What is something in the past year that makes you happy or proud? Maybe you learned something new, finally got that thing you wanted for ages, managed to make a hard decision with a good outcome. etc etc.
No pressure to share if you don’t want to. Hope you all have a good new years eve :)
2025 was awful so… I would say I am happy and proud to still be alive.
You’re not the only one! Congrats on remaining vertical and warm.
Sorry to hear that. Here is to you making it another rotation around the sun. Hopefully the next year will be better! 🥂
2025 was also not great for me. Lots of bad stuff, and I lost the last of my friends in 2025 (not dead, just not friends anymore) and my family and relationships are long gone. I’m tired of being completely alone with no one to talk to or even just hang out with. When midnight came tonight I was sitting with one of my two cats on my lap, the only living things I have left. I looked at my cat and said well bud we made it through 2025, here’s hoping 2026 goes better. My wish is to make a friend.
I hope it goes better for you too.
I am proud of the fact that after years of being inactive (partially due to laziness, partially due to health issues that I’ve finally found a doctor who was willing to help me take care of) I rejoined the gym a few weeks ago and have been going regularly. It’s too soon to say I’ve made a habit of it, but it’s already the only good part of my week and I look forward to it, so I’m hoping I can stick with it despite my crazy work and school schedule. I miss being strong and fit.
I’ve created some absolutely amazing photography in ‘25 and will continue to make even more!
These are awesome, keep up the good work!
Sometimes i miss that place 😆 what i wouldn’t give for some Chopollos or Delta rn…
Stopped being an unemployed bum and got a solid union job that pays more than I ever really expected to make
It took two years but I finally achieved a 1000lb powerlifting total. It’s not a huge number but I do feel proud of myself, and physically I have never felt better. Outgrew my wardrobe twice, and can’t find jeans that fit but otherwise 10/10 would recommend lifting to anyone
1000lb powerlifting total
not a huge number
Seems huge to me man. Congrats
You know I think that’s the social media influence showing. Fitness influencers post these incredible lifts and physiques that are seriously impressive, it’s important to keep in mind that these are genetically gifted people posting their highlight reels, in their prime, and on gear
mostly the gear, which can be misleading people.
I was going to post about having lifted consistently for four months going from a 20lbs dumbbell press to 45lbs and seeing results. Then I see your 1,000lbs and it blows my mind that you don’t think that’s impressive!
Great work! My one rep max on a deadlift is 200 and right now I am over the moon that I have lost my beer gut. Let’s keep the momentum!
Dude four months is fantastic. You built the habit and now it’s just a matter of time. You keep doing what you’re doing and your gains will blow your mind. I’ve switched to dumbbell for overhead press and it feels great for strength and longevity, I started off with a questionable shoulder and now it feels rock solid because of these, you’re on the right track!
holy crap
Literal zero usage of Windows or any Microsoft software or hardware. Also 99% no Google.
Went vegan.
Started my masters.
Didn’t kill myself that week when I was fired a day after getting into a lot of credit card debt to treat the newly found cancer in my cat.
Said cat is alive and well, which is already a few months more than what the first vet said he would have.
Stopped smoking.
Keep it up. Best thing I did for my life. I had a hard time quitting but managed to get through it. Almost 10 years ago already, i stopped when i was 36. Never ever touching that again.
Professionally, I achieved the highest level of licensure in my field and made more money this year than any year prior. Personally, I got back into therapy and started tightening down on my mental health. I also did some repair/maintenance projects on my car/house that I really didnt think id be able to handle.
Almost ten years ago I got into a fight with a cop and some ER nurses after a suicide attempt and spent the next 48 hours twitching with EPS on the floor of a state hospital psych ward and thought I could probably do a better job of that. This year I’m considered enough of an expert in the management of violent patients that they’ve got me teaching verbal deescalation and physical disengagement skills, teaching people how to use restraints correctly, and precepting new nurses.
Wow, congratulations, you should be proud of yourself. I can’t imagine your road here was easy. (No sarcasm intended).
it’s been utterly wild at just about every turn
I started my handyman business 2 years ago. This past year i’ve been at full employment with zero advertising. I think that’s pretty good for a new business with no existing customer base.
Ironically, at the end of last year as things were slowing down a bit I ordered like 3000 new flyers and I only managed to distribute around 500 of them untill the phone started ringing again and that still continues.
Honest question for you on this - what size city or town are you in, and what training or background did you have? I’ve been thinking about doing a basic handyman service in a mountain town where my parents live if I end up there later next year.
