2024 in Behind-the-Scenes Numbers and Bests

Hello, and happy almost new year — the time to reflect on life lessons, what we’ve accomplished, and what we want to do next! Let’s pull back the curtain today to see what the behind-the-scenes numbers and details look like for this over the past 365 days… paired with photos I snapped during these months.

The first half of this article focuses on the stats and graphs of my businesses, while the second half is about best books, movies, healthy hobbies, and more that I recommend this year. Feel free to scroll right to the part that most interests you, if geeky blogging graphs aren’t your thing!

Readership and Publication Stats

So, what were the raw numbers for my businesses this year? In 2024, a total of 878,000 readers read articles across my five websites, AroundTheWorldL.com, DrawingsOf.com, TeachingTraveling.com, HealingTouchL.com, and ReikiColors.com! Almost a million? Sweet!

Lots of work was behind these numbers. From January through December, I wrote and published 94 new articles across all five sites, and sent out 109 newsletters to 6,300 subscribers. Woo! I tried to be intentional this year about balancing parenting, social connections, and healthy living with my three jobs — blogging, Reiki, and librarian — so I didn’t publish as often as in previous years, but still kept the momentum going.

Graphs to Show the Changes

What does this blogging trajectory look like in graphs compared to last year? First, some context is needed: 2024 was an absolutely wild year for online writers, thanks to volatile changes in search algorithms and the rise of robots vying for human writer and artist jobs.

What I’m pleased to report is that my site traffic actually did not go down as much as I feared it would, despite these global forces. Here is the graph of readership for this site, AroundTheWorldL.com, comparing it with last year’s stats:

Next we have the graph showing readership numbers for DrawingsOf.com Hand-Drawn Educational Cartoon Site. Again, we see a small dip down from last year’s stats, but not as bad as I feared.

There’s a similar story told in the graph from TeachingTraveling.com Global Education Site, shown below. Knowing the online insanity this year, I am not super mad about that 9-14% dip, given how much it could have dropped!

Growing a New Site from Scratch

Now here’s the surprise success story of the year. In January of 2023, I started a new (fifth) site, ReikiColors.com Energy Work Blog, based on the hands-on work I do in my Reiki and chakra balancing studio, HealingTouchL.com.

Given that I already work three jobs and run four other websites, I was on the fence about whether launching this new baby site would be worth it — but trusted mentors encouraged me. For most of 2023, I let it chug along with just a few new articles added…

Then in late 2023 and early 2024, I started really turning up the heat: publishing dozens of passionate posts to manifest progress. Check out what happened by the end of this year as a result: 1,427% growth!!!

In sum, if the online changes this year — and in the FOURTEEN years since I started this website in 2009 — have taught me anything, it’s that the internet landscape can change at the drop of a hat. But these graphs give me hope that if we lean into our passion and human expertise, we can keep our loving blogs alive.

For example, it turns out that some people still want to get ideas for a 50-50 custody schedule from a real mother who’s actually lived different versions of them, rather than from a robot! Putting in the universe that this keeps up.

Most Popular Articles this Year

Speaking of loving blogs, what were the most read articles on this site this year? They are as follows:

#1. “What to Say to Someone Getting a Divorce“ – For the second year in a row, this article is the number one most popular on this whole site, with 21,129 reads in 2024 alone. This makes me very happy, because the purpose of the article is to provide useful, compassionate help both to those working through marriage separation, and those who want to help support them.

#2. “Dig Deeper Review“ – At nearly 14,000 reads, this review of the new Shaun T at-home weightlifting workout program proved very popular! With a trainer as fabulous him, I can see why.

#3. “Best BODi Workouts“ – Coming in at almost a tie at 13,512 reads is my giant round-up and ranking of all 28 online workout programs I’ve done, so readers can pick the one that’s the best match for them. As an exercise lover, I’m highly pleased that this article is doing well!

On the note of workouts, in 2024 I fully completed seven workout programs this year (my favorite probably being “4 Weeks of Focus“) spanning 164 individual workout videos. I also obsessively kept up my outdoor walking, aiming to do 2-3 miles per day whenever possible. Sanity, incarnate!

What About Travel?

I took a great Colorado trip back to the mountains of RMNP this year, which I’ll write about soon, but I’ve been backing off travel writing for the time being as I assess what’s happening with the online landscape there. The good news is there are some thrilling new trips in the works, so stay tuned…

Brick-and-Mortar Business Stats

What are the numbers summing up 2024 in my Boston Reiki business, HealingTouchL.com? It was an awesome 365 days for that one, and I’m thankful! (And also worked my tail off.)

This year I conducted 126 in-person Reiki sessions, including individuals, couples, and small group workshops. I also started offering Reiki training and certification classes for the first time, running three different full-day classes for both Level 1 and Level 2 Reiki.

I am also over the moon that I also got my first big corporate wellness gig — high atop a famous Boston skyscraper I’ve admired for years, no less! It is certainly a goal in the coming years to do more of these VIP energy work opportunities around Boston… and beyond.

Note: Some links here are affiliates that provide a commission upon purchase at no extra cost to you.

Best Books Read this Year

Given my new school librarian job (as well as parenting fun, and general life goals), I made a big push this year to read more, and ended up finishing 58 books! They were a mix of texts for adults, middle grades, and kids. Here are some highlights for adult books:

“Breath” by James Nestor was a life-changing dive into the way that breathing can improve everything. I now do Wim Hoff exercises for ten minutes each morning, and guide my students through Box Breaths and other meditations to launch each class.

“Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang is a bestseller for a reason. I devoured the entire novel in a single evening (which is not advised, because the end gets creepy when read late at night)! I couldn’t wait to discuss it with my book club.

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald bowled me over, reading it again for the first time since high school. It’s one of the book that made me want to become an English teacher (so many amazing hidden symbols!), and after seeing both the Broadway and ART musical adaptations of it, I relished going back to the book with new eyes, enraptured by how lines from the text were woven into the songs.

New Hobbies

This was the year of DANCE! I took Salsa dancing lessons throughout the summer, and am learning Swing, Blues, and Two-Step as well. The statistics on how dance boosts the mood are amazing — and true. I got really into Fuego dance shoes that have a rotating sole to protect the knees, and can offer you 10% off if you use this link!

Best Plays and Movies Watched

I was able to see both “Cabaret” and “Gatsby” on Broadway this year, and adored that NYC version of “Gatsby” more than I even imagined! Live theatre is the best, as are musicals.

In a concerted effort to rest and recharge, I’m also being intentional about watching more movies at last, in addition to Broadway musicals — especially classics. “Roman Holiday” was the highlight of this year’s films.

2024 in Sum

They say it takes two years to get your feet back under you after divorce (even if the marriage separation was amicable and positive, as ours was) — and as I near that timeline, I can attest that it’s true. 2024 has been a year of hard work moving everything forward, steadily and intentionally, in the realms of health, happiness, careers, connection, contribution, communication, home, personal development, and self-expression… and for that I am very grateful.

My word of focus for 2025 will be “Launch,” as I work collaboratively to use the foundation built during this year to get a number of projects and goals to the next level. My action of focus will be attending, encouraging, and creating in-person gatherings. Let’s do this!