Weeknotes 1601

I've been thinking back on this year and there's a lot to celebrate. I started a new business with a friend that's been a resounding success (and certainly less stressful than running something on my own); I passed my driving test, only 14 years late; I finished therapy, at least for now. We relaunched Seagull, it's now making literally some money. More mundanely, perhaps, but ultimately as important, I was able to spend plenty of time with my friends, go to their gigs, I joined a great gym, I started BJJ even if I wasn't able to really give it my all, I was able to start Lads Chat.

But sadly, I think this year will also stand out in my memory for Lola's illness, CM's car crash and most of all the death of my grandfather. Good events and bad events don't 'cancel out', obviously, so while acknowledging all the good things, I would have to say this year's been the worst since 2009, which was the last time a relative died. I've also had a lot of health issues this year, and since the end of the summer I've felt dragged down by grief and a general lethargy and lack of juice. I think this can, at least in part, be put down to the fact that I've had almost no time off this year, something I am going out of my way to correct for next year.

At the end of last year I was very stressed and had a bunch of unresolved stuff hanging over me. This year, thankfully, I've had most of the big stuff I was fretting about resolve itself for me and I'm happy with my goals and plans for the year. All the goals I had set for this year got achieved in a way, even if it wasn't the way I was expecting, and I anticipate the same will be true for next year. Smart goals are lovely and all, but a lot of the time—for bigger stuff especially—you're really just trying to defray the tension or satisfy the issue that the goal was attempting to address.