As I always do at the beginning of the year, I like to ponder the last year and consider the challenges, the struggles and the failures, but also the successes, the victories and the accomplishments. As I think of 2017 - here’s my list of struggles:
- Struggles & Challenges
- My health - I made some progress towards the end of the year by eating healthier, but I’m still in pain all the time. I need to find a better solution
- My marriage - we had some GREAT times this year and at times I felt very close to Amy - but we’ve struggled as of late and having Natsuko, Sierra and Celina with us really added more strain and stress to our marriage.
- My spirituality - since seminary started, I’ve actually grown a bunch spiritually, but I’ve struggled to get back to the point where I feel truly led by the spirit. I know that the Holy Ghost is still working with me and prompting me - I feel those promptings and His love often - but I want to improve my connection with Heavenly Father through improved prayer and study habits this next year
- Successes & Accomplishments
- 4 incredible family vacations
- Disney Cruise - March 2017
- Paris Temple Open House - May 2017
- Redwood National Forest - May 2017
- Playa Del Carmen, MX Trip - Jan 2018 (Yeah - it was this year, but I will count it against last year)
- Maintaining relationships with children - with my job and calling, this has been a real struggle, but I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job at managing priorities and focusing on family whenever possible
- Job Success - we made $1.3M this year in salary, bonus and stock options! My annual bonus was 90% of my annual salary, which ended up being $203,000! Work has been going really well at Broadcom - the company is doing well and I have a great job with a world-class team. I really couldn’t have dreamed of a better career path - its pretty much exactly what I’ve always wanted to do.
- Bishop Success - my calling is very demanding and can be very tough, but I feel very humbled that I have truly been an instrument in the Lord’s hands. I make mistakes and I’m not always spiritually on top of myself, but Heavenly Father makes the best he can of this weak human and uses me to do His work. It is VERY humbling to watch and experience.
So - as I think of New Year’s Resolutions for 2018 - here’s my list. I don’t want to try to tackle too many things, but I feel this list is a list of things that I can tackle!
- Health -
- daily exercise and start the year on the no-carb diet. I want to get down to ~200lbs before changing my diet to “gluten-free”. My diet will have two benefits - losing weight to start, but trying to minimize my inflammation and hopefully reduce my dependence on pain killers.
- Cycling - I need to get into cycling as I see this as a way to add more stress relief as well as a more positive outlook to exercise. While in the temple the week after Christmas, Amy and I were in the prayer circle and literally out of the blue, I had this inspiration that I need to get a new road bike and a “trainer” from Peleton and install them in the basement. I want to spend this winter indoors, getting comfortable with my bike and spending more time in the mornings cycling. Then - with warmer weather, I will venture out and start really cycling for exercise - learning to really get comfortable on two wheels. Given my limited mobility and exercise options now, this is a transition I need to make to stay healthy for my family and for what the Lord has in store for me.
- Soda - I need to reduce/remove my dependence on soft drinks! I feel like soda rules my life and I’m always buying and drinking one. I need to learn to love water again!
- Marriage
- I have four goals for our marriage this year:
- Weekly lunches - this is a great habit and I want to get back to it
- Weekly dates - there’s no excuse for not dating weekly now that we have live-in babysitters - two of them now!
- Yearly couple trip - extended weekend. We’ve done this a couple of times and we need to do it this year and every year!
- Communication - Amy and I need to do a better job of communication - I think the key to this is nightly “study” before going to bed. We need to read something together every night. When we do this, we communicate so much better. I’m going to propose this for tonight
- Spirituality
- I heard a commercial on the radio this morning - it was about a skin care product, but the dialogue mentioned that one of the actresses “glowed” with the product on. I instantly thought of the effect of living a more spiritual life - the effect is that you “glow”. I’ve felt like that before and I want to get back to that! Here’s my plan:
- Daily Scripture Study - keep up with my seminary plan, but add studying on Saturday & Sunday in the evenings
- Daily Prayer - here’s where I can do so much better. I frankly don’t say regular personal prayers enough. I say personal prayers often and I have a constant prayer in my heart - but I need to communicate more regularly with Heavenly Father. So I plan to pray during my mornings and to have a kneeling prayer in the evenings. It will help to center my heart on what matters - others!
- Temple Attendance - Amy and I did pretty good at going twice a month - we want to keep that up
- Journal - I want to do a better job with my blog - writing something every day if possible. My journal has always been a great tool to help me focus on what matters - I want to add that tool back into my spiritual tool belt.
So - that’s my list - longer than I hoped, but I do feel like I can accomplish all of these changes in my life and make a very positive impact in all aspects of my life. I will share this with Amy ASAP so that we can help each other with our goals.
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