It’s a mid-sized town of about 100k people, but I’ve really only advertised to a few thousand in one tiny corner of it. Most of my customers live within 10 minutes of me.
I’m a plumber by training, but I’m naturally a bit of a generalist and a life-long tinkerer and have done some work around my own house. I did commercial plumbing for 10 years before I went self-employed. That’s the only thing I’m trained at. Nowdays I just watch a lot of YouTube tutorials and sometimes just wing it, too.
Going self-employed was by far the scariest thing I’ve ever done - lost countless nights worrying about it - but once I jumped, everything just worked out. Probably the best decision I’ve ever made. Literally today, a customer told me “everything I touch turns to gold.” As a plumber, I got a “thank you” maybe twice in 10 years. Now I get genuine gratitude almost daily.
If you’d asked me about going self-employed as a plumber or electrician, I’d have said it’s gonna be a battle. But as a handyman, your customer base is way wider thanks to the broad range of services. Plumbing is still a non-negligible part of what I do, but I’d struggle if that was all I offered. Painting is something I do so much that it’s one of the few trades I’d actually recommend specializing in.
Go for it - seriously. Even failure isn’t as bad as the regret of never trying.
Thanks for sharing this, this is great to know. I’m thinking about a backup plan that doesn’t require spending 4 years apprenticing in a trade. I’m too old for that type of career change, but I’ve been doing my own handyman stuff for so long that painting, patching drywall, installing sinks, etc. sounds like a typical visit to anyone in my family. Though, it’s also because in the area where they live trades are a 40 minute drive away and are so slammed they never answer calls. If you don’t know the plumber personally, he’s not coming to your place without an appointment weeks out. My parents are getting up there in age, and the job market is weird, so it’s goo to hear that apparently I’ve been training for this my whole life.
I’m usually a bit excessively modest, but if I’m reflecting on it… I left my precious job in the US & pulled off a successful cross-continental move with little to no outside help (even though there was a lot of stuff involved). Had a ton of fun traveling during the past year too as a result of that. I guess that would be the thing I’m most proud of
Congrats! It ain’t cheap and it’s truly a ton of work.
I moved out from my dysfunctional family, which has helped me heal or come to terms with a lot of childhood trauma. I definitely feel I’ve grown a lot more, and become much more social and confident in myself.
I asked someone out for the first time, and while I was turned down, that was still a huge step for me.
I helped successfully form a union at my job. Things remain very difficult, but I am so gleefully proud.
Did my first successful hard drive recovery including chip swapover while soldering on a microscope. Also started saving for retirement the first time in my life. I’m 38.
Hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
Finally got off my butt and started volunteering at my local wildlife rehab clinic. It’s been a tough year for me mentally, so having something regular where I’m surrounded by kind people doing something positive itself was great, and then getting to work with a ton of unique wildlife was the icing on the cake.
I even got to release a few squirrel patients at my house, and a beautiful young Screech Owl on my wife’s birthday.
I’ve learned a bunch about all kinds of animals and found out about some animals I didn’t even know we had in our state. I also attended a conference and got to meet people from other clinics across the country and see some of the special projects they’re working on.
I owe it to the community here for pushing me to get more hands on with this, and I hope to continue to give back with some great stories, facts, and photos. It’s been a truly amazing experience that I wish to continue.
My utmost respect. I fostered a pigeon this year and it was the most stressful thing I’ve done.
Birds feel so fragile (even the big ones) but can require some intense care. Their very non-mammalian anatomy can even make feeding them tricky, and the babies need to eat every hour.
I have so. Much respect for the sacrifices of the actual licensed rehabbers. It’s a literal 24/7 job and so many areas are underserved it’s a massive workload. We did I think 4000+ animals this year with just 2 rehabbers and us volunteers.
its thier respiratory system, very efficient at getting oxygen, but it also means thier susceptible to any volatiles chemicals.
Bird respiration is very different than ours. It is much more efficient since there is such a high energy and oxygen requirement to fly, but they also don’t have a diaphragm to fill or expel their lungs.
Instead they have a series of air sacs spaced out in their bodies and they have to flex their muscles like pumping a bellows system to pump air through themselves.
With small lungs, low body weight, yet a massive air intake for their body mass, that makes them much more vulnerable to anything damaging in the air. We don’t even spray the surface cleaner directly into their enclosures, we spray the paper towel and bring it over to the incubators.
