I’ve always disliked New Year’s resolutions. What is so special about a new year? You should always be trying to better yourself regardless of what day it is.
But, it feels different for me now. Maybe it’s because I let some things drop at the end of 2018 and this is a reaction? Dunno. In any case, I’m setting goals for 2019. Brace yourselves.
I don’t plan. I’m not a planner. I prefer to live in the moment and be free and to flow and to be happy.
Be present above all else.
–Naval
Anti-Resolutions
Let’s start out with a bang! These are resolutions that dare I say, are quite unconventional.
1) Be more lazy: This is my number one resolution. But why? Here it is:
Busyness accelerates the passage of time.
I kept myself so damn busy last year that it flew by in the blink of an eye. Sitting here now, it scares me. It’s uncomfortable and distressing. Living at a more leisurely pace will slow time down a bit.
How I’ll do it:
- 1a) Plan less: Sometimes, I spend half the day planning an event or a vacation. And then, I spend the other half wondering if I got the best price or I chose the best hotel or whether the dates are optimal. WTF is wrong with me? There is no substitute for living in the present.
- 1b) Travel less: I love seeing new places and meeting new people, but learning to enjoy life at home, where you do most of your living, is incredibly important and underrated. Despite my best efforts, I’m already committed to a trip to the UK in June (Chautauqua!), RAGBRAI in July (sore, baboon butt) and Orlando in August (sweating like a pig).
- 1c) Watch more TV: Did you just spit out your beverage? I haven’t watched a TV series since Lost (I’m still bitter about the awful ending!) way back in 2010. I’m mostly a big fan of NOT watching TV, but I read the first Game of Thrones book and gave the show a try. It’s pretty great. After the show ends this spring, I’ll resume my anti-tv ways. Please, please, please; end the show well!
- 1d) Walk even more: Last year, I walked almost 7,000,000 steps and I greatly enjoyed it. Walking gives me time to think about life. Maybe this year, I’ll do 8,000,000 (my current pace)?
Money
2) Make A Trailer Park Profit: One of the first things we did in 2017
How I’ll do it: Keep the fake prostitutes out! Just kidding. Maybe…
The park is in much better shape now, so the money should follow without much effort. If not, this investment will start to smell like a compromised septic tank on a hot, summer day.
3) Grow (and have fun with) a business: I’m collaborating with a couple friends on buying/running a local business. I don’t have a lot to say about it right now because the deal isn’t done, but I will say that this is new territory for me. While this will generate money, it will also be a fun experiment that helps out my town.
How I’ll do it: I’m not sure yet. I have about a billion ideas. The great thing about not having to earn money is it allows you to build at a relaxed pace.
4) Continue indexing: I’m a big fan of index funds, but in a past life I bought stocks. Hell, I didn’t even know what an index fund was before I started the blog. Almost all new money goes into index funds. At the same time, I’m slowly selling off my stock portfolio. Except for Google and Amazon. I’m holding on to them as tight as I hold my children and dinosaurs.
How I’ll do it: I’m selling just enough stocks to stay under the capital gains thresholds. Because Mrs. 1500 still works, we can’t sell a lot, so the wind-down will take a while.
Health
Health goals are so boring and trite (who doesn’t have one?), they are painful to even write about. I’m sorry. But, they are important, so here I go:
5) No mo’
*looks down, shakes head, curses silently*
Sometimes, the urge to have sugar is overwhelming. It doesn’t help that there is a sh*tload of these bastards in the freezer left over from the holidays:
Tossing these cookies in the trash is the easy thing to do, but if I do that, the cookies have won. I’m an adult. I need to build up the willpower muscle.
I WILL RESIST YOU PEANUT BUTTER BLOSSOMS!
And just in case I can’t…
How I’ll do it: If I can’t resist the siren call of the cookies, I’ll install one of these (drastic times call for drastic measures):
6) Body composition: I’m at 162 pounds now and about 17% body fat. I wear 150 much better. Time to lose the weight!
