46

I woke up this morning, made coffee, and enjoyed the silence of my apartment in the early morning for about 30 minutes before leaving for my place of work. It’s my day off, but I contributed myself to a video project dedicated to my store director, and they need it by tomorrow. I’m also off tomorrow. I’m off all week, in fact. I’m sure there are some brownie points in there somewhere. Besides, I have a Level I Final Cut Pro certification, and I don’t like it going to waste.

I’m moving in a few weeks, and this has me looking forward far more than it has me looking back. My now-ex-girlfriend and I are finally parting ways to different apartments because there’s legally binding stuff within leases. We’re still friends with no animosity. We’ll only be a building away from each other, so we both have someone to mind the other’s cat when one of us is out of town.

I recently heard a bit of a Masterclass done by Questlove of The Roots on DJing where he talks about finding your root and expanding from that. I’ve thought a lot about what my root is, not just with music but with my personal culture as a whole. No matter what the level of relationship you’re in, when you live with someone, I think we all tend to conform to the space we’re in. We give up parts of ourselves to fit into the box of the other people around us. Much of this isn’t really justified, at least in my eyes, but we do it anyway.

I look forward to creating more. I’ll have a lot more solo time on my hands, so the itch will be there. Working on the video project I’m on feels good. Taking photos of the moon the other night also felt good. I’m nowhere near the best at any of these things, which leaves me with nothing but opportunities to grow in them. Again, I don’t know why I sheltered this part of myself, but it’s certainly freeing itself now.

I look forward to playing music around my home on every speaker in all my rooms. My roommate and I didn’t always listen to the same stuff, as my music palette is far bigger than hers. I won’t have to worry about what she thinks of it anymore. Same goes for cooking. Besides being a good way to save money, I find it enjoyable. Again, I’m creating when I cook. I look forward to experiencing different flavors and having the room to do so.

I’m writing this from Walnut Creek Recreational Area, a good-sized park on the south end of the Omaha metro. There’s a three-mile trail around the lake here that I plan on walking semi-often. My health is something on my mind as of late. I need to get my walks in, not only for exercise, but for my mental health as well. I also want to meditate more and will probably try some more of the Apple Fitness stuff available to me, like yoga, cycling, and a few others.

Overall, this next year is about being happy within myself. Doing the things I love is the key to this. I’ll report back at 47.