u/RyansKnowledgeRoom

5 years ago, alcohol was part of my everyday life.

I was drinking daily. Sometimes I’d start in the morning. My life had very little structure, my emotions were all over the place, and I didn’t really have a clear direction for where I was going.

Today marks 5 years sober.

And probably the biggest thing I’ve learned is that giving up alcohol was only the beginning.

I had to build a life that I actually wanted to be present for.

I started training. Reading. Travelling. Studying. Creating. Working on myself. I stopped smoking. I stopped eating meat. I started taking my goals seriously.

5 years later, I’m building my own YouTube channel, travelling to places I used to dream about, and starting university this year.

My friend actually appears at the end of the video I made about my sobriety. He knew me throughout that whole period. He says that when I originally told him I’d stopped drinking, he genuinely didn’t believe me. 😂

I completely understand why.

If you’re early into sobriety and wondering whether life eventually starts feeling different, all I can share is my own experience.

Mine did.

Slowly.

One decision at a time.

I recently made a video explaining the things that helped me quit and stay sober for five years. I’m leaving it here in case any part of my experience helps someone else going through it:

YouTube: https://youtu.be/1cMaoXl8f10

Five years down. Keep going. ❤️

I'm heading to Egypt tomorrow. Brought this read on the plane. ✈️

Egyptian authorities on unveiled two restored ancient tombs on the West Bank of Luxor that date back to the New Kingdom and contain scenes of daily life and funerary rituals.

The tombs are those of Rabuya and his son Samut from the 18th Dynasty, the first of the New Kingdom dynasties. Rabuya and Samut served as door keepers of the deity Amun.

Egyptian authorities unveiled two restored ancient tombs on the West Bank of Luxor that date back to the New Kingdom and contain scenes of daily life and funerary rituals.

The tombs are those of Rabuya and his son Samut from the 18th Dynasty, the first of the New Kingdom dynasties. Rabuya and Samut served as door keepers of the deity Amun

I recently went to Amarna, and if you know about Akhenaten and Akhetaten, the ‘City of the Horizon’ built by Akhenaten and Nefertiti, there were around 15 to 16 Boundary Stelae marking the limits of the city.

It made me wonder whether this concept already existed in some earlier form in Thebes. Considering the massive scale of construction during the 18th Dynasty, especially places like Malqata and the West Bank, I’m curious if Akhetaten’s layout and boundary system were influenced by earlier building traditions or ceremonial planning in Luxor/Thebes.

I’ve never personally heard of Boundary Stelae being found around Luxor, especially since it was already such an ancient and continuously occupied city long before becoming the New Kingdom capital.

Does anyone know if anything similar to Boundary Stelae existed in Thebes/Luxor, or was this something unique to Akhetaten?”

I think about this book almost every day, and it’s not out until 16 February 2027 😭

A compelling account of a unique New Kingdom figure, from his early life to the pinnacle of his power under Amenhotep III to his manifestation as a cult figure

Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu was one of the most remarkable non-royal figures in Egyptian history. In life, he was an official of Amenhotep III, of exceptional prominence, but apparently modest origins. Holding a vast array of titles, he was responsible for the management of the king’s principal works, and was honored with numerous statues and a unique mortuary temple in royal style. Then, a millennium after his death, we find him elevated to divine status, in conjunction with an even more ancient royal builder, Imhotep of the Third Dynasty. As such, he appears in temples around Thebes, even having a a colossal statue erected for his cult in front of the great temple at Karnak.

This is the first full-length book in English dedicated to him. It begins with an overview of the fourteenth century BC reign of Amenhotep III, during which the known events of Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu’s life took place. It then investigates what we know of Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu’s background, and reviews the material surviving from his lifetime to reconstruct his activities.

Also described are the funerary arrangements of Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu, in the context of contemporary practice, underlining how these were far more elaborate than those of any other official, and approaching royal standards. The authors then jump forward to the second century BC to explore how the cult of Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu was manifested, and the various monuments that were decorated in his honor. The final chapter describes the rediscovery of Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu and his monuments by modern scholarship.

In December 2025, Egypt officially unveiled two massive, restored statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in Luxor after a restoration project that spanned more than 20 years. These colossal figures, part of the famous Colossi of Memnon group, have been re-erected at their original location at the entrance of the king's mortuary temple on the Nile's West Bank.

Key Details of the Unveiling:

Dimensions & Material: The two statues are made of Egyptian alabaster and stand approximately 13.6 and 14.5 metres tall.

Restoration Process:

Led by an Egyptian-German mission since the late 1990s, experts painstakingly reassembled the monuments from hundreds of fragments scattered by a powerful earthquake around 1200 BC.

Artistic Features:

The statues depict Amenhotep III seated with hands on his thighs, wearing the traditional nemes headdress and the double crown. Small figures of his wife, Queen Tiye, are carved near his feet.

The project, which included lowering groundwater levels to protect the foundations, is part of a broader effort by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to revitalise tourism in Luxor.