As I always state in my late June entries, my birthday is in early July. Because of that, I really do see my calendar years as distinct halves. And I will always start to look back at what’s happened over the past six months and, in this year’s case, look at the 46 years of my life that I’ve completed.

By no means are things in my life perfect, but in many aspects, things are better than they’ve ever been. Thanks to some changes in my professional life, I’m in a much better position to make some long overdue changes that I’ve never been able to make before. I’m not quite there yet, but soon, I think I will be.

I’m healthier than I was before. Both mentally and physically. I’ve lost some weight and I’m taking care of my mental health. I’ve put in a lot of effort with myself. More than I have before. But, I still have A LOT of work to do and I need to put in more effort with more time committed to it. If I’m able to do half of what I hope to do, I’ll be so much better off.

For the longest time, I didn’t believe good things about me because I didn’t hear them from anyone. Then, I started to hear good things and I wasn’t capable of believing them. Now, I hear good things and I doubt them a lot less. That’s progress.

The voice in the back of my head that likes to tell me that things are going to fall apart doesn’t talk to me as much as it used to. Yeah, I still hear it from time to time. It likes to remind me of what I can’t do. There’s never a time when it tells me to keep going. It always tells me to quit and likes to convince me that I’ll be better off if I do that. I’m still working on ignoring that voice.

I have to do my best to stop comparing myself to how other people my age are doing. I’ll never feel good about myself if I do that. In many different categories, I would be considered very much below standard. But, if I solely compare myself now to where I’ve been, I’m doing so well. For a while I was saying “there’s never been a better time to be me.” I stopped saying that when a friend said “There’s always been a good time to be you, it’s just a matter of you realizing that.” The voice in the back of my head shouted at me at that point and told me “See, you can’t even praise yourself well.” I laughed all of that off.

A lot of the progress that I’m making in my life will be starting almost from the ground up. I’ve been at Rock Bottom. I’ve often said that it’s a good place to be, since it’s only upward from there. Being slightly above Rock Bottom, and having my head above water is a good place for me to start right now. I could throw in a few more cliches if I felt like it.

But, the point of what I’m saying is that things are going well.

I’m comfortable with where I am now. To be clear, I’m not complacent. I’ve reached a level of comfort that I like. I’m good with where my social life is. I’m good with where my bank account is headed. I’m good with me. That last sentence actually took a lot for me to type. I was hesitant to say it, but I think it’s accurate. For the first time in a very long time, I’m quite optimistic about my future.

It’s my hope that when I look back at this entry one year from now that I can say that I’m, at the very least, still doing as well as I was when I wrote it. I really am in a good place right now. The good is outweighing the bad. I haven’t always been able to say that. I know that I have a lot of work to do on various things over the next few weeks and months. If I’m able to get that stuff done, I think it’s very possible that this good ride that I’m on will keep on going for a while.