Personal Review of 2017: +s & -s

Good:
Doubled the amount of countries I’ve visited in 12 months
Left the UK and moved to a new city that I love
Feel generally happier in almost every way
New job is great, the company is the best i’ve worked for and the people/culture is marvellous, and for the first time my MH is good enough that I can think about progressing and promotions.

Bad:
Still have ups and downs with mental health (but mainly better than it was in 2017, only one major ‘driving to Dundee in my bare feet’ style breakdown this year)
Gained weight
New job pays well in comparison to the rest of the country, but the money doesn’t travel well at all so it will hamper my hopes of seeing new places (and my Eurovision 2018 hopes are dead in the water)

  • +discovered how to show +s on DiS posts
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GOOD

  • things are really lovely as a family at the moment. Girls are at a nice age and I’ve had some great times with them;
  • had a couple of lovely holidays: Florida in February and the Peak District in August;
  • got loads of stuff sorted on the house, which has really transformed it;
  • got a permanent contract at work for the first time in about a decade;
  • foodbank week thing was a success.

BAD

  • good friend of mine took his own life in July. Miss him a lot;
  • broke my wrist and elbow a few weeks later after being knocked off a bike. All healed up but my wrist hasn’t really been the same since;
  • had a really rough patch mental health-wise in the summer. (Although on the positive, getting some help / counselling was really effective).

It’s been a mixed bag. Some real lows but on balance the good things have outweighed the negatives.

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2 good:
General fitness stuff: went under 3:30 in my first marathon, rode my bike a lot, playing lots of football and due to the increase in fitness am better at it than I’ve ever been before.
Probably at least in part due to the above my mental health has been pretty decent.

2 bad:
Haven’t bought a house and feel like I’m not moving in the right direction.
Will need to commute to Leeds 3 days a week from April, that on top of work generally is getting me down.
This will probably be the last Christmas I have with a living grandparent

Good: Partner finished her masters to Distinction level, dead proud
Bad: Moving flats is a shit process that has proven to be a shit decision as has my partner’s job change which prompted the move

Good: Started going back to Old Trafford after years of self-imposed (and utterly futile) boycott
Bad: Didn’t achieve my goal of running a sub-2hr half marathon and injured myself in preparation for the first which led to me missing the second and generally letting it slip to a depressing degree

Good: Some really positive reviews of this year’s game specifically pertaining to the feature that I worked on and helped design
Bad: Most stressful and exhausting development cycle I’ve been involved with so far in my ten versions of the game

- Fell apart physically and mentally. Complete shambles of a year.

+ It’s nearly over and I’m slowly piecing myself back together.
+ I’ve got a fantastic dog.

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+ still haven’t learned how to do -s

ftfy

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Sorry to hear that North London is letting you down. Hope it gets better!

Good year overall…

+ve daughter started school and loves it
+ve got some good cycling miles done
-ve worked far too many hours this year
+ve earned a decent chunk of cash as a result of the above
-ve not played football since February
+ve went to some good gigs this year
+ve finish current job on 22nd, go away for xmas on the 23rd, start masters in January

Geneal -ves the current government, Brexit, Trump, etc…

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North London is fine, it is an upgrade from where we were in some senses but not enough of an upgrade to justify the price. It’s the flat itself and my gf’s new job that have rendered it a bad decision as opposed to the area itself innit.

Oh OBVIOUSLY both DiS bike rides and meeting the Glasgow LADS is a huge :switzerland:

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Thanks slicky and thanks to everyone else. The one positive from all of this was how brilliant DiS was when we were going through all of this and I needed to vent and rant. You guys are the best :heart:

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Yeah sure I get that, I just more meant that it wasn’t a decision that came easily for you both so I’m sorry it’s been such a disappointment so far

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Had a few goals for 2017:

  • Sort out permanent job
  • Get my own place
  • Stop being single
  • Become happier
  • Do whatever’s best for my boy

(formatting is borked)

  • Sorted out a permanent job. Everybody here is nice and interesting, but the company doesn’t seem too healthy at the moment. If that gets sorted I’ll be very happy here.
  • Still living with my parents. Have no spare money so that’s not changing any time soon.
  • Very single. One date this year, she wasn’t interested.
  • Nope.
  • Alex is happier than ever. Unfortunately, this mostly seems to be because his mum got a new man who is there most weekends, so Alex now has a better, richer, more present dad. He is now a lot less arsed about me seeing him/coming to mine/speaking to me on the phone, etc. Happy for him, extremely sad at the circumstances.

+ family life has been amazing. I love my boys <3
- family life is TIRING. I have never had such little sleep, even when I was regularly caning it till 5 am and getting up for work the next day
+ work has been really fulfilling since going back after mat leave, and it’s made me really focused, and I’ve grown my profile in the market and had loads of sweet job opps
- I find the career stuff daunting at times and I’m scared of making the wrong decision for my family, both in terms of our future financial security but also in making a choice that is good (or not) for our family life.
+ I am making it work at the moment, having a fullt time rewarding career and a young child, and not having my house be a total and utter hovel
- I have literally no time for anything else apart from work, family time, and collapsing in a heap. In 2018 I want to get out more with my partner, and my friends, as I feel like we are missing out on a social life completely (we’ve been out together three times in 19 months!! lots of lovely nights in, but I want to go to reataurants and the theatre again.) It will make me so sad, but I will probably need to stop breastfeeding so I can get my little one a bit more independent of me, as he is very tied to me, and it’s why we don’t go out often without him. I also want to get back into running and gym and yoga. if I take the new job this will be a lot easier for me (see which way I am swaying…)
+ I absolute love our new house. It’s pretty much my dream house and so much space inside and out for our wee guy to explore and play.
- It is a draughty old victorian heap and we are going to be paying for it for the rest of our working lives.
+ The ptsd and related anxiety I suffered after our son nearly died in April 2016 is well under control, finally, after a fairly traumatic and horrendous time last year, where I worried I might never be able to go back to work again. I have the best family and friends.
- I guess I will live in fear for the rest of my life that the symptoms come back, and doubt I’ll never get the fear under control that something bad is going to happen to those I love (but I think that’s fairly normal innit)

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Bonking on the Sunday is a minus

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fucksake how you do plus and minsues?

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I’ll do an edit job for you, one sec, and then I’ll explain

Gotcha, cheers pal :slight_smile: