2017 Will Be Better

I think very few people would disagree with the idea that 2016 sucked.  Aside from the world itself seeming to implode, I lost sight of how much I loved fitness, gained too much weight, and generally spent the year feeling sorry for myself.  In 2017 I'm focused on a healthier and happier me. Thus, my goals are:

• Write 50 blog posts,
• Take 4 million steps,
• Cook 300 meals,
• Meditate 200 times,
• Bike 1 thousand miles.

I spent a lot of time working on the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 thing, so be impressed.  Here's the breakdown:

50 blog posts may not sound like much, and it really isn't.  But the last n blogs I've created I left alone for longer than I was comfortable with, so I just gave up.  My goal will be one post a week and I'm not going to limit the subject at all.  Cooking, health, fitness, rants, reviews, reminiscing, it's all fair game.

4,000,000 steps works out to about 11,000 steps a day. I'm using a pedometer, specifically my pebble watch, to monitor this.  Realistically, I know I'll miss days, so I'm going to aim for a 13k minimum each day, to give me a bit of a buffer.

300 meals cooked includes meals that I cook and eat more than once.  For example, I plan to make a pot of oatmeal every Monday and separating it into jars with fruit and berries.  Thus this would count for 5 meals.  However, Voila bags don't count.  That's not cooking, just heating.

200 meditation sessions is a tricky one.  I could theoretically meditate 200 times on 12/31/2017 and have it count, right?  And I do get really busy, so that's not an unreasonable hack.  So I'll say that for my first meditation in a day to count it has to be over 5 minutes.  If I do a second one, it needs to be over 10 minutes.  Two is my limit.

1,000 biked miles means I need about 20 miles a week.  On 12/28 I rode 4 miles on my stationary bike and it kicked my ass, but I imagine it will get easier the more I ride.  I'll start with a goal of 2 miles a day then work up to 12 miles 3 times per week.

1 vacation means a trip (no STAYcations will count) that is not for work.  It should include 2 nights away from home.

I'll maintain a spreadsheet to keep track of some of them (I really like spreadsheets!) by filling out a form each morning. I created the form myself using google forms.  You can find a copy here.  I set my calendar to remind me every morning to fill out the form for the day before.

I have other goals for the year that are less rigid, but I thought making these public would help me get my life back together.  Hopefully knowing I need to report on it will make it easier for me to hold myself accountable.