So Begins 2022

image from here

As is my custom, this post lays out goals for the year. The goals themselves are in italics, with explanation where needed in regular font.

Spiritual

This is where it all begins. Man's chief responsibility is to 'glorify God and enjoy Him forever,' and so how to do those things is important and should be a focus. To that end, my goals here:

- Be disciplined in prayer/scripture routines (and keep tracking them to encourage it). 

- Teach the family.

- Take a more active leadership role in church.

- Redeem the time. By which I mean wasting less of it.

- Overcome two besetting sins. 'Besetting' means those I commonly struggle with. There are too many to count, but being better in two areas would be a huge start. This goal is easy to distort- I have to be careful. I pray for success, but must be reminded that the goal is holiness in everything, not just a few areas. It's tempting for Christians to view a few sins as worse than others, and think that once you're over them, you're good. This will never be the case. But we are commanded to be holy, for God is holy, and so we should strive, and it makes sense to focus on areas known to be problems.

Nutritional/Fitness

My fitness is okay; it should be great. Though I'd love to be under 180 lbs, history shows me that when I'm in my best form, I'm still around 185, so that is now the goal. One challenge here- ironically- is that I often stay close (within 7 lbs) to the goal, so I don't feel any sense of urgency in completing it. May that change this year. 

- Get (and keep) weight under 185 lbs.

- Complete 240 workouts (run, bike, gym, soccer, hikes, etc.).

- Eat less sugar/carbs/food in general.

Financial

Would love to see progress here. We've always struggled with how to budget. I know, it sounds crazy.

- Get good budgeting system in place.

- Follow it.

Reading

I've dabbled with an American Reading List for years, and have chipped away at works that will likely be included. That said, my 'owned but unread' pile of books has crept up (now at 33!), so I need to tackle those first. Many of those happen to be in the fantasy vein, so I'll focus there for now. So, the goals:

- Read 40 books.

- Focus on fantasy (a number of series) and American history/literature.

- Pick another topic and 'get smart' (i.e. read a few books) on it.

House

As homeowners, there's always something that needs to be done. This year, it would be amazing to finish our basement. Ourselves (the only way we could afford it). Armed with nothing but knowledgable friends, this one would be a challenge but oh so satisfying. We'll see how it goes; this might be a two-year goal.

- Finish the basement.

Language

I started studying Spanish this year, after years in German. I don't think I'll get through DuoLingo's Spanish course by year's end, but that's a possibility. I need to read a book or two on the mechanics of the language, and continue daily studies. The goal is competency (so 2/2 in the language test) by early 2023.

- Continue studying Spanish. 

Games

I'd love to- and need to- get through the games I have, play them all (12 remain unplayed), and minimize the collection, as it so easily gets out of hand. I'd like to build a cube in Magic: the Gathering, and resume regular game nights with friends (we have one now; I'd love to do a few more. Hard in the pandemic). 

- Play the 12 games in my 'owned but unplayed' pile.

- Minimize game collection to what I play regularly.

- Build a cube for Magic.

- Have more game nights.

To 2022!