How I’ll do it: Intermittent fasting! As I type this, it’s 9:30 am and I’m starving. My last meal was 13.5 hours ago and I have another 2.5 hours until I’ll allow myself to eat. As painful as this is, confining my eating to 6-hour windows works wonders for weight loss. I can take off about 2 pounds per week when I stick to it.
And, less beer.
7) Heart rate: Resting heart rate is a measure of cardiovascular fitness. The lower, the better. Last year, I got my resting heart down to 58 for one glorious day. I’d like to get it down to 55. I’m not even sure if this is possible.
How I’ll do it: Just losing the weight will go a long way. However, I’ll also run and bike to build
8) 5K under 27 minutes: The first time I ran a 5k, my time was 34 minutes. Last May, I ran one in 29:59. I know I can do better.
How I’ll do it: Once again, just losing the weight will go a long way to making me faster. When I ran the 5k in 29:59, I was close to 165 pounds. Getting down to 150 will help me tremendously. I hope that losing 10% of my weight will improve my time 10%.
9) Squat my body weight: I’ve squatted 140 before, so I don’t have far to go. At the same time, I’ve let my squatting drop off.
How I’ll do it: Lift baby, lift.
10) Resume other weight training: My damn shoulder still
How I’ll do it: Ask my fu$king shoulder.
Mind
11) Be more stoic: I let people bother me who I shouldn’t.
- Why do I get so angry when someone does something stupid in traffic?
- Why do I let mean people on the internet who fabricate nonsense about me cause anxiety?
None of these people mean anything to me. Hell, it makes me mad that I let these people make me mad.
How I’ll do it: Books, books, books. I have a list of books that I’m reading. It will also take daily practice to retrain the brain, but nothing is more worthwhile.
12) Declutter my mind: In my old routine:
- I’d wake up and check my damn phone.
- I’d check email waiting in line at the store.
- I’d look at Twitter 20 times per day.
Wasted time. All of it.
How I’ll do it: No phone in the morning. Only 2 email checks per day. Low information diet.
Random
13) Webcomic: I’m launching another website soon. It’s a webcomic which should be interesting because I’m a really horrible artist. It is no exaggeration to say that my 9-year-old daughter has superior artistic skills.
How I’ll do it: Stop worrying and launch the damn site already.
14) Declutter our home: Mrs. 1500 and I have sh*t all over the place. It weighs on me. We’ll never be minimalists, but we don’t need to be hoarders-in-training either.
How I’ll do it: Hello Goodwill!
15) More dinosaurs: I’m not even sure what this means, but it sounds good. Maybe the intermittent fasting is screwing with my brain. Does ketosis result in neurosis?
Anyway, I’ll get back to you when I figure it out.
You?
Do you make resolutions? If so, do you have any interesting ones to share with the world?
I never ‘worry’ about action, but only about inaction. –Winston Churchill
That’s a lot to do. Might be hard to get the first item done with everything else you have. Hopefully you find the balance necessary to feel accomplished yet not as rushed this year.
Money Beagle recently posted…11 Tips To Excel At Work This Year
Haha, I didn’t realize the contradiction until right now! In any case, I’m not doing well on goal 1 now because of goals 2-15. Oh well.
Last year was challenging in many ways. And it flew by because all I was doing all year was putting out fires, coping through massive amounts of stress and worry, depression, and basically struggling on a day to day basis to just..survive & not go crazy. Plus I’m in the north where we’re getting 7.5 hours of daylight (sun is not guaranteed for days on end..) and it’s cold. I’m a sunflower. This $hit is real.
Last year I also started planting “seeds” around July through the rest of the year when I realized that the Going was going to get even tougher before it got better (and yes, it did. By the holidays I was in a very, very bleak place). It was hard at the beginning, but I knew I had to get started on this path to give myself a chance of crawling out at some point, and I couldn’t wait until the new year to start finding new veins of hope. So here I am a couple weeks in to the new year, about 6-7 months into sowing my metaphorical fields with so many varieties of beauty, of strength, of love, of wisdom, compassion, courage. Whatever wasn’t negative got thrown into the seed planter. Now, the deafening klaxons are for the most part behind me (still hammering at a few with my metaphorical sledge hammer) and I’m going through everything to see what’s left, what gets discarded/left behind, what gets built upon. (sci fi is one of my escapes and you can tell I’ve been watching/reading a lot…).
