December 29th, 2025

Hello to those who have landed here and are exploring what this blog is all about. It’s about creating and shaping your own world and the way you interact with the wider world. In the spring of 2025 I partially retired. I stayed on LinkedIn for the whole year because I thought I could help guide the younger set to new job opportunities. I quickly found out that not only were the job opportunities they are interested in on proprietary sites, but that LinkedIn had largely become a social media site and not a job finding site. So, as of today, I’m no longer on LinkedIn. It no longer serves my needs.

Slowly but surely I am streamlining my online data and making self determinations about what works for me and the life I live. For about 5 years now I have felt like an animal being herded in one direction with all of the other animals, with no self determination allowed. “Don’t be different! Everyone does it.” Those thoughts just don’t work for me. They never have. And to avoid “doom scrolling” and “brain rot” (the latest terms thrown about a lot), I decided to start creating my own pages and environments. Our old family website will soon move to WordPress also so that I can control that again as well.

2026 will hold a lot of work for me converting analog items to digital, but I have not yet found a company that won’t “foreverize” my data and charge me for access. So, having a background in television and web design, I’m going to purchase some hardware and do the data transferring myself. That way, I am the only one with access and can share with family as needed. AND I’m learning something new and training my brain. That’s not to say I’m completely against digital software, I’m against mindless use of digital software. I’m the type that likes to go into my hard drive and look around to see what has been installed on my computer. Most of it I understand. Some of it, I don’t. I am very good at “un-installing” things when I am finished with them or they are outdated.

I’m also looking into getting a URL for a future project I have in mind. It may start off online with the intent of growing to a brick and mortar entity that I can hire staff to run for “events” or “happenings” as we used to call them. So, what will you create in 2026? Will it be unique to you and your style? I hope so. Happy New Year everyone and PEACE.

Note: The image at the top of this article is of a quote my mom had laminated and on her auto keychain. She drove safely until the age of 98 (in a small town), when she gave it up because she simply did not have the energy anymore. What do you consider “difficult” and how can you work at it until it’s not difficult anymore?