As we come ever closer to closing the lid on 2025, let’s look at the year ahead. I remember growing up seeing the pessimissm on the internet in the 2010’s. People often had a grim outlook saying things like “2014 Is gonna suck!” and somehow I found myself falling into the hype of the negativity movement as I used to agree that our politicians would continue to let us down as society carried on degrading and falling apart around us, seeing only the grim side of the optimism coin. This year however, I feel like 2026 has real potential.
Putting too much faith into anyone other than yourself is a disaster waiting to happen and a trap I still fall into sometimes. I don’t trust Trump to release the Epstein Files, I don’t believe in the Democrats or their leadership either. I am just grateful for the people I used to know who survived another year and are still with us. A few incredible people I knew in years’ past died and now they’ve joined some of the greatest souls and minds ever to walk the earth! I can now count my own mother among them as I lost her earlier this year. However I feel her presence sometimes at night, I pray for her forgiveness and that her spirit never leaves me. That grandma and grandpa reconciled in the after life, that Billard, Zack M., Daniel Cressey rest in eternal peace.
I sincerely hope this upcoming year is one of growth for you the reader and for me the author of my own newsletter. I will surely be bringing more recovery, mental health and addiction related content to this newsletter, however I do plan on branching out a little more to cover music and other topics. As I like to say in my emails “Welcome To My Corner Of The Internet!”. Diversifying and branching out is what I intend to do in the upcoming year. There will be smiles and tears and rants too! For those who stick around over the next twelve months, twelve days, six hours or however long, Thank You for the time that you take out of your lives to check me out! I’m hoping to write longer posts in 2026 that cover more than just a single page of content. I’m hoping this is the year that I take my writing to the next level!
For my fellow addicts who know the meaning of loss and suffering, remember that this newsletter is indirectly written by you. We know the feeling of holidays where our loved ones who want nothing to do with us have separated from us, disowned us and essentially see us as irredeemable black sheep. Yet, we prosper for another year. We still have bitchiness, hard feelings, sweat the small stuff and make the best of criminal records that feel like they overshadow our growth and progress (some of these things which I have experienced to a lesser or greater extent). But let’s not lose track of what we have already built and will continue to build. Whether you are starting all over again or are coming in on your fifth, sixth or twenty-seventh year of sobriety, this year is ours and we’ve got this!
One of my favorite (but hardest) things to do when it comes to this newsletter is moving through my list of subscribers and seeing who checks me out. I get the occasional unsubscribe so I don’t email those folks as I don’t intend to spam them but to those who are either inactive or active and appear to be opening my emails, I spend at least once a week sending out my weekly emails. You might think it odd that I would consider this hard work, but truly I must dedicate time delicately choosing my words and trying to represent myself well when I reach out to people. Not just once or twice, but many times over. Hoping that something I say will capture your attention and cause you to interact with my content. While I don’t get as much interaction as I would like to see, I still enjoy what I do. It’s a nice hobby and I hope to one day start making money from it too. Is that not the dream of every writer? In any case I wish you all the best and a happy 2026 and beyond!
Sincerely, Bobby Z. Ford
