RESIDUAL PSYCHIC DAMAGE

a low buzzing in the middle distance.

I feel like I've been having a weird year for a few years now. 

The world has changed so much since 2017 when this blog began, and in 2020 with the pandemic, and  again now. Sometimes its hard to tow the line between creative person and person who wishesshe could stop living through historical events, and sometimes that means this blog says some dark things. In lieu of waxing about my fears for the future, I'm going to assume that you will have the historical context for the 2024 presidential election, the promises made to implement tariffs and to strip trans people of their human rights, and move on to the hobby shit.

To put it simply, I expect 2025 to be stressful and expensive, and for that to impact the way I and others hobby. In light of this, I'm taking a moment to consider how my hobbying will change in this coming year, either due to the world at large, or by my own discipline. Usually a post like this would come at the end of the year, but since both history and the future are both feel imperiled, we'll do one now and if there's a later, maybe we'll do one then too.

So yeah, some changes...

THE PAST

• Everyone has a backlog, and I am no different, save for that my position in the industry allows me to accumulate more for less. I'd like to make a decent dent in this, either by selling, rehoming, or continuing the emergent projects from this backlog.
• I moved last winter around this time, and in that rush, I packed many of my projects poorly. Undoubtably many of them need some repair, and afterwards those projects will need better storage solutions. In the coming years, I'd like to sort those projects out, and then spend time enjoying them on a tabletop, as well as respecting them with a storage or display position.

THE PRESENT

• There are so many cool things coming out these days that there's a very real issue of both FOMO and Wallet Fatigue facing many hobby communities at the moment. In this soon-to-be-crisis, I want to focus on systems and projects that I'm already invested in to avoid spreading myself too thin.
• Right now its a scary time to be an indie creator. Many of the ways we share our work and ourselves are becoming less than viable due to legislature and the enshittification of many of our online platforms. As much as I can, I want to be able to support my fellow hobbyists, even if it runs counter to my previous statement. The caviat to that is, if I'm to pick up a new project, it has to have a finish line or a minimum viable product that feels achievable. 

THE FUTURE

• As mentioned previously, I have a lot of things in the backlog and even though I'm planning to clear a lot out, I don't need more to refill the holes I make from clearing out my closet. I'm going to try to keep on a stricter budget to curb the acquisition of new things, and keep my space and storage abilities in mind before purchasing more.
• Scratch-builting can be affordable, and I love getting my hands dirty. I also need a bunch of terrain so that I can host games at home, so taking steps to do more fabrication in-house feels like a great investment and a very rewarding prospect.
• If I do start new model projects, I want them to be able to be used in multiple games if possible. There are exceptions of course, some games I'll want to make bespoke miniatures for, or some settings that just don't blend into others, but if a figure can pull double duty, that'll be a win in my book.

I'm optimistic that with these proposed changes I make in my hobbying that I'll be able to continue hobbying sustainably in 2025. With any luck by preemptively framing these changes as personal goals, I wont feel as much of the pressure in my passtimes as socioeconomic shifts disrupt other elements of modern life. It feels bad to phrase it that way, but that's sort of where things are at the moment. 

After years of dodging bullets, looking towards a future of snares and traps feels awfully bleak, so preserving my creative outlets and communities feel like priorities. Before my bandwidth is throttled by the symptoms of capitalist collapse, it'd be nice to have my mental health liferaft in order, so that I can better take care of myself and others in the aftermath.

How are you preparing for the future? How will you change to survive? What will you do when the beacons are lit, and Gondor calls for aid?