Incoming: yet another year-end post. (Look, I at least tried to keep it 💯 with yall)
2025 was a year full of ups and downs. The older I get, the more it seems like that’s kinda just how it goes. Nonetheless, I felt ‘em all this year, good and bad.
It was undeniably a year full of music and friendship, which is to say, a year full of joy.
@theloweraetna_phl played That Show with
@chrisgeth .
@bardust_the_band skipped the pond and played the
@mcrpunkfest .
@ccgalli67 and I saw
@thegaslightanthem &
@countingcrows under the central pennsylvania stars. We finished making about 85% of The Lower Aetna’s next record, and I bought my dream
@martinguitar acoustic. At my happiest, at my best, I am just a kid in the crowd, and I got to be that many times this year.
2025 also tried to knocked me off balance more than I would have liked. Most of the summer was spent fighting an uphill battle against my depression. I lost weight; I gained weight. I lost muscle; I gained muscle. Nonetheless, I continued to try to push myself to do new things, meet new people, and have new experiences - most of which were immensely enriching, but some of which ultimately proved more painful than not. That’s okay, that’s life. I worked a ton, I grew in my creativity, I made new friends, and - I think - made choices that will make 2026 a little easier to navigate. Time will tell.
I am extremely lucky in that, in my work and in my passions, I get to do a ton of things that I want to do, and very few that I don’t. That’s something I never want to stop being grateful for or risk taking for granted. Despite all the ups and downs, that is, without question, one of the biggest blessings of my life.
I don’t really have a big takeaway, other than I guess this: life is a tremendous gift, and also, it can also be confusing, ironic, and sometimes just straight-up hard. Every measure of grace we can show our people, ourselves, and the world makes a difference in that balance. Maybe one day it’ll make the critical difference. Again, time will tell.
That’s all I got. I’ll see ya next year, and for as many as God will allow ❤️
