Happy New Year As we leave 2021 behind, what are your hopes and dreams for 2022?

→[More:]I hope I'll be able to visit friends and family again.

I hope to lose the weight that's been dragging me down, both mentally and physically. I have to try to avoid obsessive behaviour where food and exercise are concerned, a difficult balance for me, an all-or-nothing personality.

I hope that, as the Covid virus mutates, it becomes less deadly. Viruses don't want to kill their hosts, or they die too. I hope that Omicron, or whatever the next mutation is, will be the one that allows us to live with it rather than die from it.

I am no longer dreaming of finding a partner. I truly think that ship has sailed, but I'm mostly okay with that. But I do dream of the day when my first thought of the day isn't what a worthless piece of shit I am. I can hurt myself far worse than any other person.

I also dream of the day when Rudi decides to curl up on my lap and fall asleep. He is as bitey and fighty as the day I first adopted him. But I love him, so very, very much.

I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year, wherever you are, and however you celebrate or ignore the crossing into 2022.