Now that I have fully reflected on the year that is almost behind us, it is time to look forward to the new year. Resolutions are a slippery slope. With a resolution, there is a stigma. This idea that you work super hard in January and then not so much after that. It becomes tradition to have a series of resolutions that you ignore after month one of the new year. Hell, it happens to me every year. However, this year, I feel like I have a renewed sense of who I am and more importantly, who I want to be. So I am not thinking of them as resolutions, but as goals. I have a series of goals I am shooting for in this coming year. By putting them here, you all get to hold me accountable for them. 2012 was a new beginning for me. 2013 has to be taking that new beginning and pushing it further. I did well in 2012. I did enough to make to the make playoffs, but I was Yankees. I made it to the playoffs, but I could not get to the championship. I need to work harder so I can be the Giants. World Series Champions in 2 out of the last 3 years. So I have to have a good plan of attack and it has to be all encompassing. This is, remember, not just about my physical well being, after all. So what I have done is break this into sections.
My physical health:
The first thing I need to do is eliminate all fast food and all soda. I have done a good job of limiting them, but I need to kick them completely. My mind no longer wants them, and my body can no longer really handle them, so I have to remind myself of that and just stay away. I believe my biggest 2012 triumph was eliminating Rockstars from my diet, so this is the logical next step! In terms of food I also am going to expand my culinary adventures by cooking something new once a week. I want to make sure I do not get bored of eating the same things, so I need to add new recipes. I will be making sure they are healthy meals, but I want to be able to expand what I know how to cook. I want to figure out what will actually fill me up and what better way to do that than by trying all kinds of fun new dishes!
I need to ramp up my physical activity too. I need to get back in the regular habit of going to the gym. I want to go down there 6 days a week for at least 30 minutes a day unless we have a busy day at work, then I will go for 15 minutes, but I need to stay in the habit. I also want to start playing sports again. I want to buy a basketball and shoot hoops here at my apartment complex. I need to make sure I do something active every single day. I cannot let myself sit on the couch all day at all. I need this to be a serious habit for me. Also, I have decided I want to sign up for 3 5Ks this coming year. I want to spread them out and improve on each one, but my goal is to sign up and participate in 3 different ones this year. This is going to be one of my biggest challenges! Once I have acquired a full time teaching job, I want to sign up for a real gym and spend some time with a trainer to help me figure out what would be best for me.
My mental/emotional/creative health
I find that I am happier when I read more, so it stands to reason that I need to read often. My goal is to read a book a week this year. I know this will be tough when I get busier, but I need to make the time to do this because it does make me happy and it calms me down. It also stokes my creative juices, which leads me to my next one which is to write more for me. I love this blog and I love reviewing movies, but I need to write for me. I have a story idea and the beginnings of a story, so I need to give myself time to flush it out. This means setting aside time every month to just write, which is what I plan to do. I want to have a good working draft of this story before my birthday in July. From there I can figure out goes next, but this is something I need to feel like I am still challenging myself creatively. I also am setting a goal to spend less time on my cell phone. I want to put away all of the electronics and enjoy the world around me.
I also want to continue this honesty thing within myself and with other people. I want to continue to get at the root of my issues. I am not sure if this will be a meditation thing, or if the writing will help with it, but I know I like feeling cleansed and I will continue to do that. I also am setting a goal to talk more when things are bugging me and talking to the person the problem is with. I know allowing things to build up has not done me any good in my life. I need to trust the people who love me that if I have a problem we can work it out together and not that the other person is going to just toss me aside. I need to work on strengthening my relationships with people and be open to starting new friendships and working hard at them to make them work. I also want to continue to be the kind of guy who is worthy of such an awesome girlfriend. I know working on myself will help strengthen the relationship Martina and I have and that is incredibly important to me.
So there you have it, 2013 is around the corner and I, for one, am excited. In fact, this might be the most excited I have been to start a new year. I feel good about myself and am now working on feeling great about myself. What about you? What are some of the ways you are going to try and better yourself this year? How can we help push each other? Remember, if you read this, I am here for you and am rooting for you! Together we are Giant!!
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