2026
How a hard lesson learned in 2025 should make for a better 2026.
I always tell myself that I don’t do “resolutions” when the calendar flips from December 31 to January 1, and for the most part I’d like to think that when I want to make a change in my life, I don’t wait for a certain point in time to start.1
But as we go from 25 to 26, the last few days I’ve started thinking of things I want to do more of over the next 12 months. Things I’ve been wanting to do for a little while and there really hasn’t been anything to stop me from starting to do these things in November or December, but the start of a new year is a clear marker in time that people can definitively point to when determining a renewed focus, and/or a change in attitude, and/or setting goals.
So with that in mind, here’s what I want to do in 2026…
Explore Winnipeg more.
We’ve lived in this city a little over a year now and while we’ve been around a bit, we truly haven’t experienced or explored Winnipeg.
Granted Rose’s major shoulder injury in July didn’t help and kept both of us at home, but even before then it was usually a case of being too tired to go out during days off from work - I’ll get to that in a moment - but it didn’t hit me how little we’ve gone out until a week ago when I was asked by a friend if I had checked out The Forks yet.
I hadn’t. Nor have I seen any of the museums here2, nor gone to the Art Gallery that I ride by almost every day to and from work. I haven’t even walked through the Legislature grounds that I can see from my building daily.
I gotta change all that in 2026.
Write here more often.
I tell myself this all the time. This is one of those “I could have started doing this at any time” and I certainly have tried. Just take a look at my dashboard…
All 13 of those drafts were started through 2025. It’s not that I’ve wanted to write, it’s just that once I get started, I’m usually doing it somewhat tired and then I start to hear a little voice that repeats lines like “meh, what’s the point of this?” or “nobody wants to read that crap, why are you wasting your time on it?”3
Even now at this moment as I write this I hear that voice. Thankfully there is another voice that is telling that voice to shut the fuck up.4
Create more content.
Honestly I just want to do more of my own thing. I’ve always enjoyed creating, I need to create more for me and not for others.
I love video games and I need to stream more on Twitch. Doing that will give me more content to post on my TikTok.
I love talking about sports and wrestling and I feel like I am wasting perfectly good rants in my head that I never write out or vocalize.5
Again, it’s not that I haven’t tried too, it’s just self-doubt, being tired… Y’know, all the lame excuses / reasons I can muster.
Stop thinking about work so damn much.
This is the most important and is going to be tough for me. I didn’t feel like I’ve ever obsessed about my job no matter where I’ve worked, but in 2025 I realized I did. There is a fine line between taking pride in and doing a job to the best of your ability, and thinking about how you can do that over multiple off-duty hours.
2025 wasn’t a great year, but I think I finally realized that a major reason why I never seem to have energy to spend on projects I want to do for myself personally, is because a lot of that energy is being spent stressing about work and making sure others are happy with what I’m doing.
Ultimately, all the things I want to do listed before last point need to be what I obsess over. Not staying extra hours to finish a job to make some bosses happy, or bend over backwards to take care of co-workers or employees who ultimately don’t appreciate it or wouldn’t return the favor.
So if that hard lesson that I had to learn in 2025 will make my 2026 and beyond better for myself and the people who do matter to me… It’s worth it.
I just need to follow through. I plan on it.
Bonus goal: Spend a few days in Toronto.
I’m 48, been a diehard baseball fan for about 40 of those years - and I’ve never been to a Major League Baseball game.
I really wanna need to change that and soon.
Back in August when I had more time on my hands than I would have liked, I decided that I’d start using our apartment bulding’s gym to keep myself active then and there.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Manitoba Museum and people keep telling me that I would enjoy an afternoon spent there. I think that’s one of the first places I need to visit.
That voice sounds a lot like Elmo for some reason, but that’s possibly because I always get videos of him hating on Rocco popping up on my TikTok timeline.
That voice sounds like Bender from Futurama. Any voice I hear that says cool shit always sounds like Bender.
Rose - bless her heart - has been my sounding board for many rants about how Kevin Cheveldayoff needs to go, or how John Cena’s retirement match was perfect. She cares enough to listen and let me vent, but if nothing else I think she would appreciate me sharing my thoughts with others and not just her.