Life and Such: February 2023
“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans,” seems more and more appropriate for life each year. 2022 was no different, I am sure 2023 will prove that adage true once more.
As always, all views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
Happy winter! I’ve been off the ship for nearly two months now. Most crew members only get a two month vacation from the ship. Now, I get it, most people reading this will think “Two months! That’s an incredible vacation!” Remember, most cruise ship crew work every day that they are onboard. Those two months off are really all of their weekend, holiday, and vacation days all put together in one clump. So, while people were enjoying their days off for Christmas or New Years, all us cruise ship crew were busy bringing holiday cheer to those passengers onboard. Now it’s time to get those days off. 🙂
I don’t head back to the ship for another month though. I am getting a slightly longer vacation this time to line up better with my husband. He works on a three months on, three months off schedule. This has entirely to do with his function and rank onboard and luckily it’s worked out that I can take a little bit longer off to keep our schedules closer in line.
Lining up our contracts is not easy – really at all. Take a look at some of the challenges and realities of what it takes to work together on a cruise ship as a couple.
So, what does vacation when it’s three months long look like?
During my time off the ship I’ve spent part of the time in Scotland, where my hubby is from, and am now finishing off my vacation in Vermont with my family.
It really is like having all of your vacation, holidays, and weekend days all put together. Just like anyone, sometimes a weekend is used for fun, sometimes it’s used for projects. Sometimes you’re spending time with your family and sometimes you just want to sit on the couch and watch TV. Literally all of that. You try to maximize how much time you spend with your friends and family, and then try to fit in all of the projects that you want to get done before you head back to sea. Once you go back to sea you can’t work on your house or make ginger cookies for your grandma. You’ve got to fit all of those things into this condensed time frame.
And, that’s basically what I’m doing. It’s a mix of family time and projects and doing all the things that I would mix into regular life if I lived a regular life. Last month when I was in Scotland I took a few days to go to London to see a friend. Today I’m writing this, then working on a project for my mom, having lunch with my grandma, potentially do a small project on our house this afternoon, and then heading to my brother’s to help with farm chores. It’s all a mix, but the countdown is on and I know that in just over a month I’ll be heading out and won’t be home for nearly four months.
How would you spend your time if you had 3 months off?
Time for the bloggy part of this monthly update:
I write this blog and do YouTube videos mostly for fun. I enjoy the creative aspect of it. I love travel and this gives me a way to document my travels and share them with friends, family, and then of course all of you lovely folks out in the interwebs that I have yet to meet. I let this all somewhat fall by the wayside over the last six months. I think a lot of the reason for this was I have been struggling with toeing the line of what is appropriate to put out there while employed by one of the companies that I talk about on my blog. Even though I put a disclosure on nearly every post on my blog and even though there is a disclosure page and a disclosure tab on the sidebar of this website – I don’t want to write anything disparaging – something that might jeopardize mine or my husbands careers – but I also want to be honest in what I write. Where is that line and how do I balance it in a way that’s fair to my readers, to myself, and also respectful to my company and mindful of my contract?
I’m feeling more comfortable and confident about it now but I’m sure there will still be times that I struggle with it. While there are lots of things that the cruise line I work for does right, I don’t believe it’s the right cruise line for everyone. I don’t think any cruise line is one-size-fits-all. And they shouldn’t be. That’s what is great about the cruise market is that there are cruises for literally everyone.
Goals 2023:
- Prioritize time with family and friends when I am home
- Remember to be grateful (I’ve heard it’s the secret to happiness)
- Get in shape
- Take one online course
- Read more books!
Blog Goals 2023:
- 2023 Goal: Get YouTube channel to 1,000 subscribers (this is the magical number when YouTube starts to pay you.)
- January: 432
- February: 441
- 2023 Goal: 250 email subscribers
- January: 190
- February: 235
- Blog specific stats:
- 2023 Goal: “DA” (domain authority) of 18
- January: 11
- February: 10
- 2023 Goal: 300 Ranking Keywords
- January: 270
- February: 267 – This going down makes sense as I restructured some posts. Hopefully they will come back up even stronger this coming month.
- 2023 Goal: “DA” (domain authority) of 18
- 2023 Goal: Monthly views up to 10,000
- January: 5,097
- February: 4,200 – Frustrating but I know it goes in “blips”. Hoping to get the momentum back going up.
Want to Help Me Achieve My Goals? Here are 5 ways you can support this blog (p.s. Thank You!)
- Subscribe and follow wherever you’re willing to! (YouTube and email subscribers are the most helpful!)
- If you like a post – share it!
- Send me questions for ideas for blog posts, YouTube videos, etc! Happy to answer anything I can.
- Use those affiliate links. My favorite product that I highlight on my blog is laundry detergent sheets through EarthBreeze, but also, if you use the Amazon links from my page it is super helpful, too.
- Feel free to directly monetarily support this dream through Ko-fi. This money helps me pay for blog expenses such as domain fees, SEO programs, courses and tech support, as well as hopefully new cameras and microphones for YouTube. 🙂
