I Created a Yearly Tradition

For the first time in my life, I found something valuable I want to incorporate it into my life as a yearly end-of-year ritual. I’ve never had one before because I never felt like anything was significant enough to repeat every single year.

I started thinking about the writer Cormac McCarthy, who reportedly read "Moby Dick" every year for several years. He used it as a lighthouse, a high standard to guide his own writing for masterpieces like Blood Meridian. We read important books or see great art, but that value eventually gets buried under the "mental garbage" of Instagram reels, news and social media content that fills our daily lives. It’s easy for good things to fall to the bottom of the stack.

The second to last night of 2025, my girlfriend and I were looking for a movie and she ended up putting on The Life of Chuck. I had seen it months prior in the theater, but watching it a second time, right as the New Year approached, felt entirely different. The first time I saw it, I left the theater feeling alive and connected to the world. But over the following months, the stress of work and the struggle of living paycheck to paycheck made me forget that feeling.

As a photographer and an artist, the last half of 2025 was a struggle. I slacked off, I didn't shoot enough, and I fell into a negative headspace. Living as an artist is a constant battle to keep your head above water, and I realized I didn't want 2026 to be a repeat of the year before. I want to relocate, find more space to think, and stop worrying about when the next paycheck will refill my account. I need to make smarter decisions and be a better marketer of my own work.

Watching "The Life of Chuck" again was the wake-up call I needed. The film’s message is powerful: life is short, and freak accidents can happen without warning. You have to make the most of it now, rather than putting your life on "cruise control" and hoping things will be better next year. It reminded me that photography isn't just a hobby for me; it’s my lifestyle, and I need to treat it with that level of urgency.

So, I’ve decided on my tradition. Every New Year’s Eve, I am going to watch "The Life of Chuck." It will be my yearly reminder to live in the moment, to do the best I can, and to live life to the fullest without regrets. It’s not a horror or a suspense film like you might expect from a Stephen King adaptation; it’s a deep, inspiring story about human potential. Your potential. If you’re feeling stuck or down, I highly recommend you watch it. It might just give you the perspective you need to change your own trajectory.