New Year, New Me? NO

     We have finally reached the end of one of the hardest years I've had to deal with to date, 2022. During the Christmas season, it felt overwhelming, like the season would never end, and that there was always something needing to be done. Now, that the holiday has come to a close for the secular world, I find myself longing for the holidays again. Together we trod into the new year and many people are repeating the mantra of "new year, new me" or disregarding the idea of new year's resolutions entirely. As someone with ADHD I've always struggled with sticking to any one thing (hobby, habit, etc.) let alone set new year's resolutions, so I would usually fall firmly into the second camp of disregard and disdain for these resolutions. As I've gotten older I've come to realize that the problem with the so-called "new year, new me" all or nothing mentality caused by new year's resolutions is that it sets people up for failure. Let me elaborate: when setting a goal for the new year, it is usually supposed to be a year long goal (for example, going to the gym five times a week all year.) that if you mess up that goal early in the year, it is ruined and you have failed your new year's resolution. That is simply not sustainable or realistic, because well, life happens. I recently decided to set more realistic, short term goals throughout the year. One of my goals right now was to actually write this blog post, so that's a small victory right there. It's funny actually because I was having a conversation with one of my coworkers about things I want to do more of this year ( think that's what we were talking about I've slept since then) and she said "you should put it in your blog!". Hailey, if you're reading this, thank you, I totally forgot I can put whatever I want in this thing. 

    With the new year also brought new flare ups. The winter weather in Texas is never quite wintry, but it does tend to cycle rapidly, and for those of us with any sort of joint-related chronic pain that rapid change in temperature can be quite jarring to say the least. I know I'm not alone when I say I can feel the rain coming in my knees, and if you know you know. Right now, my joints are very achy and swollen and I sound like an old man anytime I stand up from sitting because my knees and ankles will pop repeatedly as I stand. It's so fun. Obviously. I'm having a great time. Anyway, because of this repeated popping and snapping my brother used to call me rice crispies until I got tired of it. In my defense he would tell the joke every single time he heard me popping  which happens multiple times a day, so it got old fast and I let the joke live far past its prime. I had a recent incident, Christmas eve to be exact to where I pushed myself out of bed with my right arm and all of a sudden I had some pretty bad pain and what felt like a grinding sensation that ended with me wearing a wrist brace for about half a week to keep it from getting worse. Wrist went back to normal three or four days later. Still not fun. I was going to call my rheumatologist at the urging of a friend, but by the time I had actually remembered to do that it had gone back to normal. (that whole poor working memory thing got me again.) So yeah. Flare ups are fun. These experiences are just the tip of the iceberg if you will when it comes to chronic pain, and my experiences are different than other people with the same diseases. What's not different is that they happen and it often affects how I go about certain things as to not cause the same discomfort the same way more than once. 

    To round out this blog with something a little more fun, some updates! Back in November, I bought a new (to me) car. I got a 2018 Subaru Outback, she's awesome, and I have named her Cynthia. I got a new crank-operated coffee grinder for Christmas (thanks, Dad) so I can use it when I inevitably decide to go camping in my new car. I plan on buying a roof-rack tent for Cynthia in the near-ish future so I can go camping a little easier than roughing it on the ground, don't want another weird wrist incident, ha  (you can laugh too it's funny). I have some trips I plan on taking this year, at the very least I want to do a road trip to Santa Fe with my buddies. The other trips and ideas are still in the works, but more to come. I'm going to see Meet Me @ The Altar in March with my friend. Also, one of my good friends is getting married this year, so expect to read about that sometime near May. I will never utter the words "this will be my year" but at the very least I know I have things to look forward to.