Okay, now that we're in 2017 and 2016 has been kicked out the door (and not a moment too soon) time to set some goals for the new year!
In the last couple of week so 2016 I started carrying around a little notebook that I use to jot down ideas, to-do lists (non-work related - those have their own notebook that STAYS AT WORK), etc. It's not really journalling per se, but I will try to write at least one sentence a day about something that happened that day.
I've once again taken the Goodreads Book Challenge and I decided to go back down to 30 books this year. Although one of my other goals is to catch up with some of the backlog of comic books I have, including some graphic novels and collected volumes, which I'm totally going to count in my book numbers (the novels/volumes that is, not the individual issues). I've tried to hit 35 in the past few years and came up short, so maybe 30 is more realistic.
Get a haircut. Yes, really. I'm way overdue.
More stitching! Actually, almost any stitching would be "more stitching" at this point. I did a little last year, but I could stand to do more since I find it relaxing and enjoyable. And I really need to finish some of those old projects that are loitering in my craft bins and staring guiltily at me.
Digital security improvements - mainly this will be updating some very old, weak, and duplicate passwords. The majority of these are on old sites that I don't even go to much anymore, so when I can, I'm planning to just delete the account (although not nearly enough places give you that option!). I also discovered that there were a lot of places that I had accounts for newsletters, etc. that don't seem to let you login any more, so I'm just deleting those. If that old data pops up somewhere, it's no big deal since the passwords associated with those old accounts won't be used on anything else.
Around my apartment the big goal is to take a bunch of books to Half Price and get the boxes out of my living room! I also have a few boxes of old collectible things that I might try selling to specialty stores and/or on eBay.
The big thing that I'm going to work on this year is my health, specifically:
* Generally speaking, I'm doing okay, but I know I can do better. I've been on blood pressure medication for a while now and I'm going to keep closer tabs on that this year.
* I'm also going to get a WAY WAY overdue eye exam. I'm turning 45 in a couple of months and I think I can count on one hand the number of real eye exams I've had.
* Eat better - I really slid back into some old bad habits in the past 18 months or so and my waistline is really showing it. I know that if I get back to cooking for myself and eating less processed food I will naturally lose weight because I've done it before. And when I do eat out, making healthier choices. Included with this - another dry January. I've been doing this for many years (even before I knew it was "a thing"... apparently it's the only thing I've been doing before I knew it was cool). This is one thing I actually manage to accomplish most years. I think of the years that I decided to do it, I only failed once. So, not bad!
* Walk more. I wrote down on in my notebook that I want to get to 5000 steps a day (yes, I realize that 10,000 is the recommended amount, but I'm trying to be realistic so I won't be disappointed when I fail miserably).
* Daily-ish arm and core exercises. I usually give myself Wednesday as a day off of these since I often have to work very long days and nights on Wednesdays. I'm going to give myself a pass on other days that I have to work at night and/or Saturdays. I usually get a LOT of steps on those days so I figure it kind of balances out.
That's it! Bring on 2017!