Looking back on 2022

First of all, あけましておめでとう. Being the first day of 2023, I thought I would take the time to post and reflect on 2022

The big two things that have happened for me this year is moving to another prefecture altogether, along with taking up a new job. Compared to working as an ALT, there are lot more tasks and responsibilities, and I had to learn them quickly. While it has been difficult to keep on top of my job, it has been fun, and also has given an insight on the other side of an ALT dispatch company, and that there are some people who are clearly not suited to being ALTs, even after they pass the hiring process. 
On the other hand, I have been occasionally asked to work out of town for various periods of time, whether it be to other nearby prefectures, or as recently as the other side of the country. Though it has been exhausting from time to time, it does give me an opportunity to see how other schools handle teaching English, including the team teaching process, with some schools doing it better than others. 

In terms of hobbies, I got back in to the gym. While not I'm not 100% - and probably never will be with my back injury, it feels good to be training again. While working my upper body is no problem, I know I need to put more focus on my lower body, especially my core, though I have to take extra care on the types of exercises I can do.
I also have been purchasing a crap ton of Gundam model kits, and my back log has grown as a result. This is also the year I got back to purchasing official Transformers toys and figures, starting with Blaster. While the quality and articulation is not what I'm used to compared to third party figures, they're still fun to transform. 
On the other hand, I have just about neglected my drawing. I have had very little opportunity and drive to draw these days. 

And despite all that has happened, I feel a sense of emptiness and sadness. It has now been 4 years since I last went back home to Australia, and after what went down in 2021, I'm trying to mentally brace myself for what will happen when I go back. Many of friends have settled down and starting their own families, and I'm left wondering what I'm doing with my life, and asking myself did I make the right decision to live and work in Japan? And even after a year on with what happened that leading up to what happened back in 2021 (which I still don't feel comfortable spelling out here at the moment), I continue to wonder whether I made the right decision to not go back home at that time, despite there being no certainty that I would have been able to enter Australia at that time, not to mention that I would have lost my job at the time, and it would have taken a long time to recover financially from that. I think it will take me a very long time to move on from that, as there have been numerous times over the past year where I have thought about that incident, and I still don't have the answer that I'm looking for - and I don't think I will ever find that answer.