Notes on the last year:

• I didn’t drink alcohol and I feel much better, less paranoid that I did/said something I shouldn’t have, and I realised I enjoy dancing sober. The best bit is getting up early the next morning and continuing with life. Although, I still get ‘hangovers’.
• I did actually drink the following:
  • A celebratory thimble of champagne on new-years
  • A polite lowish-ABV single beer at Liz’s parents house back in March
  • I mistook a neck oil for a lucky saint and swallowed a mouthful by mistake two days back.
• I’ve felt a lot of anxiety in 2023, more than I ever felt before. Some of these acute episodes are usually brought on by under-preparing or taking on too much, but has sometimes been triggered by plans changing.
• I’ve bought a bike + kit for cycling and its helped me be less annoyed with us not living “in the country” because there’s so much great world just outside our london doorstep (although, a lot of it is covered in empty nos-canisters and flytipped refridgerators)

Better plan for adventures.

I want continue little adventures, in 2023 a few of these actually happened and are great conversation fodder. But the adventures I plan are sometimes stupid and kinda broadly inaccessible for a kid or anyone else in the family. It’d be good to do a bike-pack with the eldest, or go fine weather camping with the whole family. I’ve also noticed myself leaning on Liz for plans for weekends which isn’t too good. I’ll try harder to get some weekend plans where I take the lead, I should also use this time to invite dad-friends along.

Goals

• [ ] Set up some alerts/newletters of “whats good/whats on” around the local area
• [ ] Plan some weekend adventures.
• [ ] To maximise adventures. I’m going to explore more flexible working.

Carve out space to be curious/interesting

I did a few creative things last year, but learned that I default to not doing creative stuff when I don’t have a deadline or a responsibility or lessons to go to. So I’ll carve out time and physical space to so some more curious creative things. Things like: work on my website, spend an hour focusing on learning french, darn my socks. All about doing things I wouldn’t usually. This could also be, do a class, attend a workshop, go to a gallery, get a maths A-Level etc. Specifically I don’t want to let this slip into going running or exercise.

Goals

• [ ] Finish the studio in our loft space with a desk and seating.
• [ ] Have a dedicated time to do this weekly. (This is looking like Thursday evenings)
• [ ] Have a running spark file for interesting things.