Second Year: When It Stops Being New
I ended 2025 better than I started.
My second year continued this journey beautifully by bringing new people into my life and opening new opportunities. It was a year of many first times and the first time in my life when I had the energy to truly enjoy them, because I also had plenty of quiet days. I plan to make room for even more.
-
1. Skills can be learned and money can be made, but synchronizing with people is what will either ruin you or help you thrive.
2. The more you want to live life on your own terms, the more decisions youβll have to make. For me, decisions are freeing. Even if strategizing endlessly can be exhausting, giving yourself enough time to rest makes it manageable. On my busiest days, I would still choose the freedom of deciding over having everything handed to me.
3. Changing my priorities according to my own needs is always a gamble in this world; but the satisfaction and health benefits I gain when I push through and continue pushing further, are incomparable.
4. Few things are still impossible without a good plan. Many people assume good plans are built overnight.
5. The masks of the world are breaking and Iβm increasingly looking forward to disconnecting from the online psychosis that is social media.
6. Once again, offline community proves itself to be the only way that truly works for me.
-
1. We went out more than usual, so weβre still catching up on household chores.
2. Finding good doctors.
3. Planning for the future.
4. Closing gaps: in skills, in strategy, in whatever needed it.
5. Finding the right gadgets as the market goes to shit.
6. Finding something I can eat for breakfast (pickled veggiesβmostly cabbage).
-
1. The emotional labor of client relationships. Unless the pay is good enough to compensate for emotional involvement, I donβt accept collaborations that require it.
2. Decision fatigue. My rest is just as important, so periods of intense decision-making are always followed by periods of not giving a fuck.
-
1. How much it pays off to have a good relationship with yourself.
2. Luck and intuition.
3. Food in Spain.
4. That I can play poker now π
5. That I donβt need motivation or feel stagnation when I get to use my life as my own canvas.
6. How, even as society pushes us further into the digital, life keeps pushing me in the opposite direction.
So I might as well try to go against the current and see what happens.
I think we all miss the silence, the analog, nature, intimacy, privacy, space to embrace madness and time to simply be human.
Work, As It Relates to All This
I now have what I consider a steady number of clients; not too few to worry when projects end, not too many to prevent me from staying open to new connections. Iβm not stressed. I did less web design this year and more research work. Graphic design remained steady. Photography was a spark. Drawing my dreams was the real breakthrough. And lately, Iβve been daydreaming about the steps needed to start tattooing again. Traveling for both work and rest became possible in 2025, which is new for me. Being less stressed also meant I finally had time to do more medical checkups and those went well.
This article is rather short and it reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend on New Yearβs Eve. He asked:
βHow are you? How are things going?β
βGood.β
βYouβve been saying good for a long time now. What is this good? What does it look like? πβ
The truth is, I donβt really have much to say. A lot happened, sure; but every moment brought me exactly where Iβm supposed to be. No major red flags in my relationships. Work is smoothing out and bringing new opportunities. My health is okay. Artistically, Iβm more inspired than ever, so Iβm staying in the shadows to create.
Thereβs nothing else to add, really. Iβm on my way, and itβs a blast.
Whatβs in Store for Year Three?
Lots of art | Connections | Relaxation in nature
You wonβt be hearing from me in year three. Iβll get back to you in year six, then again in year twelve.