At noon today, we’ll have crossed over into the second half of 2025. The first half has been…a lot. The last five months, especially, have felt like five years. There’s just been too damned much of it. Go look at any of the retrospectives today (such as the opening paragraphs of this daily newsletter) for a rundown of all the shit that’s flooded the zone.

I’m just…tired. Of the state of the world, of the way that state of the world is impacting my life, of the various other stressors, the loss of dear friends, and just how quickly everything keeps changing, and how it all continues piling on and needs to be dealt with.

To be fair, it’s not been all bad. I’ve gotten over 500 miles biked and hiked over the last couple of months, and am down a net ten pounds. I had a nice camping vacation last week. I’ve played some rather positive and well-received gigs (and had fun doing them), and booked a few more. People in my life have done things that they should be proud of (and I am very proud of them). I’ve read some decent books (I just started this one, which is great so far, and part of an excellent series). I’ve paid off a few debts, and saw and heard some pretty neat things; art, music, the natural world, and as the algorithm delivers, .

I just wish I could be a bit more happy about the latter paragraph and less concerned with the former, y’know?

As for what’s on the horizon? there are some cool things coming up. Next week’s gig. Seeing some friends and playing some games in Indiana at the end of the month. Dragoncon (yes, I booked it again this year, though as of today, I’m not on the website. Call this a piece of the “soft announcement”). I’ve got a couple of collaborative creative projects coming up that should be neat. I’ve got more plans to spend time out in nature, focus on my mental and physical health, and just *be*.

As for the other stuff, I’m just trying to accept that I can’t really do much to change those, and holding on to the idea got a plan to deal with those eventualities; and if I’m really and truly honest with myself, if the worst happens, I don’t know if I’m going to be completely heartbroken. I’ll avoid cliches about doors and windows (because they’re so trite), but new opportunities and a little less responsibility wouldn’t be entirely unwelcome, even if it means some pretty big lifestyle changes.

So that’s where I am, trying, and sometimes even succeeding, to focus on the positive and shake off the negative, because the next 182.5 days will probably be even weirder.

Thank you for listening to my self-care TED talk.