Siting down at a small coffee shop yesterday after a game of catch with several awesome people (more on that in the coming days), I sat and talked with a friend of mine from twitter names Ethan Bryan. During our talk, he asked what my goals were for the coming year. It kind of through me off and I went with the most important things I could think of; Keep working and providing for my family, do everything I can to help my wife, stay involved with my kids. All of this is true, but it’s also the same goals I strive for daily. So after thinking about this all evening, I decided I’d write about what my goals for this new year are… because that’s one of them.
Staying the Course
My initial answer may not be the entire answer, but it is and will always be my number one priority. My family, and the ones I love, are the most important things to me in my life. If I fail them, I fail at everything else.
225 Pounds
While it’s not easy to lose weight, the hardest part is finding the drive to do it. I found my drive this past year. I lost 50 pounds before I had to have an emergency operation to have my gallbladder removed, as well as a stone a little bigger than a golf ball. But the drive is still there, and now that all the holidays are done, I’m excited to get back on track. While I can’t go back to Keto for now, I am wanting to stick to a low carb diet, and I’m finalizing a weekly exercise plan, including starting walking again. I’m sitting at 350 lbs, and my goal is to drop 125 lbs before the year is up. A big thank you to everyone who has helped drive me on this.
Reinforce my Circle…
I need to make more time for, and be more willing to enjoy the current people I have in my life. The anxiety I have around doing things with the people closest to me has hit an all time high. I’m one of those people who dreads doing things all the way up until I’m actually doing it. I can make plans to hang out with someone for two weeks, or plan to attend a party. But the day leading up to and day of said thing, I always find myself wanting to back out. This past year, I’ve found myself, more often than not, backing out. I need to get over this and spend time with the people who know me better than anyone else.
…and Grow it.
It may be my personality type… oh who am I kidding, it is my personality type… but it’s super hard for me to make friends at this stage in my life. I’m not a huge go out and party and drink guy, I don’t do recreational drugs, and I have a demanding job and family. Having said that, I need to learn to leave my comfort zone and put myself in more situations where I can interact with like minded people. It’s something I used to be really good at, but just a handful of years away from 40, and knowing not a lot of people are into the same things I am, it scares me to death. It’s basically like being in High School and wanting to ask all the perceived cool kids if they want to hang out but too scared of being rejected.
Write More.
Write. Every. Day.
I need to write more. Whether it’s a blog post on here, or a post on a podcast site on days I don’t record one, or just working on one of the many writing projects I have sitting in a folder on my hard drive. I want to get better at putting thoughts, and ideas into word form. I wrote my first short story this past year for a writing competition, and then realized after the fact, that the entry date was a day earlier than what I though. I was so disappointed, but at the same time excited. I had several people read it, and while I was expecting to be ripped to shreds about it, It was overwhelmingly positive. I need to do more.
See Through and Complete Projects.
I love doing my podcast, but it seems every time something came up, I found a reason to let it snowball and just stop. I sit and work on ideas I have for shirts I’d love to sell, but then I find a reason to just not do it. I’ve longed to learn to play guitar, but just never take the time. As I mentioned above, I have almost a good hundred writing projects in a folder that I never touch. I know a lot of this is just a fear of failure and ridicule, but it’s something need to suck up and get over. I love creating, its one of the things that give me joy in life.
Tomorrow I am going to write about the projects I want to work on this coming year, including a new Podcast that i am super excited about, as well as getting 8 Bit Hero up and running again! Happy New Years!
