An End-of-Year Roundup

A postcard from the edge

Me. Author’s photo.

Socrates once said that an unexamined life isn’t worth living. I’m not sure I entirely agree with Socrates on that, but I do see some merit in doing a reality check every now and then. The end of the calendar year seems like an appropriate time to look back, evaluate what has transpired, and look to the future to see what I can do better.

I began writing on this platform in April 2020 after reading a piece I found on Facebook that was shared by my son’s college friend. The piece was titled “Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting” by Julio Vincent Gambuto, and after reading it, I decided to begin writing on Medium as well. Admittedly, my first year or so on Medium was pretty much a flop. I wrote few articles and knew nothing about publications, followers, or even how Medium’s pay was calculated. For the year, I think I made something like $27. Even then I didn’t set up a stripe account, so I didn’t actually receive any compensation at all.

That seems like a million years ago now.

This past year was an unusual one for me. From January through May, I wrote like I always have. On May 26th I retired from my teaching position and began to collect my Social Security payments. This created something of a dilemma for me because, since I am not at full retirement age yet, the amount of money I am…