2023: The yr of me

Final night time, for the third Wednesday in a row, I ventured to the Whiteside Theater in downtown Corvallis to look at an previous film. Two weeks in the past, it was Nationwide Lampoon’s Christmas Trip. Final week, it was It is a Fantastic Life. And yesterday was Star Wars. The place was packed! So enjoyable to look at a favourite movie in an previous theater with a few hundred different followers.

I’ve additionally been watching many motion pictures at house currently. I lastly have the time. In line with Letterboxd, I’ve seen seventeen movies in December. I watched 9 in November. I take pleasure in exploring the nooks and crannies of cinema. (I extremely advocate Letterboxd, by the way in which. I have been utilizing it to log my film watching for 2 years, and I can now not think about not utilizing it.)

My days have been busy, too.

Within the mornings, as at all times, I stroll the canine. Currently, although, we have been taking longer walks: 90 minutes, two hours. A part of it is because I’ve embarked upon a loopy challenge to map each Little Free Library and farmstand on the town [my map]. However a bigger half is as a result of I’m, finally, prioritizing health once more.

A few of you could recall that I misplaced forty kilos throughout COVID. I used to be pleased with my health going into 2021, however then I obtained sidetracked by promoting a home, shopping for a home, and a really shitty 2022. I fell into my dangerous behavior of stress consuming. I did not do any train. I gained fifty kilos — the whole lot I would misplaced in 2020 and extra. Effectively, for the previous three weeks I have been each exercising and consuming proper. I am again on the gymnasium. In January, I am becoming a member of some buddies for a 30-day yoga problem.

To make it simpler to make wholesome decisions with meals, I’ve slowly been re-vamping our kitchen. We have lived on this home for fifteen months now, so we have now a greater thought of the place totally different kitchen instruments ought to stay. Plus, after greater than a decade with Kim, I’ve determined it is time to ditch a few of our previous kitchen stuff (a few of which we have owned because the Nineteen Nineties!) and improve to higher instruments. I now personal three good knives, and so they’re a pleasure to make use of.

In the meantime, after eighteen months of speaking about artwork, I’ve begun to dabble in it. Not a lot, however some. Earlier this month, I began a day by day artwork journal. I am enjoying with pens and drawing kinds. I purchased an affordable watercolor set and am having enjoyable enjoying with that. After I’m not watching motion pictures, I am typically watching artwork instruction on YouTube.

Plus, I am doing different enjoyable stuff. I am studying books and comics. I am spending extra time with buddies — each on Zoom and in Actual Life.

Briefly, December has been my greatest month in a very long time. I’ve been main a values-driven life and it reveals. I can really feel it. The folks round me can really feel it to.

However discover what’s not on that checklist. What am I not doing? Writing about cash. Since my mom died in early October, I have been on a deliberate three-month sabbatical. It is clear that I wanted it. It is also clear that I most likely want extra time to myself. Like all of 2023.

I discussed earlier this month that I wish to make 2023 the Yr of J.D. And it is true. That is precisely what I’ll do. I’ll prioritize doing what I need after I need it. I do not imply this in some hedonistic manner. I imply it in a “pursuing that which fulfills me” manner. Does that make sense?

My primary precedence for the approaching yr is to deal with health. Kim and I are doing this collectively for the primary time since we met at Crossfit, and it feels superior to be on the identical web page. It is a lot simpler to do that as a workforce. Together with train and well being consuming, I am additionally addressing some lingering well being points: blood strain, sleep apnea, and many others.

My quantity two precedence for 2023 is to proceed constructing (and re-building) friendships right here in Corvallis. Though I establish as an introvert, it is clear that I am not. I want social interplay, and I have not been getting sufficient of it. I am engaged on it.

My third precedence for the following twelve months is to dive into artwork. I’ve struggled to start out for a few causes.

• First, I do not know the place to start out. I am an entire novice. I’ve by no means executed something creative in my life. (Effectively, not fully true. In junior excessive, a buddy and I used to attract our personal comedian books, however that was child stuff.)
• Second, I do not know what sort of artwork to pursue. Do I wish to draw? Do I wish to paint? One thing else fully?

This month, I’ve stopped desirous about these types of questions and as a substitute begun doing no matter I need with pens and paint. The one manner to determine the place to go is to attempt issues. Plus, I am being attentive to what excites me. Comics excite me, clearly, and at all times have. However I am additionally realizing that I like what I would name “mid-century spot illustration” fashion: heavy brush strokes, sort of cartoony.

A closing precedence is to resolve which tasks to pursue round the home. Kim and I moved right here on the finish of August 2021. We love Corvallis, and we all know that is the place we wish to stay. Our home is completely wonderful, however…it isn’t good. (No home ever is.) After “losing” $150,000+ making modifications to our final home then transferring after 4 years, I am extra cautious right here. If we keep, I am keen to spend cash and energy to enhance issues. But when we do not, I do not wish to expend the sources.

So, Kim and I have to decide: Can we decide to staying at this place for, say, a decade or so? Or can we agree that it is solely a brief place? If we are going to remain, then I’ve a few tasks I wish to sort out nearly instantly. I need rework a rest room — perhaps two. And I wish to give the again yard a serious overhaul. (The “bones” of the yard are strong, however the area is overgrown with ferns and weeds after practically a decade of neglect.)

So, these are my plans for 2023. Once more, discover how Get Wealthy Slowly is just not on this checklist.

I can not resolve what to do about Get Wealthy Slowly. What position does it play in my life? Does it play a job in my life?

That is half of a bigger query about what position I need the web (and computer systems themselves, actually) to play in my life. Over the previous few years, it is grow to be clear that for me (as with many others, I do know) the web offers simply as many issues because it does options. And, in actual fact, I think that my current struggles with psychological well being have been exacerbated by the web. Even perhaps brought on by the web.

One possibility is to easily reduce the twine fully and stroll away. Promote the positioning. Surrender writing about cash perpetually. Think about it a section of my life and transfer on. There are loads of upsides to this alternative, I am going to admit. However I am not satisfied it is the best choice. What if I find yourself regretting the choice? What if I do resolve I need a spot to speak about cash once more?

In addition to, there are two large causes I wish to maintain Get Wealthy Slowly (or, maybe, Cash Boss in its stead). For one, I actually do wish to create a web based encyclopedia of non-public finance, a spot uncluttered by adverts and analytics and bullshit, a spot the place folks can get dependable, unbiased cash information. Second, and maybe extra importantly, I am a author. I specific myself by way of phrases. I take pleasure in having an outlet to share what I am feeling. Similar to this!

So, I equivocate.

I shuttle.

I believe and I believe and I take into consideration the most effective course to take.

However you realize what? It is not a choice I’ve to make proper now. Proper now, the most effective factor is to easily do what I have been doing. It appears to be working. December has been all about me and my wants, and that is what 2023 will probably be too.

Within the coming yr, I’ll deal with health. I’ll proceed exploring artwork and watching motion pictures. I am going to hang around with buddies. In the end, I’ll journey once more. (I have already got plans to go to Colorado, Mexico, Greece, Ecuador, and extra!) I’ll spend time with Kim and our beasts. I’ll learn. I’ll cook dinner.

And every so often — for now, a minimum of — I am going to drop by Get Wealthy Slowly to share what I have been pondering and doing.

Pleased holidays, everybody. I am going to see you subsequent yr.