With the new year upon us, I thought I’d share some of the things I’m trying to do better in 2015.
Dental Hygiene
I know. Gross. I’ve always been a little bit lazy with my dental hygiene. I want to hop into bed right away rather than take a couple of minutes from my precious sleep to brush my teeth. And don’t even get me started on flossing… So I’m hoping to brush and floss consistently this year.
Exercise
It’s not an uncommon story, but I’ve gotten pretty lazy since graduating college. I used to play basketball multiple times a day, and now it seems like I get out for a run a few times a year. I’m hoping to run a couple of 5Ks and a 10K in 2015. Also I want to play basketball and tennis frequently. Conservatively, I want to play one of those sports each week.
Journaling
I’m setting a hard goal of one journal entry per day in 2015. An entry doesn’t have to be long. I just want to get myself thinking and writing every day (and practicing my cursive). I’m starting out with this 31 day prompt challenge from The Art of Manliness.
Release Outshape
I’ve been working on an iOS game for almost a year and a half. It’s tough to spend my free time working when so much of my day is spent staring at code, but I want to get this game in people’s hands and let them play. Every awesome game and iOS update makes life a little harder, but I think 2015 is the year my first game hits the App Store.
Minimalism
I want to cut down on the amount of crap in my life. I spend too much time collecting and organizing stuff around the house. I want to be intentional this year about not keeping things that aren’t very useful or beautiful.
Recycling/Waste Reduction
Lauren and I have gotten super lazy about recycling since we moved to Florida. Sure, we could blame it on the city and our complex for not making it easy for us. But we could get off our butts and take recycling somewhere, we just haven’t made the effort. We need to do better. I want to get our home to produce as little waste as possible
Improve my relationship with Lauren
There’s not a day that goes by where my smart ass, picky, introverted nature doesn’t result in me pushing my wife away just a little. I like to think that we’re good at repairing when that happens. But I want to spend more time being intentional about that push and figure out how I can fight it and help us grow closer.
Go to church
Speaking of that relationship, my wife and I have missed a lot of church lately. And that’s definitely had an effect. As I write this, tomorrow is the first Sunday of the year. Is it too much to ask for us to be in church for an hour on 52 days of the year? I don’t think so. (Note: WE DID IT. Sure we waited until the last service of the day, but we did it.)
Read. My. Bible.
I don’t do this nearly enough. Not nearly. In the past few years I’ve gone digital with the Youversion apps, but I think maybe it’s time for me to move back to pen and paper for my Bible. Having something physical just feels right to me.
Read more in general
I love books. There are just so many things I’m letting suck my time away that I find it hard to sit down and focus. I want to find a good reading spot and commit to spending some time there reading good books. One thing I learned in 2014 was to be quick about putting a book down if you don’t like it. No sense wasting time and demoralizing yourself with something that doesn’t interest you.
Fewer Screens
One of the things I’ve done well in 2014 that I’d like to continue this year is keeping my phone away from me before bed. I charge my phone across the room in bedroom, so I don’t sit and look at it in bed. It’s been fantastic for my sleep. I’d like to try to push that earlier and not use a phone or computer an hour before bed. I tried no screens after 10 for a while and it was pretty nice. I’d like to make myself sit down and, well, maybe read some for a while before I lay down.
Call people
I’ve gotten more and more introverted over the past 10 years. I only answer my phone when I absolutely have to (or if Lauren tells me to). And I avoid calling people at all costs. I think my friendships have suffered and I want to improve that. I want to be able to talk to the people I care about. Seems basic, but it’s hard for an introvert.
Start a podcast
I’ve been vaguely talking about this with a couple of my buddies for a while, but we haven’t gotten intentional about making a time happen. Lets do that.
Okay that’s a lot of stuff. It’s just one year, I can’t try to change my entire life in one year. Baby steps. Let’s see if I can make this stuff happen, then we will move on to bigger things.