Overall, 2026 has been going well for me so far. As such, I’ve been thinking lately about 2018 and what a wonderful year that was for me. I won’t go into much detail about that here since I’ve already written a lot about that in this post and this other post. What I will do is talk about how some good routines I’d developed made 2018 so wonderful even before that year began and how I believe that the same sort of thing is happening now with 2026.
Many of the great things I experienced in 2018 were things I started doing in 2017 and carried into the following year. Chief among them was getting back into swing dancing after being away from it for a few years. Going to the Volstead in July and then Club Savoy in October gave me lots of great lessons, experience, practice opportunities, fun dances, improved dance skills, and overall lovely times. It was easy to continue going to both locations every week in 2018 as that was just a continuation of something I was already doing.
My finances improved a lot over the course of 2018. Some big, unexpected expenses in 2017 alongside making little money at my job resulted in a pretty poor financial situation. Getting a job with better, more consistent hours in late 2017 helped my finances slowly recover. While most of the recovery was in 2018, the seeds for that recovery were planted the previous year. Even with going to a few weekend swing dance workshops, visiting one of my best friends in Atlanta, going out to eat regularly, and a number of impulse purchases, I ended 2018 with far more money than I had at the end of 2017.
Similarly to 2018, I believe that this year is also going as well for me as it is because of several good routines I had developed in 2025 or earlier and carried into 2026. The juggling meetings I host a few times a month are the best and oldest examples. Juggling in the Park has been going consistently since I first held it on World Juggling Day in June of 2018. The newer Bonus Juggling Day began in 2023 and takes place indoors. Both of them give me a great chance to work on my solo juggling, juggle with others, teach those who want to learn or improve their juggling, relieve lots of stress, and have tons of fun.
My weekly zoo trips began when I received a zoo membership as a birthday gift in late 2023. While the day of my visit has shifted over time as my schedule has changed, I’ve consistently gone at least once a week to visit the animals and some of the folks who work/volunteer there. Additionally, I’ve enjoyed celebrations there around Halloween and Christmas, exploring with friends, and checking out special events for members (such as seeing some new or seasonal displays before non-members can see them). I always love checking out the zoo every week to see many familiar faces, occasionally welcome in some new faces, and have a nice time in one of my favorite places.
A more recent routine in my collection is my Friday routine, although it hasn’t always been on Friday. Beginning in 2022, I started to go out for lunch, wander around a nearby mall, and then pet/play with some puppies at a puppy store on Wednesdays. After a few years, I shifted all of that to Thursday. The job I started a year ago today prompted me to move that routine to Friday, which is where it’s stayed most of the time now. If I’m going to be gone for a few days over the weekend, I’ll typically check out the mall the Sunday before I leave after my zoo visit and then go by the puppy store on Thursday after work. That way I have Friday and beyond free for travels and whatever I’m going to be doing on my trip. Most weeks, though, it’s the Friday routine. It’s a lovely way to start my weekend, relax, have fun, and enjoy some good food and company, both human and animal.
The morning and nighttime routines I’ve had since 2022 have largely stayed the same, aside from being done earlier now because of work. They allow me to effectively prepare for and recover from work while still getting done most if not all of what I want to do each day. Spending more time with my stuffed animals and getting many new ones over the last few years has helped a lot with that, as has the increased focus on self-care I’ve had since late 2020. Adding in some juggling, unicycling, neighborhood walk, and some other enjoyable activities makes the good days better and the bad days bearable.
Since my workdays begin far earlier than I would like, it took me a long time to get used to a vastly different bedtime schedule. As with everything else, I gradually got used to it over the course of 2025 and it just became my new routine well before 2025 ended. Since nothing much has changed at work this year, I’m still maintaining that same kind of schedule. It’s much easier and less stressful to go throughout each workweek at this point than it was when I first started the job in early April 2025. Additionally, the money I’ve made from that job has been instrumental in rebuilding my emergency fund; contributing to my investments; funding my wonderful trips to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom; and keeping my car running as well as it is. All of that has reduced my stress and increased my enjoyment of life.
It helps immensely that nobody close to me has died this year or last. There have been deaths in the last few years of some animals at my local zoo, animal pages I follow on fb, and some pets of folks I know. As sad as those have been, they’ve been far less difficult for me personally than the deaths of my dog Sawyer, my grandmother, and other loved ones I’ve lost over the course of my life. All the letting go I’ve done over the last four years has brought me more peace than I ever imagined possible after such incredibly painful losses. It’s much easier to have a good time when old grief is mostly gone and there’s hardly any new grief to bear.
I remember noticing how nice 2018 was even while that year was still going. That shows how wonderful a year that was for me to realize it at the time instead of just in hindsight. Likewise, 2026 is going well enough for me to notice while it’s unfolding before me. That bodes well for this being a great year for me. However, even if 2026 continues to go well for me, I doubt it will exceed or even equal 2018 in niceness. So much has changed for the worse since 2018. It’s hard to have as much fun as I used to since several loved ones have died. The health issues, car troubles, negative changes in many of my relationships, and upsetting events in different parts of the world also make life less enjoyable. I still consider 2019 to be my best year since 2018 and 2023 my best year in the 2020s so far. I’ll be glad if 2026 is just a decent year, especially after two hard years in a row. If 2026 turns out to be better than 2023, I’ll feel ecstatic. While I can’t yet answer the question in this post’s title as 2026 isn’t even halfway through yet, I suspect that the answer will be positive. I sure hope that’s the case.