Cat's Musings

2025 Year in Review

Happy 2026.

2025 was quite rough. We started off this year with a slew of medical challenges amidst a very emotionally charged political environment here in the United States. I was struggling in a career change that ultimately did not occur this cycle. I could feel myself spiraling despite all my attempts to hold my boat together. Soon, we were into early June. My wife and I had not taken a vacation since we went to Denver in Summer 2024, or a date day since we went to see Come From Away in late 2024. We had planned a Boston trip, but this had been canceled due to weather. I had not worked out in about two years since I injured my elbow and was recommended to stop power lifting by my doctor.

We went to our local annual comic book/fantasy convention as was tradition in mid-June, and that was the first time I really felt life starting to become normal again. Politics was still a mess, and my district was still suffering funding issues due to our governor trying to strangle public education, but my personal life felt a little like it was on rails again. We spent the weekend down in the city. We bought cool things from vendors. We won like 6 board games. We went on a bar crawl, ate some great food, and my wife introduced me to Bridgerton in the down time. It felt like a turning point.

Getting Active

I made a snap decision to begin walking in the evenings a few nights a week. I had to walk at 8 in the evening as this was summer twilight for us, and it was still sweltering outside. Yet, I enjoyed it. I have consistently been walking 2-3 nights a week since then, just exploring the neighborhood and disappearing into my thoughts. It's been a boon for my mood. I plan to keep my evening walks going through the new year.

Last month, my wife and I joined the gym. I started my routine of working out before school again, and was quite consistent until school let out. I've still gone, and will be getting back on schedule when the semester starts. Working out five mornings a week was a key part of one of the least depressed stretches in my life, so this is a good thing.

Nature

I have been more intentional about getting out in nature as well. I have gone out more this season than I have in a few years:

In 2024, I'm pretty sure I did nothing outside of my winter solstice camping trip... Which I can't remember anything about. I want to continue to camp at least once a month until April (when it gets too hot), and challenge myself to do at least one day hike a month... Even into summer. I may regret that one.

Creativity

I've been in a creative rut for years. After my trip to Bryan in October gave me such muse, I decided to begin blogging again. It's been such a fantastic exercise for me to sit down and put together something at least once a week. I have a handful of ideas for posts I have backlogged, including the day hike at the ranch I listed earlier. I haven't felt this creatively motivated since college. I want to continue to make a post at least once a week, twice if possible.

I participated in Writing Month (formerly NaNoWriMo) this year. I hit my 50k goal for my teacher romance story, Deep in the Heart of Texas and have recently started working to complete the narrative. It's my goal to finish it in 2026 and fully edit it. I don't know if I intend to publish it, but I think I would like it to be somewhere out there where people can read and enjoy it.

Leisure

My wife and I have decided to do more things down in Houston. Despite living in the most populous city in the Southern United States, we really haven't done that much with it. We went to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts just recently, and decided to become dues paying members for the year to incentivize us to take more trips into the city. We already have reservations in the city for early 2026.

Reading

I have challenged myself to read a book a month for the past few years. 12 books isn't difficult, but I occasionally have still struggled. This year, I read a total of 15 books. This includes most of Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series with my wife, a reread of The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy, and two new favorite books: The City We Became by N.K. Jemison and Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang. With the exception of The Black Dahlia, they were all fantastical in some way.

I know 15 is small, but it is a personal best. I also want to get back into nonfiction this year. So, my goal is to read at least 16 books overall, and for ten of them to be nonfiction.

I will be starting hard with There Is No Place For Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone.

Looking to 2026

I hope putting these thoughts down into publication will help me find success in keeping my momentum going into 2026. If you've read this far, thank you for reading! My guestbook is still currently broken, but when it gets fixed, I hope you'll drop by.

To quote, of all things, Saints Row:

"Let's get this shit started."

#blogging #rambling