So that was 2025. A small word on 2026. No targets or anything like that. More about how I would like to try to live my life. For this year at least. Less a set of resolutions. More a statement of intent.
Something to Build On?
Before diving into the new year, one last reflection on the old. It was, at times, difficult. The close, though, was positive. Ocrevus and the work with my physio are helping. Alongside this, there are also noticeable changes since I started Vampyra. Just a feeling, perhaps a placebo effect? But I do feel a little stronger, more stable. A little clearer headed. A little more optimistic. Perhaps the primary progressive part of my Multiple Sclerosis is a little less progressive.
A little more of everything going into the new year. So what do I want in 2026?
Actual Targets
Well… I said there were no targets. Bullshit. There are targets. They don’t have to be accomplished and I will live if they aren’t. I just like to have a couple of goals to aim for. Something in my nature.
To cycle 100 kilometres in one ride. It was only three years ago that such rides were accomplished as often as twice a month. Four years ago, and it could have been twice a week. High-tempo rides with two short pauses. For 2026, once will be enough. Slow, with lots of pauses, which is nice for looking at the world.
To walk two kilometres in one go. Also with lots of stops. It is nice to take pictures. I walked one and a half today, so that is not too far-fetched. Without my walking support, that is.
To visit six museums. To keep attending concerts. Two planned already. Maybe go to that opera I said I would one time. To travel, within reason.
As for painting, drawing and cooking? No, no targets for these. They are part of something bigger. Mental stimulation. Learning.
To Keep Learning
Mental stimulation is good for my condition. It is also good for any condition. Never mind that, though. It is also interesting. Fun. For all that was difficult in 2025, it was also a year that I started to learn again. Not in a systematic way. In a haphazard, chaotic, fun, way. But about so much. If you had told me, three or four years ago, that I would be trying my hand at painting, at drawing, I would have been surprised, to say the least.
The thrill of the new. The physical thrills may be less, although they are still there, in a different way. The thrill of learning. Something I had forgotten. Of course I have attended professional training and these can be enlightening. Learning about how to use colour in a painting is quite different. Something I don’t have to do, but which, in a small way, keeps my words from constricting too much.
The same mindset can also be applied to pastimes that I have always enjoyed. Cooking, for example. Learning about new techniques, new (to me) cuisines. Staying inquisitive. Staying mentally active is vital. It is also plain exciting and acts as a stimulus to stay physically active.
To Keep Moving
To stay as fit and active as possible remains as important as ever. It is something that I hear a great deal from the medical professionals around me. It is also harder than it used to be. Anyone who has seen me getting off a bike at the end of a ride, or, for that matter, getting on it at the start, will know this. It really is a case of finding it difficult to get my leg over the saddle, with sincere apologies for the double entendre.
Movement, though, is vital. Of course it is. Look at all of those targets. I cannot go to a museum or a concert from my armchair. Well, in the modern world I probably could, actually, but it is not the same. It is medically important, but also the key to continuing to enjoy the wider world. It has become less, that much is clear. As far as possible, I need to keep as much mobility as I can.
Although…
The problem will always be that some days things just don’t work. When my legs are not good and some idiot sees fit to have a good stare because of how stiffly I am walking, thanks to the rigidity of my walking support. Then there are the days when I just cannot think straight and the words don’t want to leave my mouth when I have eventually remembered what the word is that I want to use. The problem is that I may not think of that word until a couple of days later. Too late.
The important thing is to keep going. This sounds simple enough, but it is also difficult to put across honestly without straying into something that sounds resilient or, worse still, inspirational. There is nothing resilient in picking up the pieces, picking myself up off the ground and getting moving. Getting any momentum can take effort. It can be deeply frustrating, quite upsetting, to realise that what was once so easy now takes planning and effort. I have written of this before and will not repeat it here. And I won’t write of them often, as it can be difficult to put into words. Such moments are always going to be there. It is a matter of getting through them as quietly as possible.
Into 2026
It is important to keep the optimism that came at the end of 2025. And I do feel optimistic. But experience of life means I know things are not linear. Perhaps these perceived gains from Vampyra will be lost in a wave of progression. Perhaps not. Who knows? We’ll see where the rollercoaster takes me.
All I can say is that I will give things a try in 2026. Hopefully I will achieve some of those concrete targets above. Alongside that, keep learning, keep moving. It is all so unpredictable. Some days will be less. Others more. Ideally, life will be more a challenge of what to do next. Nice that there is still so much to choose from.