Monday, January 8, 2018

Winter Poem

I'd like to take some time to pander
To the hearty soul, the Michigander.
When winter comes I want to flee.
My neighbor folk are not like me.

They cheer the flurries stacked in feet,
They dream of ice and snow and sleet,
And when it seems too cold to go
They run outside and play in snow.

What is this bizarre predilection?
North by north is their direction.
Arctic cold is in their dreams.
They've lost their freaking minds it seems.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Things to work on in 2018

Wondering what I'm planning for 2018? Well, so am I. I wouldn't go so far as to call these "resolutions", but here's what I have in mind:

Taking better care of myself physically -- I made nice progress on my back and my weight last year, and I feel better for it. There's still more work to do, though. Hitting age 50 made me aware that right now I am defining the arc of my declining years. I'd like that to be as good as possible.

Mental reinvigoration -- As many of you have observed, I got pretty worn down the last few years. As I've worked my way back from that case of mental burnout I've noticed that I've gotten a bit stale. I need to learn new things this year.

More rest, more nature, more physical exercise -- I've gotten into some pretty bad habits on these fronts. I'm going to try to rebuild better habits: earlier bedtimes, more time outside, more time moving my body. Less couch potato lifestyle.

Rebuild my attention span -- more books, less media. My job does a fine job of eroding my attention span. I don't need to accelerate that erosion in my off-time, too.

Less social media, more socializing in person -- despite this post. Oh, I'm not disappearing from FB or anything like that. But the last couple of years have felt a bit isolating. Mostly I think I've let my inner introvert take charge as I became worn down and tired. I'm going to make a conscious effort to reconnect with some folks in person this year. And I'm going to make a conscious effort to check in on FB and the Twitterverse less often this year.

And that's it. This all seems reasonably do-able as I write it out. For the most part it's just a matter of shifting priorities and tamping down some bad habits. I don't expect a revolution on any of those fronts. Just improvement. We'll see how it goes.

Good luck to all of you with whatever you plan to work on in 2018!