Daily writing prompt

What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself?

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Good job to whoever came up with this writing prompt! I have two candidates.

• Buying my first computer. I knew I wanted one ever since I was 7, so I began saving my pocket cash. The world changed—communism fell, the world moved from 8086 to the 8088XT, 286, 386, 486, and eventually the Pentium. By the time I finished high school, I had saved just enough for about half a computer. With a little help from my family, I finally managed to buy one. I met all kinds of characters along the way, wrote two books that never saw the light of day, and worked part-time jobs. Learned Basic and math. It felt almost like a journey out of The Lord of the Rings, culminating in that moment when I disposed of my savings at the mountain of Doom to get a shiny new K5 computer—only to realize I didn’t know how to use it.
• Overcoming panic attacks. That one took more than 8 years and involved the Sermon, two therapists, many books, a deep research on the subject of thinking errors, and some bad luck. I could also write a book about it but it would be grossly incompetent. Maybe a blog post one day. Also, with panic attacks, there’s no guarantee they’re gone for good.

I’m now after 10k steps/day average over the course of a year and climbing Vihren in 2025.