Take it on Faith

My goal for 2013 is quite the opposite. In fact, I’m looking to fit into even bigger jeans, the kind with an elastic waist pouch that expands with a growing belly, then, hopefully, mom jeans. This is the year I’m going to breed (hopefully) my own batch of homebrew and finally bring home a baby. How can I say this after nearly four years of trying? Because Mother Nature can’t be that much of a jerk, right?

We learned that science failed us two weeks before Christmas after bad touching our wallet. Somehow we made it through the holiday season (drunkest Christmas ever) and have resolved ourselves to try, try again. While it’s been extremely difficult, we haven’t lost our faith that this will happen, that we are deserving people.

 

Take it on faith, my love

Baby just one time,
Bet your life on mine
Take it on faith, my love…
-Matt Mays 

In that spirit, I’m working towards slimming down a bit before throwing my body out of whack once again. The good news is I discovered a weight loss program that worked. I simply cut out alcohol for two+ months and pounds magically disappeared. So now every week, I have my own countdown to liquor day (night) and have been even more productive the other six nights. How have I been spending those six nights and very busy days? Glad you asked.

A New Way to Resolve

It's resolution time of year and predictably I find myself with a list of self improvements and goals for 2013. In theory I think resolutions are dumb because they are often too vague or overreaching and therefore get abandoned before the first flip of the calendar. However, I do like to use each New Year as a time for some reflection and motivation to accomplish those things that have been languishing on the to-do list for too long.

This year I did things a little differently. I started with my resolution to "be better with money." I sat down and brainstormed a bunch of specific things about our family finances that were bugging me and ended up with a list of about ten points. Each mini-resolution then became a monthly task, making the entire process a series of doable steps. For example, my January item is to make up a monthly budget. Meeting it will come later, but first things first, start with a budget. I realize this approach is Project Management 101 and how I get things done in my day job, but for some reason it never occurred to me to apply these principles to my personal life, too.

My 2013 exercise resolution is simple: To run 10 km. I did this once when I was 18 and unlike those who feel the pull to run half then full marathons (you know who you are!), I was quite satisfied with this distance. Since this is a new year's resolution I'm giving myself the whole year to be able to do it. I figure if I start with 1 km in January and add a kilometer every month, I should be on track to run my goal distance by November. It may not seem ambitious, but that's OK. I'm more interested in achievable.

As I look out upon the snow storm that just descended on Calgary, I'm already finding excuses not to leave the warm cozy of my house. Hopefully by reviving OSJ and making my declaration public I will be shamed into doing it. And maybe motivate some others along the way... 

View from my back window: NOT MOTIVATING!