The plan going forward is to take. it. slower. Much slower. Like, savor the day, have quiet moments of reflection through the day, BE AWARE & CHOOSE JOY. My new four worded mantra (five?). Those seeds have started to grow and I am seeing little seedlings poking up through the ashes. Some are stronger in resolve than others; some I’m unsure if they’re stunted. But everything’s not going to grow all at once at the same pace. I also cultivated patience. To try to let go of worry, of things I can’t control. To not let others mistake my kindness and empathy (highly sensitive person) for weakness; to stand up for myself. To speak up, but to be kind. To not take it personal, whatever it is. Forgive everyone (like the guy who cuts me off in traffic, or the lady with an attitude on the phone while I’m trying to just do my job) Just let. it. go. To see the beauty in myself and stand unflinchingly in front of that mirror before I shower and repeat “I love you, you are beautiful” until I can’t stop giggling at my reflection. To laugh more, anytime and anywhere. To remember that my super power is my smile. Somehow it radiates the universe from within me and really, truly does lighten others up.
This phoenix has a long ways to go but she is being reborn and dang. It’s going to be a great year full of new ventures. Leave the old behind and embrace the new.
“So here I am a couple weeks in to the new year, about 6-7 months into sowing my metaphorical fields with so many varieties of beauty, of strength, of love, of wisdom, compassion, courage. Whatever wasn’t negative got thrown into the seed planter.”
“Like, savor the day, have quiet moments of reflection through the day, BE AWARE & CHOOSE JOY. My new four worded mantra (five?). Those seeds have started to grow and I am seeing little seedlings poking up through the ashes.”
“To not let others mistake my kindness and empathy (highly sensitive person) for weakness; to stand up for myself.”
Wow, this is beautiful. You’re a poet. You should be writing here and not me.
We sound like we have similar personalities. I struggle with sensitivity too. I’d like to hear about any daily rituals, routines, books, or other practices you’re taking part in to put it together.
Let me know if I can ever do anything for you.
Wow. Thank you *so much* for your kind words! In a different life (about 15 years ago), I used to write a lot, poetry included, as a form of creativity. I wasn’t necessarily good at drawing/painting, singing, playing instruments, etc; writing was what worked to express myself. I don’t do it so much nowadays, so your comment really means something (I’ve apparently still got the gift in here somewhere!). In advance, I apologize for the book below – I didn’t know how much detail to go in to.
Also, I apologize for the delay in my response. Things got really busy, I normally don’t spend a lot of time on the internet, plus I wanted to make sure I had time to think about my response, and to remember the books I read. I’m still a work in progress; my journey has begun but I am still so low on the mountain it hardly seems like I’ve made any progress at some times (slow breath in, and out: patience, Jamie. This will bear fruit.). The whole “you can’t see the summit from the path” thing! But in case these help you or anyone else out, these are some of the books I read that really helped me out. I promised myself to keep an open mind and not judge, to keep trying to see new perspectives, etc.. Just to be open.
First and foremost, to get me started, I read “Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions” by Russel Brand. I may not be coming off hard drugs, but I am coming off a lifelong addiction to depression, unhappiness, anxiety, negativity. I love what this man stands for and this book really helped oil the gears in the beginning for the hardship coming. Being sensitive, I had to know how hard things get. Prepare thyself and all. I then read “Making a Change for Good : a Guide to Compassionate Self-Discipline” by Cheri Huber. Both of these books were turning points for me; actually, the latter more so. Cheri was gentle, and helped me be gentle to myself as I opened all the doors and looked at as many skeletons in my closets as I could. Her book got my process going (there is a 30-day challenge that I followed, which is the 2nd half of the book) and made me realize lots of my self-abuses, which is where other problems can stem from. It helped me figure out how my sensitivity works and how to start recognizing the signs. For example, I ask myself, “if this [mean thing] I say about myself isn’t cool to say to me, then why would I allow this coming from the external world hurt me too?” or “Wait, is there too much going on in here right now? It’s okay to step away.” So it really helped me find that spot where I decided I would not take things personally, etc. I read “The Road Less Traveled” by Dr. M. Scott Peck, which blew my head open even more. It was a long read because I had to process a lot about life and loving myself and others. If I pick up on every little thing in the world, it makes it hard to enjoy the thing in general, so the book really helped there. It took a few months but was SO worth it, so I also highly recommend this book. Lastly, “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One” by Dr. Joe Dispenza. Break down the parts of yourself that don’t serve your purpose and create new ones (and don’t panic!). These 4 books were my crutches and they all helped me see myself and the world differently.
