We are officially halfway through 2026.
It has not been an easy year so far.
My sleep was horrendous; my nightmares frequent and disturbing, my shoulders and neck hurt so much that I had next to no energy for most of February and some of March. As a result of all of this, I’ve failed to accomplish even a quarter of what I wanted to in the first half of 2026. Also my manuscript was rejected by the publisher I sent it to.
As a result of all of the above, my mental health has tanked so much this year that I wonder if I will ever truly be happy or do more than exist and survive.
I don’t have an answer. Until I do, I will follow the Tao of Superman.
As long as I think there’s a chance-no matter how small- that there might be just one more happy day out there, I will keep going.
But it hasn’t all been a depressing shitshow.
In the first half of 2026, I managed to read 16 novels, approximately 55-60 manga volumes, one eBook and finished four educational audiobooks. Most of the manga volumes were rereads, but I count them anyway.
I finished a set of chapter outlines for a book, finished a bunch of video games on my backlog and also beat an Extreme level boss and two Savage level bosses in FF14.
And in May 2026, I finally emptied my storage cupboard and started learning how to drive.
Emptying my storage cupboard is a big deal because I’ve been wanting to do it for three or four years. It was mostly cardboard boxes from when I moved in, or the boxes that flat packs came in. The few times I planned to break them down and put them in a recycling bin, there were possums in there.
Thanks to a friend, I finally got it emptied earlier in May.
Learning to drive is a big deal for me. I never learned as a teenager because I was super depressed and had really bad anxiety about learning. I was terrified that I’d accidentally kill someone just by getting behind the wheel. Irrational, I know.
I’d planned to learn in the past few years, but huge expenses would come up or I’d just end up putting it off. Until this year, where I finally decided enough was enough. As of this writing, I’ve only had one lesson. But it was way less terrifying than teenage me believed it would be.
Now, my remaining goals for 2026.
My hope is that by the end of the year, I will be in much better health and also way more fit due to cardio and a good workout routine. I’m already making good progress towards this, so I’m confident it will work out as long as I sleep much better than I have lately.
I am skeptical if I will succeed, but I’m prepared to try. I need to save up for a car and I want to buy more books to fill up my bookshelves and have plenty to read and reread in the years to come.
I admit to being a little irresponsible with my savings this year, but I have few regrets about it. I can only try to be more responsible and build up more savings for the rest of the year.
Be More Social outside of D&D
This one is difficult. Mostly because it relies on other people.
I’m still working on this one. Going out on my own is hard for a few different reasons, primarily that I need a purpose and can’t just go out for the fun of it. I live down the road from a hiking trail/park that I’ve been wanting to go to for ages, but just can’t convince myself to go on my own.
So yeah, a work in progress.
Continue Learning New Recipes
It’s hard to decide what recipes to cook first. But I’m making steady progress with this goal.
Baking is the hard one, because I don’t want to eat the baked goods on my own.
It’s a gradual learning process, I think.
After years of setbacks and anxiety, I finally started taking driving lessons this year. It is not as terrifying as my teenage self’s anxiety led him to believe, but it is something I won’t take lightly.
By year’s end, I hope to be fully ready and able to take the test to get my provisional license.
It’s my hope that by the end of the year, I’ll be skilled enough as a driver to take the test and earn my Provisional License and then eventually my full license. In another life, I’d already have these. But time travel doesn’t exist.
My goal is to buy a hybrid. The infrastructure just doesn’t exist for an electric car yet, so I’ll go with the next best thing.
Once I have my license and a car, things will be so much different. Maybe even better.
Study more Poetry, History, Mythology, Nature and other aspects of the world to be a better Writer
So far, I’ve finished four educational audiobooks. My hope is to finish another six-ten educational eBooks and audiobooks on matters that will help expand my knowledge and allow me to use it to be a better writer.
The problem is that audiobooks tend to get boring to listen to fast, so I will likely need to spend some time reading eBooks on my tablet. Maybe lie down on my lounge whilst I do so. Something to decide in the future.
To clarify, books mean novels. As of this writing, I have finished 16 novels and I am making good progress to reach my goal of 30 novels for the year. I have a rough idea of the next five novels that I want to read and I have 20-30 novels that I want to purchase. It’ll be gradual when I have money to spare.
But I don’t plan to stop reading novels simply because I made it to 30. The more novels I finish, the better. I might even make it to 40 or 50, which would be a nice record to achieve.
I still have my ground rules to cover.
80% of the 30+ books that I want to read in 2026 will be books I have never read before.
25% of the 30+ books that I want to read in 2026 will not be fantasy, which is my favorite and most read genre.
So far, I’ve met the first rule and I am working on the second rule. I’m content with how much I’ve read so far.
Manga is a separate category, because a typical manga volume is only 140-200 pages each. In the case of manga, I’ve already read close to 60 separate manga volumes across multiple series. These series are Journal with Witch/Ikoku Nikki, Frieren and Fly Me to the Moon.
When I have some spare money, I want to buy the following series;
A Sign of Affection manga
Delicious in Dungeon manga
Apothecary Diaries light novels
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom light novels.
There are other manga franchises I want to buy and have the entire list recorded in a word document, but they are not a priority at this time.
Buying all of these books will end up costing quite a bit. Reading all of them will take some time.
Moving all of my books and my bookshelves when the time comes will also be mildly tedious, but it will all be worth it.
At the start of every year, I write up a list from my backlog of games that I want to play. Sometimes I will rewrite it throughout the year.
Of the 15 games that I’ve played this year, I’ve finished seven and dropped eight. Mostly because I had a lot of sequels in my list and when I dropped a previous entry, I dropped the rest of the franchise that was in my list.
I have another 10 games in my list for 2026. It’s my hope that I finish all of them. I’m pretty excited for some of them and a few of them have been in my backlog for nearly a decade.
At the moment, I’m working on a second draft for my fantasy series. The first draft was so terrible that I scrapped it and started from scratch. My original goal was to finish this second draft by April and start the first draft of the sequel.
That has not happened. My original goal was to finish 3-4 manuscripts this year, which cannot happen now.
My revised goal is now to finish the second draft by the end of June and then start the first draft of the next book in this series. It will be finished before the end of the year.
Finish 4-5 Sets of Chapter Outlines
I still write my chapter outlines by hand. It’s a mild strain on my shoulders and neck, but that’s a mixture of posture and not having a very ergonomic setup. I’ve already finished one set of chapter outlines this year; my goal is to finish the last four sets of chapter outlines for a series.
It has taken me nearly a decade to finish the chapter outlines for this 11 book series. Mostly because I have worked on other series in the meantime.
I can only hope I complete all of them.
None of this will be easy.
But it will be worth it in the end. I can’t afford to become complacent again.