Respect: A Mantra

This post was supposed to be called "Good Riddens 2025" -- a lil' New Year's update and a reflection on the previous year at the beginning of 2026.

It's May now so uhhhhhh... Happy New Year?

Truth is, I was struggling with what exactly to say for this post. 2025 was a really shitty year for me personally (and not a great one for the world either really...) but I really want this blog to be a place of optimism and positivity. How was I meant to put a positive spin on a year that had caused me so much pain and misery? Was I just meant to say "2026 will be better" or "2026 is gonna be my year" even though nothing had really changed to make that happen? That didn't seem very helpful...

So, now it's May 2026. It's been an eventful year for me so far but not necessarily a bad one. And finally, five months in, I know what to write here.

It comes in the form of a new mantra I've adopted: "I will respect myself, my body, and my dreams."

So why "respect" over anything else? And why do I think more people should try and adopt this mindset as well? Well, to me, "respect" is different to "kindness." Resepct has more authority, is stricter, and holds firm to boundaries and values where simply "being kind" can sometimes falter. Kindness is lenient; respect is not. At least from the perspective of self-respect and self-kindness (and in my opinion that is -- don't come for me.) Learning to respect myself, my body, and my dreams has left me feeling far more empowered and driven towards my goals -- and I'm actually starting to see the fruits of my progress where I had been stagnant for so long!

Self-respect is something that I still have to make a conscious effort to strive towards every day -- but it's working. So, I dunno, maybe if you're struggling it might work for you too?

So what does this all mean for my aspiring writing career and this website? Well, for starters, you might have noticed the sexy new "Devlog" tab at the top of this page. I'm hoping to use this to give lil' mini updates on my projects more frequently. And if you're interested in getting notified as soon as I post something new, I now have a sexy lil' email list you can sign up to! If you do sign up, I'll even send you a free tool I myself use to quickly develop distinctive characters for my stories! (The Email Squad might also be offered a fun opportunity from me soon so definitely sign up for that!)

Also, I have a Ko-Fi page now! So if you like what I'm doing here, why not buy me a coffee? There'll also be fun, exciting things exclusively on my Ko-Fi page for people to be able to support me further -- so stay tuned for when those come out as well!

Finally, to start this brand new chapter, I have also gone and purchased a real, actual domain name for this site! (Woo!) Now it's a lot sleeker and professional (and also more searchable!)

Expect a lot of really cool things really soon. And, if you're reading this, thank you. You're the best and I appreciate you. :D

This is gonna be our year. <3