Among all the other books/movies/documentaries I gave my time to, I read “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramahansa Yogananda, “A Complaint Free World : How to Stop Complaining and Start enjoying the Life You Always Wanted” by Will Bowen, “In Search of Stones: A Pilgrimage of Faith, Reason, and Discovery” also by Dr. M. Scott Peck, and watched “Evolve Your Brain” by Dr. Joe above (and “What the Bleep Do We Know” to top it off, to show that I can do this – it’s all my choice, and I have the strength and desire). Pick and choose the habits and things I want to see manifest in my world.
This list is not everything, but it helped/is helping me through a very tough time and taught me to stand up for myself. To listen to what my mind and body are telling me that I’ve previously ignored or thought was normal. Being worried about everyone’s perception of me is not normal/healthy. Being sensitive, a people pleaser, will not always be used to my advantage by others, so be aware. Likewise, I can choose happiness, or I can choose the easier route of being a depressive that no one wants to be around. Who would *I* want to be around? Lots of different angles to consider.
I meditate every day, when I can. I used to get very angry at myself for not being able to “do it right” so I started with just 5 minutes (that’s all I’m giving you, universe! *shakes fist at sky in rebellion*) to try to just follow the breath. It eventually naturally became longer sessions and I no longer feel angry about it (hah, it works!!). Sometimes I can go 30 minutes now without realizing it. I still think a lot, and that’s. okay. I try to notice when I start harping on myself or others; I stop what I’m doing and I explore it. Why? What caused it? If I were in someone else’s shoes, what do I look like? (From the Cheri Huber book, most times, it’s a 5 year old me…I imagine I’m often being a total jerk to 5 year old me, and it makes me remember what I’m doing, where I am, and what I really want to accomplish. It’s probably not my goal to make someone (or me) feel like shit for a mistake, etc…). I’ll watch the trees sway in the cold winter breeze outside for 20 minutes (from inside, through a window with hot chocolate in my hand). I’ll pick out my favorite color in the sky. If I get overwhelmed from someone, I realize that I am going to start reacting badly, and I say “I can’t continue having this conversation with you right now.” If the person won’t let it up, then that person is someone that doesn’t respect me and someone that I can’t keep in my life (momentarily or from now on. Depends on each circumstance. I like to give second chances.
It’s a lot, but it’s the little things that really to have helped here and there. I hope you find some of this useful. 🙂 (And thank you for your offer, your last line. That means a lot to me.)
I put the Russell Brand book on hold at the library. It should come in next week. I’ll get to the Cheri Huber book after that. I actually read The Road Less Traveled, but it was almost two decades ago. I’ll revisit that one. The last one (as well as the other recommendations) look great too. Thank you!
“Being worried about everyone’s perception of me is not normal/healthy. Being sensitive, a people pleaser, will not always be used to my advantage by others, so be aware.”
This is something that I only accepted very recently. Despite the realization, I’m still guilty of poor behavior. Sometimes, when I’m around certain people, I wonder what they’re thinking of me and try to adjust. BAD! I have a little backtrack of anxiety running the whole time. While I acknowledge this isn’t healthy, in these situations a couple of beers allow me to be my true self and I have relied on it as a crutch.
The main thing that I’ve learned is that being a people pleaser often has the opposite of the intended effect; others see through it and like you less. Now, I try to remember to just be myself and if others don’t me, it’s OK. You can’t (and shouldn’t) be friends with everyone.
