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!