64 Comments

That golf cart story sounds pretty golden. I'd love to flip one of those one day. Or drive somewhere, I suppose.

Wins...this shard of positive juju might keep me out of the asylum.

I elevated my skating to "mediocre child," wrote fifty long-form humor columns without going mad, taught a class without melting, doubled the countries I've stepped inside of, nursed an insane book to life, dug out of a mental hole, started my next insane book, avoided missing one newsletter week, and beat Nine Sols. The last one might have been hardest.

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50 long form humor columns and you’re still sane! Play the lottery, you are a winner’s winner.

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It’s like being the stenographer on the Event Horizon ship.

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LEVERAGE sold to Simon & Schuster (pub date: Aug. 19, 2025).

Tried Instagram and Threads -- minor losses -- then killed Instagram and Threads -- major wins.

Hit 10K words on my next novel, which may be even more bananas than my first (Hint: Florida).

Celebrated my tenth wedding anniversary.

Gave up on monetizing my newsletter, pivoted to a long-term, sustainable strategy, and reached ~1,500 subscribers.

Watched NORTH BY NORTHWEST and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE on the big screen.

Savored Michigan's college football national championship.

Kept my kids alive and avoided institutionalization.

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Dude! It’s raining wins for you. This is awesome. Even the Michigan win.

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Making it rain while the world burns is on brand with my contrarian streak.

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My only win this year was surviving, and I still have sixteen days to prove that wrong. Otherwise, 2024 can get fucked. Worst. Year. Ever.

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Fair. Hang in there, Jake.

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Had a big year - plenty of losses! But some great stuff happened too!

1. Finally got my partial hysterectomy in Jan, after 15 years of woman pain. Turns out, all my organs were covered in scar tissue. Totally fixed, and no more pain.

2. Made leaps and bounds in my mediumship studies. Doing ancestral healing and gained a spirit guide.

3. Wrote all year on substack and went from 50 subscribers to just over 200. Next year will be even better.

4. Kicking ass all over the place at work. 🥷

5. Found an amazing group of mystical ladies through substack and we now have formed coven.

Not gonna mention the bad stuff - I tossed that into the dumpster 🔥

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Ending 15 years of pain is massive! I am so happy for you, Erica!

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Thank you, sir! Finally finding the right doctor made all the difference! Never thought I would need to do that at 45, but it’s been the best decision ever.

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Win #1 liver detox. I won my case with shrink to get off adverse meds givingnmy liver a much needed break only to loose my case and be reformed on adverse trreatments again so not much of a win. Much to my shagrin

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Oof. Hang tough, Amy.

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I'm sorry. This sounds very frustrating.

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1) My win is finally putting my writing out there for public consumption (and humiliation 🤣).

2) We need the golf cart story asap.

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That’s a very big win, Henry! Love to hear it.

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My youngest just graduated college, woooooo!! He had a rough start in the shittiest year that was 2020. He fought through it and I’m really proud of him.

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Andrew! This is awesome! And what a rough start that must’ve been. Yikes. Sounds like you raised a resilient kid.

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Congrats!! 🎉🎊🎈

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🤘🏻 Rock on, congrats on your wins! 🥂

I relearned how to change a tire yesterday in the driveway with my husband and reconfirmed that we still make a great team after 20 years together. 💪🏻

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This is a very big win, Amber! Team work is everything in a marriage. My personal feeling is that every couple should assemble IKEA furniture together before getting married.

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We've definitely done that (and assembled lots of other stuff) without fights or tears.

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1. Finally published the book I have been working on for over a year and a half, which completes the 5 book series.

2. Survived and now at peace, at least temporarily with whole lot of health issues that weren't life threatening but very annoying, as I head into my late seventies.

3. Another year of not missing a single day putting out my substack, and now I have 673 subscribers and over 1000 if you count followers.

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Congrats on the fifth book! Wow! Huge win, Louisa.

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Congrats!! 🎊🎉🎈

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Several wins this year but since today’s is freshest in my mind it feels biggly: Reset my iPhone display setting so I can read my Substacks without squinting or zooming by magic finger blowups (except the embedded images). All my other phone apps like email and text seem bigger than necessary, but I’ll get used to it.

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A fresh win is a wonderful win!

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I love those simple pleasures. 🥰👏

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Thanks for making space to share our wins! I shipped the game I’ve been working on all year: Clone Drone in the Hyperdome, a VR robot sword fighting game on Meta Quest and Steam! It’s getting good reviews so far. And my wife and I had an incredible two week trip to Japan. Wins!

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Winner, winner karage chicken dinner!

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Nice way to end the year. Glad Christina is sleeping again. But are you? I hear those machines are a beast.

Wins—

My daughter got hitched. The wedding was fabulous.

My speech was a dam good piece of writing.

I found a local Chabad that I adore. (I was never a synagogue girl.)

Hubby and I have been married 33 years.

I still have writing ideas!!

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Great wins & mazels on the wedding and speech! I’m actually sleeping better, thanks for asking. It took a few days to get used to, but now it sorta feels normal. When I got it the nurse told me that the #1 with the CPAP was that people quit using it because it was noisy or uncomfortable. The APAP was designed to solve those issues & I think it worked. If you know someone who quit the CPAP tell them about the APAP

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Ah. Good to know.

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I’ve been dusting off the old John Denver vinyl myself lately. Very calming. My win is celebrating my first full year as a Situation Normie! Thanks Michael, and congratulations to you on all your wins!

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He is very calming indeed. And I’m counting your presence here as win for me too, so that’s a classic win-win.

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Love a good end of year posts and these are great wins!

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My 2024 wins...

Kept writing on Substack - almost 2 years now and the ideas keep coming, along with the readers

Got married and survived bringing both of our families together for the very first time (noone killed anyone!)

Made it through an autoimmune relapse and am coming out the other side

Started doing Elizabeth Gilbert's Letters from Love practice most days, and it has been a game-changer

Thanks for the smiles Michael, happy holidays to you and Christina 😊

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Love these wins, Vicki! Thanks for being such a positive voice in the Situation Normal comments section!

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Thank you Michael 😊

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Congrats on the first draft, Michael - that’s a big step. I look forward to the finished product.

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Thanks, me too :)

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