As readers of this blog know, each year around this time I do an an “audit” of what I achieved this year pegged against what I hoped to achieve this time last year. And I outline what I hope to achieve in the coming year.

This year was really the year Jennifer and I came out of COVID hibernation.

For the first time in nearly two years we began to fly again, firstly to Tasmania to do the “interstitial” shooting for Facing Fear, then later in the year to the US – to attend the film’s screening at a prestigious film festival in Sedona.

More recently we travelled to Spain to do early pre-production work on the film based on my Camino memoir, The Way, My Way. It will be titled Walk The Walk.

More on that later.

Most of the first half of the year was taken up with completing Facing Fear, with the latter part of the year taken up with marketing the film in its theatrical rollout around Australia.

I also set up US theatrical distribution, and that rollout begins on January 18th at San Rafael in the Bay Area of Northern California. The film will subsequently be screened throughout various states across the country.

This year also marked Jennifer and my fortieth wedding anniversary. We celebrated that by going to Broken Hill and hanging out there for a few days. It was wonderful, and romantic.

It was also the year I became a gamer. Yes, a video-gamer. My eldest son Henry has been a serious gamer since he was a child – he’s now 36 – and he has been helping me discover this new and highly creative form of storytelling.

I completed Journey and that for me was a transcendent experience.

I bought a Nintendo Switch, and got hooked on Zelda Breath of the Wild, and Limbo and Ori Will of the Wisp. For Christmas I’m getting a Play Station 5, or PS5. These consoles are not easy to get, but get one I did, and I look forward to playing such games as Death Stranding, Stray, and Ratchet & Clank.

Perhaps the biggest thing that I did this year though was reveal that I had Parkinson’s disease. This was a big deal for me, because I’d kept it secret for nearly five years, telling only a small band of family and friends.

I revealed it because it comes up in my movie Facing Fear. When I got the diagnosis four and a half years ago, (although I had recognisable symptoms some 12 to 18 months earlier) I experienced very real fear. It’s been a relief now to make it public.

I want to use the experience of having this (supposedly) incurable progressive degenerative brain disease to try and help and inspire others. That’s the only reason that makes sense to me as to why I got Parkinson’s – to in some small way put it into service for others.

I also feel I made a big leap spiritually this year.
It’s hard to articulate, but I feel it.

So, now for the audit.
What did I say I wanted to achieve in 2022, and what did I achieve this year?
Here’s what I said I wanted to achieve:

So what do I hope to achieve in 2023:

• Market Facing Fear throughout the US and in other territories.
• Have a new book, The Judith Sessions, published.
• Have a second new book published, a fictional work called The Golden Bridge.
• Shoot and edit Walk The Walk – a feature film based on my memoir The Way, My Way.
• Shoot the third film in my Personal Guidance System series, this film called I Hope.
• Launch a website aimed at helping people understand and deal with fear.

That’s it.
A huge year coming up.

I need to factor in Me Time – time spent on me, including yoga, meditation, exercise, and relaxation – including becoming more proficient in gaming. That’s the only way I’ll achieve all I wish to achieve this coming year.

And it’s the only way I’ll get on top of my Parkinson’s disease.
Let’s see how this coming year treats me.