New Year's Thoughts
Crazy that it's New Year's Eve already and crazy that it's going to be 2025 next year. I'm currently laying in bed with my laptop writing this because I had a little too much holiday cheer the last week (read: beer and junk food) and I think it's finally starting to hit me.
2024 was a pretty big year for me. I turned 30 and I learned that life actually continues once you hit your thirties! I traveled a lot, made new friends, got out of my comfort zone more.
I'm not really much of a resolutions guy - mainly because I go too hard with them and burn out after a month - but I like to try and come up with a couple goals/things to keep in mind. Plus next year is going to be monumentally stupid from a societal standpoint but at least I can try to keep bettering myself and keep being there for my friends and family.
Anyway here's what I'm trying to focus on:
The Money Guy
I saved a bunch of money for a number of years and then spent most of it in the span of 3 months because I bought a car and moved to a new apartment. Both things that I needed to do and are improving my life a lot but are really damn expensive!
On the subject of earning money I had a big realization earlier this year where I think the reason why I feel bad all the time is because of my job. I've been working at an ad agency for the last 5 years and a significant majority of that has been working remote. It was fun for a while but I am not close to any of my coworkers, they all work remote too so I never see them in person and the job itself just kind of sucks. It turns out being on call all day every day but not being social during work beyond that kind of makes you miserable! They also don't pay me enough but that's beside the point lol. So I think this year I need to get serious about getting a new job if they don't give me a good raise or a promotion or something.
Anyway besides that I started budgeting a lot more recently and I gotta keep that momentum up. Getting less takeout, cooking at home more, buying less frivolous things, cancelling subscriptions and all that. I do want to save up to buy a nice bidet though... LMAO
Getting My Stupid Ass Off The Computer
I already wrote about this over the summer but I've gotten a lot more cognizant about how I'm spending my time online. I deleted all the social media apps off my phone and put time limits on the web addresses, my goal being that using social media will be a computer only activity. I stopped using twitter for the most part and honestly don't really miss it. Next I really need to stop watching IG reels because that shit is evil incarnate and I can feel it rotting my brain. That will probably be the hardest resolution to keep honestly.
On the gaming front I downloaded Balatro on my phone so I look at that instead of social media. I'm taking a major step back from FFXIV as well. I stepped down from being an officer in my guild, something I've done for the last few years. I just kind of lost interest in it and my heart wasn't in it anymore. This week is actually 10 years since I started playing FFXIV (don't ask me how I know that) and I think I'm starting to move on slowly but surely. I do want to write a piece about my experiences in it though and how it's shaped me so that'll probably be my next blog post.
I've just been getting out more too honestly. Joining my local pinball league is definitely the best thing I've done all year to just get out and meet new people. Everyone is so nice and it's something I look forward to. I made a bunch of new friends this year in the city and it's been great - last night I went to a New Year's Eve Eve party with a lot of them and it was a blast. I want to keep doing that and even when I want to just sit down and veg out in front of a screen I would rather be watching a movie or playing a game instead of getting mad on social media.
Getting Gayer
I don't think I have to go into detail for this one. But I think it's time I... start putting myself out there again [thunder rumbles in the distance].
In Conclusion
2024 was good. I focused more on my health and got back to lifting and rock climbing. I made lots of memories with my friends. I did a lot of writing too, both here and in my self indulgent FFXIV fanfics no one but me will read LMAO!! I want to keep the momentum going. Plus I'm going back to Japan in a month so that'll be exciting~~
I hope everyone has a happy new year whether you're going out or if you're like me and completely holiday'd out and staying in and going to bed at 11.