“I try to notice when I start harping on myself or others; I stop what I’m doing and I explore it”
I like that a lot. It made me think of a podcast I listened to recently. Have you ever heard of Naval? This is a long one, but there is some great wisdom in it: https://fs.blog/naval-ravikant/ Some of his good quotes are here: https://medium.com/@noahmadden/navalism-quotes-perceptions-by-naval-ravikant-a5fd60ac5788
Thank you for taking the time to write all of this up. People like you, willing to expend quite a bit of effort to help a weird stranger from the internet are what makes this community great. It also makes me thankful to have this blog.
i just started back running in early november and my times say i got into shape pretty quickly. i ran 3 miles in under 22 on the treadmill last week and did a 6:00 mile as a test another day. here’s the thing, the scale says i’m only about 2-3 pounds down from where i started. it”s gotta be the wine. i’m working on cutting way down during the week. i like travel, especially air travel, less as i get older. i think we’ll take 2 driving trips where we spend a week out of town. hopefully we’ll have one to the ocean in the carolinas and the usual to a cabin in the woods.
if i really had to name one thing it would be so go in public and socialize with mrs. smidlap more often. i’ve been saying no to so many events in the neighborhood/city over the years that people are rightly thinking of me as a recluse. good luck with the goals, man.
freddy smidlap recently posted…How Did I run a 6:00 Mile? I tried
3 miles in under 22 minutes? Holy cow, that is a badass time. I wish I had your running skills!
Holy cow! 3 miles in 22 minutes?! That’s like my husband. I dragged him (drugged?) to the gym once and he didnt want to do zumba…for some reason….and ran on the treadmill instead. After he told me and my friend he’s out of shape, it took him 22 minutes to run 3 miles. I thought he was going to say like 2 miles or 1.5 miles. Dude, I can’t even run for 7 minutes. Much less 22 minutes. Or even really like past 3 minutes (I have asthma, I’ve tried consistently… and I used to workout for 3+ hours a day, but not running). Either way, I’m impressed.
Cathleen Cooks Stuff recently posted…Black Bean Sauce Chow Funn
For your lifting goals, check out Juggernaut Training Systems on youtube. They have a 5 part series on squatting “pillars” or technique, and some other ideas for assessing and addressing weaknesses in different lifts.
Thanks so much.
I was doing great on that whole “No mo sugah” thing until that candy bowl around the corner winked at me…Butterfingers and Babyruths will be the death of me…
Looks like a great list of goals for the year Mr. 1500! Be careful not to “overtrain” and do plenty of relaxing! 😉
I’m not really a “resolution” kind of octopus, but after the holidays I realized that I do need to drop a few pounds (too many cookies don’t you know it!)
I’ve started increasing my walking routine, and hopefully that’ll help. Have a great 2019!
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Oh man…a webcomic sounds awesome! Please let us know the website if you do decide to do this.
I think the only resolution I have is making sure the Personal Pan Pizza is happy, From a PF perspective, I’m somewhat keeping things loose at this point as the picture becomes more clear with regards to expenses.
As for the “No mo’ sugah”, I don’t think this is a strange idea at all. There was a 6 year stretch that I avoided having any white sugar at all. I definitely felt less hungry and more energetic. Arguably, I was in the best shape of my life. Thanks for writing that goal down as maybe I should re-evaluate this for myself…
Avoiding white sugar for 6 years? Did you avoid stuff like cookies, cake and candy too?
I hope that it gets easier. It isn’t easy now.
Personal Pan Pizzas aren’t as expensive as some make them out to be. In our case, the main loss wasn’t the expense of the children, but the lost income because Mindy stayed home with our girls.
Yeah, from senior year in high school to just after undergrad I avoided white sugar (cookies, candy, cake, sodas, most breads, etc). The friends that knew about it thought I was a HUGE weirdo Haha! As I said above, I definitely felt less hungry and more energetic long-term when I cut white sugar from my life. That extra energy made me feel like working out more, and the results showed. I think it’s worth giving a try, even for a week trial if you’re skeptical. You’ll be very surprised how many things contain white sugar (mostly processed items) as you go through it.
