A New Year - Turning the Page

Happy New Year. Welcome to 2026.

Now, as is normal with the New Year's post, one would expect a list of resolutions for the new year. However, resolutions are strange creatures. It is rare that we ever truly follow through on them for a full year... let alone for our entire life. So, instead of resolutions, I am going to just list some aspirations for the next year... things I hope to do.

1) Since 2020, life has been topsy-turvy for a number of people. Certainly, the Covid disruption of an unscheduled time away from work affected people in a countless number of ways. However, there were a number of other things over the ensuing years that have affected my physical and mental health. 2025 was an interesting year due for me as I made attempts to get over the various maladies that happened in my life over the previous few years. The biggest step I made was to go to a therapist. Talking about the things that happened and are happening in one's life is important for almost everyone. However, when my wife was alive, I considered her a therapist (of sorts). Dawn helped me through a number of difficult situations during our time together. However, getting over her passing is still hard to do. So, the aspiration for this year is to continue to work on my mental health and to continue to work towards moving forward to the next aspect of my life.

2) As such, I plan to continue to use this venue as a means of working on myself. I have always enjoyed writing (whether or not I am actually good at it being an open question)... but more importantly, it helps to get thoughts out of my head. This is not necessarily an exclusionary method of working on my mental health (see point 1), but getting things out in the open is useful. It is another outlet.

3) I plan (pending the weather ever becoming conducive to such things) to continue going out for walks at least a couple of times a week. Yes, it is a good thing for physical health. But, again, going out for a walk is fantastic for mental health. Specifically, it gets you away from the world. It puts you into your own mind and your own brain... or, perhaps, just a quiet time to listen to music. A double dip of health.

4) I read 4 books last year. Which, frankly, isn't a lot... and yet, is a lot more than I have done in the recent past. I am going to see if I can double that number this year. This may take some time away from mindlessly listening to youtube videos or playing silly phone games. And, like aspiration 3, it puts me in a separate world... an escape from reality.

5) I plan to try to do things in the real world this year. More so than the past few years. This seems like a stretch aspiration to be sure... but I do feel that doing things outside work and home can only make me feel more human. Whether that is going to more concerts or ball games or finding some sort of club to be in, having some more contact with actual humans in the real world as opposed to through videos can only help me. 

So, those are my aspirations for 2026. What are yours? 

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