As is my custom, I find it helpful to reflect upon the good and the bad of 2024. I start the year with goals; this post looks back at some of them and considers other factors we experienced this year.
Spiritual
My goals here:
- Be disciplined in prayer. - Be intentional/consistent in meeting with others.
- Serve well in the various roles.
Prayer was the same as last year: pretty consistent when in my routine, but easily dropped when 'out of sync' due to illness, vacation or other factors. I need to be better about keeping the first things first, even when the day is abnormal.
I did get to meet with a fair number of people this year, which is always a joy. This one is hard to quantify or limit; it was good, but should always be a priority.
I tried to serve well in various roles and felt they went reasonably, but this year showed me that I have too much on my plate, and that could be overwhelming at times for me (and the family) this year, so I will have to drop something in 2025.
Nutritional/Fitness
My goals here:
- Get (and keep) weight under 185 lbs.- Complete 240 workouts (run, bike, gym, hikes, etc.).
- Eat less overall, and more fruit/vegetables.
I started the year at 197 lbs and did drop some weight this year; I stand at 192 lbs as of this morning (my low was 188 before the holidays). I did eat more fruit/veg, but ate too many sweets around the holidays in particular. Overall, I am pleased here, but want to keep going.
I had what I thought were heart problems early in the year; they turned out to be gut-related. Managing my gut health is increasingly apparent as a big part of overall condition; I attribute better care here to some of the weight loss.
On workouts: I'm starting to feel my age; running now consistently messes up my knees for days afterwards. It is now 100% biking or walking for cardio workouts. Other big news: my son now does the bulk of the mowing. Hooray!
Overall, I completed 285 workouts, which is satisfactory. Most workouts were gym, bike rides, and yardwork. Including the past few years' totals for reference:
2022: 38 runs for 91 miles, 113 gym workouts, 68 bike rides for 1061 miles, 7 hikes for 30 miles, 43 mow/yardwork, 5 misc.
2023: 22 runs for 54 miles, 182 gym workouts, 58 bike rides for 623 miles, 15 hikes/walks for 55 miles, 21 mow/yardwork, 113 hours spent working on the basement.
2024: 12 runs for 25 miles, 169 gym workouts, 82 bike rides for 1119 miles, 9 mow/yardwork, 13 'other' (hikes, etc.)
Reading
My goals here:
- Read 50 books.My goals here:
- Continue chipping away at my American Reading List.
- Revisit King Arthur.
- Find good books on the science/study of humor.
No problem here; I read 60 books, and kept my 'owned but unread' pile at a pleasant number. My post here caps this year's book recommendations. I enjoyed revisiting King Arthur, and made minor progress on my American Reading list. I did not make any progress on humor studies. (But I laughed a lot, if that counts.) Overall, I'm satisfied.
Stuff
My goal here:
- Minimize everything in the home.- Buy less/budget better.
This went pretty well until July. My boys got into collecting sports cards, and I was caught up in the nostalgia of that; I spent too much in the latter half of the year on my hobbies. Need to reign that in.
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Conclusion
Looking across the categories above, it was a pretty good year. The main thing that stands out as needing improvement are focusing areas of service, nutrition, and personal spending, but more on those tomorrow. Here's to a better 2025. "Never stop starting."
Looking across the categories above, it was a pretty good year. The main thing that stands out as needing improvement are focusing areas of service, nutrition, and personal spending, but more on those tomorrow. Here's to a better 2025. "Never stop starting."
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