You’re right about the little ones not being as expensive for most things. Our only concern at this point is child care costs as they are ridiculously high in our area. For example, the child care place on our block is $2,300 per month (almost 3 times what our previous mortgage was). Mrs. Pizza Gal is currently negotiating a work from home schedule, which is currently causing confusing at this point. I think it will end up being 3 days per week, which we could work around. I asked for it as well, and was denied. It’s probably time for a change 🙂
$2,300/month! Damn! If I lived near you, I’d go back to work just for you! And I’d give you my “10% off Friends and Family” discount!
I knew I could rope you back into the working world. As a counteroffer, how about 20% off and all the peanut butter blossom cookies you can handle? 😛
In any case, appreciate the offer. Once we figure out the Pizza Gal’s situation we’ll be able to move ahead more clearly.
Reading those resolutions makes me tired, think I’m going to sit on the couch and watch a movie 😉
Haha! No beer though, right?
Only resolutions we make are bullshit ones. like “quit smoking”. We don’t smoke. Or “give up sobriety” Ok, that was a friend in college that gave up sobriety for lent. Another one gave up abstinence. We’re all engineers, so that I don’t think worked well for him.
Back to your goals: no sugar is hard, man- I did it for 3 months, the first couple of weeks are hard beacuse, damn, your body is so used to it! Find some good treats that don’t require sugar (If you like chocolate do the chocolate peanutbutter banana fudge…you basically blend peanut butter, banana, and coco powder together, and then mix in chopped dates…spread over a baking pan and freeze. Or make a layer of choppe dates and put the chocolate pb mix over, I can’t remember which.) For soda, mix fresh fruit juice (like 10%) with sparkling water. Of course, this is from someone that just weighed in at 178 at 5’4″….but I swear my shoes weigh 15 pounds. As do my clothes. At the moment it’s my goal to ONLY eat junk food if I’ve made it myself. Just made some really good baked donuts.
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Cathleen! Thanks for the great suggestions! That fudge concoction sounds just awesome. So awesome that I’m seriously considering making it right now, minutes before bedtime. What could possible go wrong?
Nothing could possibly go wrong. By the time you wake up, you will have a nice breakfast! I lived on that stuff for a couple months ( I have a serious sweet tooth). We also used to walk down to the store (1 mile each way…the way back is uphill) to get any dessert- just bought a single bar per person. Yes, it’s more expensive per bar, but, when you are only buying 1 bar a month…it’s not that much.
2019 Goals
– Take a vacation to somewhere that is on my bucket list (Iceland, Quebec, etc).
– Continue to unpack boxes in my house from my move that happened more than 2 years ago and either sell or donate, but actively work on getting stuff I don’t use or need out! I was inspired by the month long decluttering that Mrs. 1500 and Mrs Waffles on Wednesday did in December. (Followed them on Instag)
– Either walk or go to the fitness center at lunchtime M-F at work.
– Be kinder to people.
BTW, I really like your posts (and the way you write) as I usually laugh out loud and smile as I read.
Iceland and Quebec are on my list too, especially the former!
“Be kinder to people.”
Very good. And, you’re off to a great start with the last comment. Thank you; it means more to me than you’ll probably ever know.
Cool to read that intermittent fasting is your tool for weight loss. I also find it very effective!
Like you I had a ton of sweets and cookies leftover from Christmas, what I did was give them to guests and friends and now my cupboard and freezer is completely empty of all that stuff.
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Hmmm, maybe I’ll leave my leftovers on random neighbors’ doorsteps! Better than a baby, right?
Awesome list of goals but as others have said you are going to be very busy with 2-15 to make #1 that possible
I can’t come (/afford) the Chautauqua but if you have other free time when over in England and want to meet up give me a shout! Be good to finally grab that beer together 🙂
Cheers
Meet up? How about on June 6th? I’ll be solo and may be tired from the plane, but let’s do it.