Onward and Upward

While Christmas and the end of the year is a time of quiet reflection and nostalgia, the start of the new year is the perfect time to look to the future with wonder, curiosity and hope. As I sit to write my very first blog post of the year I want to try and outline what I expect of myself during the year, what I will try not to repeat again and where I hope to bring Day Jobs / Nightlife over the coming months.

As I’ve detailed in several posts over the last 18 months, my health has become one of my biggest concerns. This isn’t because I’m in bad health – on the contrary – I don’t think I’ve ever been on an upswing as long as I’ve been over the last couple of years, it’s just that I could be doing better. I guess that as I approach 40 – YES 40! – I’ve stopped taking my health for granted and by going to Econofitness every week I’ve taken giant steps in making sure I’m as healthy as possible. While I’ve had plenty of success at the gym, eating healthy and drinking more responsibly continues to be a bit of a challenge. I love fast food, I love pizza, I love burgers (another element of my life that has been fastidiously documented), I indulge in sweets whenever and wherever I can and I drink far too much wine for my own good.

If 2016 and 2017 were about creating a healthier body, 2018 is going to be about furthering that by putting better food and less alcohol in it. Although I don’t want to call this a resolution – New Year’s resolutions are traps set for easy failure – I do feel like the beginning of the year runs parallel with the beginning of a new journey (sorry for sounding a little basic). I want to start immediately with small steps that will lead to bigger goals. On January 1st I promised myself that I will stay away from fast food this year and I think it will work. I’ve spent 20 years eating as much McDonald’s, Burger King and A&W as I possibly can and now is the time for that to come to an end. It’s not going to be easy and I’m not going to try and kid myself but at least I will try and not repeat the food mistakes of my past. This doesn’t mean giving up burgers or pizza completely – I’m not that insane. I’ll just spend more time eating delicious food at Hachoir and my other favorite restaurants.

This time of year is also perfect for thinking about what I want to bring to my readers over the coming months. There are so many interesting stories waiting to be told (like the collaboration I did with Caroline Néron last year – the photo used in this article is from that shoot and it was such a great experience) and I can’t wait to start telling them. Day Jobs / Nightlife started out as a little hobby in 2009 and since then this site has continued to evolve, bringing me into some of Montreal’s best restaurants, behind the scenes of some pretty amazing events and elevated my expectations to heights I’ve never dreamed. The scope of the site has widened to include a plethora of topics but in 2018 I want to tighten that scope once again.

I’ve been told by my readers that they come to Day Jobs / Nightlife because of the quality content they’ve become used to over the years. I think that the quality of the topics I’ve covered has wained over the years and I want that to change. I’ve spent far too much time trying to remain relevant and appearing successful on social media where I should be focusing on the things I love while looking at them with a critical yet objective eye. For Day Jobs / Nightlife, 2018 will be about focus, about quality, about social relevance and above all else, about how I see Montreal. I also want to start sharing my passion for cooking at home because some of the best nightlife in Montreal happens at home. I’m not going to be as concerned with how many social media followers and “likes” I have but I will be concerned with the quality of what I am delivering to my readership. The content on this blog will continue to be abundant and as I begin telling new stories, I’m certain that they will continue to be read far and wide.

I wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year and I look forward to bringing you the best that Montreal has to offer.

Image credit: Satya Jack for Caroline Néron


Posted

in

,

by

Comments

Leave a Reply