Reflecting on 2023

Continuing with what has become an annual tradition of reflection for me, I am sharing my achievements for 2023 and my professional wins.; viewable here. Often, many end-of-the-year reflections tend to highlight and put our best selves forward. And I'm guilty of doing that same. I noticed when I look back at 2023 how little I posted on social media in 2023. Most of that is because I didn't want to create a false narrative to keep up an image that is not grounded in reality.

One of the values I hold personally and within my business is integrity. If I want to align with my value of integrity I need to be honest and share transparently that 2023 was challenging and if I'm completely honest I've had several life-changing transitions since 2020. I've moved 4 times including an intercontinental move at the beginning of Covid. I've had 3 different career changes each in different sectors in the last three years. I moved across the country for a job and was subsequently fired within 6 months of that move because trends in DEI shifted so drastically that there weren't enough clients to generate income to keep myself and 3 of my colleagues.

And again, those are just the professional truths. There has been an undercurrent of personal heartache, friendship break-ups, and hard lessons from trauma that have led to a recurrence of depression with me. Masking and holding these truths feed the depression that leads to my silence and lack of an online presence. I am working towards a place of being authentic and honest as a way to hold myself and others in integrity so we can be real about what it takes sometimes to just show up.

I've been fortunate to have some balance with moments of joy and life-changing decisions that created stability for my future self. I am grateful to have a support system that kept me going in 2023. I did my best to capture in the photo header some of those balanced life moments.

This post is more of a reminder for myself. Trauma causes me to forget so sharing these reflections is an intentional way to remember what I did because often I'm just trying to survive.

Curious what my 2023 looked like? View it here: https://www.marycparker.com/2023