. Let me tell you, one of them was a huge fail, haha. I stopped caring about it a few months into the year. That’s what usually happens with long-term bookish challenges for me. I ditched my tbr for the other too, but it was way more successful! I made two challenges for 2022 (a Rory Gilmore one, and the other is for series), and that is perfectly enough. I can’t commit to more as I prefer one-month long read-a-thons over these challenges, to be honest. But enough about the introduction, let’s start with the recap.

Getting serious with series in 2022

I like series, don’t get me wrong, but keeping up with them has never been my forte. I DNF’d a lot before because I used to read a lot of fantasy series that I’m not interested in anymore. In general, I can say that I prefer stand-alones, though it’s great sometimes to come back to beloved characters. I decided to show you all the series I have to finish and ones I want to start, hopefully motivating myself to actually read them in 2022.

Reading some of Rory Gilmore’s favourite books in 2022

I don’t know about you, but I am obsessed with Gilmore Girls. Even this blog’s name is inspired by a scene from the show. (Tristan goes to Rory and says: “And she’s reading again. How novel.”) I recently started rewatching it, for God knows how many times (but it’s seven or eight) because I desperately needed a comfort watch. I don’t make the rules, but you have to watch at least one episode when it’s autumn. I mean, Gilmore Girls screams autumn. I also got really excited about classics thanks to Rory, which is why I decided to write today’s post. I tried to go chronologically, and include video clips that show the book’s appearance, to make this post a bit more fun.

The results of my social media experiment

This is the continuation of my On social media: a challenge and an experience post, so if you haven’t read that yet, I’d recommend checking it out first. But to cut the story short: I decided on August 9 to go on a hiatus on Instagram until September 1, plus set some rules for YouTube, Goodreads and another bookish site. Because I love statistics, I have created charts, so let’s start!

On social media: a challenge and an experience

If you follow me for a while now, you might have read the I read every day before bed and after waking up for a week: an experiment and a challenge post I’ve written in October. Basically, I wanted to find out if ditching social media helped with my mood and reading habits. Short answer: yes, it did. I recently watched one of Ruby’s videos, How I stopped wasting time on social media, and I decided to do another challenge. When it comes to social media, I only have Instagram, so this post is going to focus on that. I also set myself ground rules for other websites.