What Happened Over the Holidays (And What's Next)

Hey everyone,

I know I've been quieter than usual the past few weeks. Life got intense fast.

Quick recap of my holidays:

My mom almost died. Blood clots in her lungs. We flew the whole family from the Philippines to Tucson on borrowed money and Medium payments.

Spent a week crammed in my parents' small house. All six of us sleeping on the floor while my mom recovered.

Made a last-minute decision to drive to Denver to introduce Flora and the kids to my other two sons.

The truck's starter died halfway there. Had to bang on it with a wrench in the middle of the night to get it going. Drove 16 hours straight because I didn't want to risk stopping.

It snowed in Denver.

Flora had never seen snow before. Neither had Joey. Watching my tropical family experience snow for the first time made every stressful moment worth it.

Drove back through Wolf Creek Pass. Flora kept saying "America is so beautiful." The kids want to move here now.

Moved into our rental (a cute little cowboy bunkhouse) on December 29th.

Got sick immediately after. Lower respiratory infection. Been on antibiotics since Saturday.

I wrote the whole story here if you want the details: [Here is the link]

Now what?

Holidays are over. Time to get back to work.

Here's what I'm focused on for January and beyond:

1. Client work comes first I've got contracts that pay the bills. Those get priority. Everything else fits around them.

2. Keep building on Medium. December was good. I want January to be better. That means writing consistently even when I don't feel like it.

3. Grow this community We're at 450+ members now. I want to make this place more valuable for everyone here. More discussions. More real talk. More helping each other figure this out.

4. LinkedIn and Threads I've been inconsistent. That changes now. Posting daily. Building visibility. Driving people back here.

5. Launch something I've been talking about digital products forever. Time to actually do it. Thinking a LinkedIn guide for people over 40. Something practical. Something that helps.

6. Stay healthy (for real this time) I promised myself after my heart attack I'd take better care of myself. Then I drove 32 hours in three days with a broken starter and got a respiratory infection. Not great. So: more sleep, better eating, actually resting when sick.

What about you?

What are your goals now that the holidays are over?

What are you building in January?

What do you need help with?

Drop it in the comments. Let's figure this out together.

We didn't survive the holidays just to coast in January.

Let's make this year count.

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