MJCarty.com: Top 5 posts of 2023

I present the five most-read posts of 2023 on MJCarty.com. If you have taken the time to read any words on this wee blog of mine, you have my heartfelt gratitude. 

2023 has felt like quite a momentous year both for me and for this here blog of mine. I turned 50 and started a wonderful new era in my working life. I have felt immense gratitude even to be here after a difficult few years. The past year has not been without its ups and downs for me. But has there ever been a year of which anyone could not say that?

This was also the year in which the MJCarty blog officially turned 10 years old! You can read more about this happy occasion in the special post I wrote to mark my 10th blogaversary, looking at why I started blogging and why I keep blogging.

With 2023 very nearly done, it’s time to look back at the words I’ve put out this year and – if readership stats mean anything at all – round up the posts that seem to have resonated the most with the reading public (well, the infinitesimally small proportion of the global reading public that might ever happen upon my words, I mean).

MJCarty.com: The top 5 posts of 2023

(1) Never give 100%? 

Is constantly giving our all – always seeing 100% as the bare minimum – the wisest or most sustainable approach to life and to work? One person who does not think so is one Mr Bob Dylan, who said (way back in 1966), that one should “never give 100%. I’m gonna give you this much, and this much is gonna have to do. I’m good at what I do.”

(2) Nothing superior, nothing inferior 

Does the lens through which you view the world distort what is truly there in front of you? This post was inspired by some quite wonderful words from Oscar Wilde: “What is beautiful looks always new and always delightful, and can be no more old-fashioned than a flower can.”

(3) The hard part is keeping it 

What do you value most in life? The thing or things that most enrich your life might not be material objects. Good health is a blessing that not everyone appreciates while they have it (if they are fortunate enough to be in good health in the first place).

(4) It’s OK to forget 

Not all moments in life need to be recalled, revisited or relived. It’s OK to forget. It’s OK to forget, let go and move on. This post was inspired by what now feels like a real turning point in my ongoing mental health journey. this journey began in early 2022. I have attempted to document each step along the way*, in the hope that it might be of some small help to just one soul who is experiencing similar things.

(5) Gratitude 

In this moment, what are you most thankful for? I wrote this post on the occasion of my turning 50, earlier this year. I felt and I continue to feel nothing but gratitude to be here. To all of you beautiful souls that I have met along the way, thank you.

See you in 2024!

This is my final post on here for 2023. I will be back here in early January with my first post for 2024.

In the meantime, might I please wish you a rather exceptional end to 2023? What have been your personal highlights for this year that is now so very nearly done? I would love to know – please post a comment below, or @ me on the social medium of your choice (Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Instagram, even X/Twitter if you’re still on there – and I am not sure I will be for much longer).

May you be nothing but kind today, to others and to yourself.

May today be nothing but kind to you and yours.

RESOURCES

• Mental health (NHS) Information and support for your mental health from the NHS.
• Information and support (Mind) Resources from Mind, the UK mental health charity.
• NAMI Homefront (NAMI) Online resources from US charity NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness).
• SANE Australia Visit the site of this “national mental health charity making a real difference in the lives of people affected by complex mental health issues”.

FOOTNOTES

* Here are all the posts so far in the ongoing series on my mental health journey: Into the infinity of thoughts; Renewal; No words?; Mental health first response; Glorify; In our darkest hours; At the heart of things; No feeling is final; Relax harder. Anxiety: Your own worst enemy; All these moments; Mental health: Six things I’ve learnt in 2022; Coping?; The sun will return; Gratitude; Mental health: Night and day; Transitions; Peace?; It’s OK to forget; Stayin’ alive.; and First rays.

IMAGES

• Kobayashi Kiyochika (1880) Ryōgoku hanabi no zu via Wikimedia Commons.
• Dylan sketch by MJCarty.
• 140704-F-MZ193-359 frog-shaped firework at Yokota via Wikimedia Commons.