The holidays. Christmas cheer, New Year’s resolutions. The joy of family gatherings and cups of hot chocolate. Christmas lights dance across plastic pine trees and the sounds of happy children fill the air. Snow falls on a peaceful midwestern landscape and all is right in the world.
This is how we are expected to feel during “The Season”, and people are baffled if you feel any other way. You are supposed to LOVE Christmas. You should bask in its glory and spread cheer, rather than contemplate dropping yule logs all over everyone else because you simply don’t like it.
Its safe to say, I’m not fan. I’m not a fan for many, many, reasons. I won’t cover them all today, but I do want to address a few.
First of all, I’m a veteran. Most of you know this, it isn’t a secret. I’m fairly open about my past and my time in the infantry, as I’ve found that being open has helped heal those wounds. Another lasting impact from my time in Iraq is that I’ve decided that “The Holidays”, and really holidays in general, are just kind of bullshit. They aren’t special, they are simply made up things that give people a reason to celebrate, and ultimately, that’s okay, it just isn’t for me.
I don’t need a special holiday to celebrate and be happy, I find my joy in little things in life, and I’ve seen far too many awful things, even on (especially on) holidays to think that they hold some special meaning. Many attacks were coordinated on or around holidays in an attempt to catch us off guard. I’ve watched Mess Sergeants turn away soldiers at the DFAC simply because their uniforms were too dirty. Let that sink in. The person running the chow hall told infantry soldiers they couldn’t eat, on thanksgiving no less, simply because their uniforms were too dirty. This happened in Iraq, while we were running at an insane op-tempo. Happy fucking holidays.
My time in the military has taught me that every day is just that, it is a day. This isn’t good or bad, but just is. Appreciate it, because you don’t know how many you will have, but some made up mark on a calendar shouldn’t make it more or less special. Appreciate them all.
Being a content creator also factors into my feelings towards holidays. As a person that truly struggles with ADHD sometimes keeping my groove is difficult. When you add in a dash of chaos and a sprinkling of family gatherings it can become difficult to maintain a consistent schedule. It is a frustration every holiday season. The big issue here isn’t the interruptions to my routine, it is how god damned difficult it is to reestablish a routine once I’ve disrupted it.
It isn’t all negative, though. Typically, as the year winds down, and the chaos ensues, it does put me in a position to look at the last year and think about what I could do differently, what I could do better. Struggling to maintain a routine really has led me to decide that between Christmas and New Year in 2026 I won’t release any content, at least not purposefully. If I do a short, then so be it, but there won’t be anything scheduled.
I also have realized how I’ve not done a great job managing my time. I started the year in a hole, so to speak, and spent the bulk of it digging out. I’ve been alcohol free for a few months (outside of 1 drink I had that reminded me immediately why I stopped), I’ve been on Adderall for a year (Which has taught me a lot), and overall I’m in a better headspace.
This clarity has reminded me that I love making content, but I also miss doing creative things. I miss the stop-motion animation with the kids, which I struggled to do this past year. I miss the drawing time I used to have. And my writing has been inconsistent. I didn’t reach any of the goals I set for myself last year and that is disappointing. Its okay, though, because I feel like I’ve primed myself to be in a better position to achieve those goals, and some of them were overly ambitious.
So, in the spirit of The Holidays, I’m going to set my 2026 goals out for you all to see:
in 2026 I will finish the Outlanders rough draft. I’m confident that I’m halfway finished, I just need to outline the second half. This is going on my daily checklist.
I will give you a once-monthly Metanoia Article. Sometimes they will be gaming related, sometimes they will be like this. But I’m committed. They will post the first Monday of every month starting in Feb. (consider this the January article)
I will stream a minimum once per week with a lunchtime hobby hangout. This will start after my trip to Hawaii (I leave in 2 days)
I will continue to publish a video every other week. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but that will be the average. I have more GCPS to discuss, I have more Drukhari to talk about, and I have not forgotten Orders from the Front.
I have other projects I’m working on as well, which I will endeavor to share. I have been working on the Hounds of War game, making settings, and we start our first campaign soon. FINALLY!
This will be a busy year, and I look forward to sharing it with everyone. Thank you, and Happy Holidays.