Hello everyone!

It’s December and 2023 is drawing to a close. This last month I’ll be doing my usual thing that I do in December with the first part of the month being all about reflection on this year and the second half looking forward to 2024. In this blog I’ll be doing a bit of the first and telling you a little about what’s been keeping me busy and why I’ve not been blogging as much as I would have wanted. Sometimes life happens and sometimes it comes with lows.

When it’s time to open up

In May of this year Bren and I moved into our first “real” house. We were finally able to buy a place of our own and we’ve been sprucing up the place. At about the same time, I changed jobs and we lost our dear cat Storm along the way as well. The past three years we moved places on a yearly basis and I felt like I never had the time to take a proper breather and get settled. I’m really glad that this has changed now, but at the same time this feeling of unease kept on creeping up inside of me. I felt like I had too much on my plate and no rest whatsoever and just had to keep going. In the end I had a mental breakdown and hit rock bottom. I hadn’t been there for quite a few years since my burn-out. This wasn’t exactly a burn-out, but it was a clear sign that I wasn’t taking care of myself properly and was just surviving at that moment.

I decided to get professional help and after a visit to the doctor I was offered two types of therapy. One of them is an online module that involves a lot of self reflection and a monthly session with someone to discuss my progress. The other was breath-work therapy. Note the ‘was’. After one session the therapist cancelled further sessions, because she wasn’t pleased with the accommodation, leaving with me no alternative whatsoever. So I’m going to have to find another therapist for this somewhere in the vicinity of Apeldoorn now.

When it’s time to pick up where I left off

Now that Bren and I are finally able to settle in a place for years to come, I can tell that I have found some peace of mind, at least. December is always a good month for reflection and now that I have settled into my new job and been able to get into some sort of rhythm again, it’s time to also start looking ahead.

I haven’t blogged for a long time, because I simply didn’t have the energy, and because I was focussing my energy on other things. At the same time I always enjoy writing blogs and sharing stuff about my life in general, about my life philosophy and my passions in writing and playing video games. One thing I am really looking forward to next year is that I’ve decided that I want to start a YouTube channel and do live streams of me playing video games. Mostly Nintendo, retro and indie games. I’ve also been playing with the idea of starting a podcast, but I need some time to figure all those new things out.

Does that mean I’ll be moving away from blogging and writing in general? Well, no, I still write a lot, because it’s one of my primary means of expressing myself. But I feel that I need to follow my passion and do stuff I am excited about and for me, one of the greatest passions is video games, their history, the musical evolution of video game soundtracks in particular, so that’s something I’ll definitely delve deep into whenever I review, or discuss a game, while playing it. I’m sure I’ll also find a way to incorporate some of my philosophies in that type of content as well.

I’ve also been working on the plot for my Kevar books. Yes, I haven’t forgotten that promise that I would write these books. Although I’m not certain in which way these books will ever get published, yet. I know now that I need to start rewriting the first book from scratch, because I feel that the story might work better without going back and forth between the past and present and rather just focus on one of the character’s journeys, the continue in the next book with the other, until it all forms one encompassing story.

2024 will become a creative year

With a stable work and home situation, I’m certain that 2024 will become a great year to develop myself further in some aspects. I want to gain more financial knowledge, so I can be of better help to Bren and her shop. I want to create loads of content with my live streams and maybe even a podcast. And so, I have high hopes that 2024 will become an awesome year, filled with tons of fun moments and… Bren and I are still planning to get married next year, so there’s that big day coming as well!

I have written a bunch of game reviews which I will be sharing over the course of this month, but I’ll also be reflecting on my original plans for 2023 and looking forward to my goals for 2024. One thing is for sure, I’m certain I’ll become a better version of myself and do things I’m passionate about!

Have a good one!

Jeffrey