What I'd like to Accomplish in 2020
Plans for 2019 and How I Failed
I wanted to Be Better overall and I know that did not happen. I REALLY struggled mentally and emotionally throughout the year. I even took a social media break in February to see if pushing myself out of the digital world would spur any change in behavior or mood. It didn't really help and any effect it did have quickly dissipated. I continued to lash out at Christine and the kids because I've never been able to keep my anger in check. I'd love to blame the stress of selling our old house and moving into our new house, but that was only for part of the year and it'd be a complete cop out. The daily grind has pushed me past my breaking point, but I must get myself under control. At the very least, I need a REAL vacation where I can just check out for a couple days and relax.
I really wanted meditation to stick after getting back into it towards the end of 2018. I toyed with it some in the first half of the year, but never got super serious about it. I enjoy doing it and truly believe that it could be key in helping me in a multitude of ways. I just don't think sitting in a quiet space and focusing on my breath is the type of meditation that can work within my daily schedule right now. Hopefully I can find something that works in a similar way.
The only bright spot in my plans for 2019 was my ability to keep off the weight I lost. I didn't stick to incorporating new exercises and was pretty lax with the diet, but what I have been doing has been enough. I'd like to lose a little more weight, maybe 10 more pounds. To do that, it's going to take a shock to the system diet and/or exercise wise. It's that or really try to grind it out with tiny changes, a plan that sounds much more reasonable. I'm not looking to get ripped or anything, looking half decent without a shirt on is kind of what I'm thinking. There are days when I think "fuck it" and just want to eat my feelings, but I've done a tremendous job not sinking to that level.
I'm still very much working on living a more minimalist lifestyle. Purging stuff throughout our house before the move ended up being incredibly beneficial for when we did move. However, I did end up with more board games than when I started the year and even though I have a lot less clothes, I would like to cut them down even more. The latter is really still hinged to my weight loss goal. Once I find a comfortable spot, I can make a better decision about how that will go. As far as my games, I'm working on another big purge through trades, sales, and donations. The rest of the house, aside from the kid's stuff (OMG THERE IS SO MUCH), looks really good. We have a third of the garage worth of stuff to go through once spring comes, but I'm much happier with the amount of stuff we own compared to years past.
What I'd Like to Accomplish in 2020
So enough of that negative nonsense, let's look forward to 2020. By design, my plans for 2019 weren't specific and that was clearly a mistake. In my New Year's resolutions posts from previous years, I had very specific goals and did a much better job of completing them. I definitely do a better job when they can be measured in cold hard numbers. Posting about it also kept me accountable so I'll be doing that again too. The following are the 3 things I'd like to accomplish in 2020. Call them goals, call them resolutions, call them whatever you like.
1) Write at least 2 blog posts each month
A few people have asked about the lack of posts here on the blog lately. The second half of the year was very busy, but I also wasn't feeling motivated to write anything. I barely wrote one post a month and the average is only that high because I wrote 8 posts in the first two months. I do enjoy writing so aside from my monthly update about these things I'd like to accomplish (including those would make this too easy), I will write at least 2 blog posts each month.
2) Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge
I've wanted to do a X x X Board Game Challenge for a while now, but I've always had a bunch of unplayed games that I wanted to get to the table first so I've done challenges that involved those instead. Well now I have ZERO unplayed games so this is the perfect time to try one of these X x X challenges. A lot of people do a 10 x 10 challenge where you have to play 10 games 10 times. I have a bunch of games I've only played once or twice and I would love to play more games, just Christine and I. Since our time is limited, I came up with the 10 x 2 challenge. We'll select 10 games (5 each) and play each one at least twice.
3) Bake at least 2 different baked goods each month
I loved my bread baking resolution in 2018 and have a lot of other types of baked goods I've always wanted to make (just ask Christine about all of the stuff I've shared to her Facebook wall). Also, Grace really likes to help out in the kitchen, especially when I'm baking. In fact, she helped quite a bit with this year's Christmas cookies. Teaching her how to cook and bake is both useful and lets us spend time together.
A Better Year
As you might have noticed, each of these things are tied to activities that I already enjoy doing. The hope is by doing more of the things I like doing, that I'll not only have an easier time completing them, but I'll also Be Better overall. I'm not going into 2020 thinking "this will be my year", I'm just hoping I'm setting myself up to have a better year.
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