I used to diligentially chronicle my achievements of the year in my blog, back when it was actually a somewhat active blog. With everything being quantifiable I could sure data science the shit out of my life with fancy charts of how many books I read, how many TV shows I watched, how many games I played, how many kilometers I went running, etc. While I love stats, I guess I’m getting too old for this shit and I’d rather read books in my hobbit hole than give myself more work.

It was a challenging year for me. Shit blew up on me at work, and I’ve been (and still am) in work limbo, with things not being they best they could be for me. I went on a vacation that started awesome, which sadly had to be cut short due to an injury. Living in our current political and economical environment is so frustrating that I had to quit social media. My father passed away, just 3 months shy of his 80th birthday and after a couple of very rough years of rapidly declining health. That is obviously something I’m still struggling with, and probably will for a long time.

But what amplifies all of these challenges I’ve been facing, is having to face my own advancing age. At the end of the year, I turned 40, and I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened in the last 40 years of my life, and this general feeling of how weird it is that everything that made me what I am is now 20 years ago. And how different the world was back then, somehow easier and simpler without all this social media anxiety everywhere. And how in the same amount of time that I’ve lived, I’ll be 80. Life is strange.

However, this year also had a lot of good things. I probably read more books this year that I’ve read in a decade or so, and I really enjoy reading (once I’ve found the right books for me). Reading what you want is so important, and if I’m struggling with a book, I’ll just ditch it. I even re-read some of my old favorites.

This year, I started bouldering regularly. I’ve done climbing 20 years ago for a bit, and tried last year as well. But only this year I finally had the ambition and determination to make bouldering a new habit and a new sport, because I was really in dire need of a hobby that does not involve sitting. Board games, role-playing games, and video games are sadly all really terrible for my body, and at my ripe old age, it’s starting to show.

Escaping reality was therapy to me this year, and I’ve played an unhealthy amount of Baldur’s Gate 3. I’ve finished 3 runs of this game, two unmodded and one modded, and I’m ready to begin again once the new patch drops, the game is really that good. But I also played other games and particularly enjoyed the creative aspects of Enshrouded and V Rising this year.

I made some new friends this year, and in some cases made people I know better friends, and I feel like I’m finally in a good place when it comes to that topic. Perhaps 2025 is the year to get out of my cave, stop escaping reality, and spend more time with friends, family and the people I care about. I have a cute little nephew and watching him grow is a joy, and I have an amazing partner and the bestest of dogs, and altogether, I think that’s what one should focus on especially in challenging times. It can only get better šŸ™‚