January Progress: Milestones and Challenges

This is a companion piece of sorts to Life After Full Time Work. What comes next? What can and should I concentrate on? How do I approach the next stage of my life? Some of those questions and many more will be answered in next week’s episode of SOAP! (Extra points for anyone who recognises the reference and if you do, please let me know in the comments!)

Progress Report

I have reposted my aims for this year to get a picture of how I am doing. It is entirely unrealistic, I think, to be working towards all seven goals in the first month of the year. How have I done, looking back at January?

Well, the fitness was a non starter as I have had a seemingly permanent and very heavy cold that has just not left me since just after Christmas. Fortunately, it has abated enough to allow me to start February with two morning workouts using the dumbbells. Full details in my post at the beginning of next month, dealing with February.

I have not spent anything on myself in the entire month. I have avoided my usual online stores, avoided high street stores and even avoided charity shops. Given that I am not bringing any money into the household, that is perhaps to be expected, but it has been far easier than I anticipated. Yes, there are 11 more months of 2026 to go, but I really think I can nail this target and perhaps even surpass it. I have gone back to using the library and have taken out four books, one of which I have read. Alongside those, I have been working my way through the books I received for Christmas and I have not even thought of buying any other books.

The project work has not yet progressed past the planning stage, but I am sure I will get moving on at least a couple of them within the first quarter.

The blogging has continued every day and I have now posted for more than 200 days in a row. My January figures were 1828 views, more than 10 times as many as last January! Two days into February my total views is very close to 2000, so things are looking really positive.

My social media use has really reduced. I have closed down my profiles on BlueSky and Threads and I don’t miss either platform. I barely opened Facebook until January 28 and only did so to post about my best friend 30 years on from his death. I realised that I didn’t really have Facebook FOMO! At present I will keep Facebook and dip into it, but daily use is now in the past. I still get value from Twitter and Instagram, but I am using them far less than I used to. To a very large extent I have stopped double-screening whilst watching TV. It still happens but when I catch myself doing it I put the phone face down and that’s enough. I am getting far more out of TV programmes and films and I don’t see myself slipping back.

Workwise I have an interview with the RCA next week, so that’s a positive sign. I have also started the process of becoming a volunteer reader for an organisation called Coram Beanstalk. It looks really interesting, but the next month or so will decide whether or not I am a good fit for the organisation and vice versa.

Creativity, rather like project work, is still in the abstract stage at the moment! I want to try poetry, short stories and maybe some drawing, but I can’t quite get myself in the mindset. Again, I hope to get moving on this during the first quarter.

Books Read

Cratchit by R.M. Bouknight

Estella’s Fury by Barbara Havelocke

Adam and Eve and Pinch Me by Ruth Rendell

The Witching Hour

The Two of Us by Sheila Hancock

The Familiars by Stacey Halls

Listening to the Music the Machines Make by Richard Evans (in progress)

Final Thoughts

I feel as though I have made a fairly decent start, and February is already looking positive with the fitness regime having been started. I will let you know how February goes at the start of March so watch this space if you are interested!