2025. What a horrifically bad year, all things considered. But. I am currently in my favorite café, drinking a cortado, after four days of delightful bike riding, with a home, and finally money back in my savings account. Significant problems remain, to be sure. Still, over the past few weeks, I have finally felt the iron grip of tension around my body begin to loosen. Yesterday, for the first time in nine months, I felt a genuine sense of humor return.

Nearly every night I take a walk, and I have been considering this a great deal over the past couple of weeks: this is the kind of year when people show themselves for who they really are. Who and what they value. What they will show up for and stand up for. Will they have a voice and use it, or will they remain silent and hide, living their life as if things are not what they are. In years like this, refusing to act is itself an act.

And actions matter. Words are hollow without follow-through. Thoughts and prayers amount to very little unless they lead to action. Remember that when looking at your Representatives, friends, and family in the new year. Hold people accountable to their actions. Remember who spoke up when it mattered. Remember who did not. Notice who shows up when it costs them something. Notice who disappears. Deeds do not lie. The measure of a person is not how they show up during the good times, but how they show up during the bad times.

Those who do not? Kick them out. They are weak tea. You deserve coffee. You deserve people who rev your engine, help you drop your shit, and get you going in the morning. You do not deserve people who will abandon you when you need them most.

I wish most of you well. But my wishes matter little. Probably the hardest lesson of this year that I learned—or actually relearned—is you cannot rely on anyone else to fix or change your life. Carpe diem, my little toe beans.