What's your favorite non-work achievement from 2025?
Hi from David Yoon! My newsletter is now called Chat With Dave. Why? Because I want to actually talk with you, as opposed to blindly broadcasting from my lonely office. Chats will take place on Reddit, the last good place on the Internet.
Anyway, happy 2026! Time to look back and reflect on the year. What was one thing that made you especially proud of yourself in 2025?
As for me? Work-wise? Let's see. I wrote a middle grade thing. I reached Act 3 on my romcom screenplay. Joy Revolution will publish its first graphic novel. Nicki and I will publish our first co-authored work ever (cool!).
But work schmerk. What about non-work achievements?
One of my favorite non-work things I achieved in 2026 was something I do every year: prep for the holidays. But for some reason, this year everything went smooth as Normandy butter. Weirdly easy. Downright breezy. Despite there being so much for Nicki and I to do, like: cook up multiple feasts; wrap presents; clean the house; decorate sugar cookies; find the blinky Santa hats. There were no last minute sprints to the grocery store, no presents forgotten. Even the tree was easy to haul home and put up.
And the parties with extended family were a genuine blast, too. Between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, we gathered often and ate and sang karaoke. We played holiday music as well, with my daughter on drums, me on bass, my father-in-law on guitar, and my nephew on piano. No one talked politics, or even very much about AI. You know that holiday feeling, where you revert being a nine-year-old running around in your PJs? It felt like that for two solid weeks.
Of course, a lot of horrible things happened outside my door, all our doors, and continues to happen. But I managed to maintain. Maybe that's the achievement I'm actually talking about? Keeping the flame, something like that?
Anyway, I'd love to hear about your year! What were your personal favorite non-work achievements from 2025? Forget goals and milestones—what gave you the biggest feeling of personal satisfaction?
— dave