A New Year

Annual Pep Talk to Keep Buggering On 

There isn't much difference between December 31st and January 1st each year.  In most respects its just another day.  We have it off, or most of us, and there's a lot of football, mostly teams I don't care about.  We spend most of our time figuring out how to navigate the small stuff in our lives that we forget to think about the BIG stuff.  Your small stuff is likely somewhat different than most people's small stuff, we're all like snowflakes in that regard.   But the BIG stuff, well, we are all pretty much alike.  Each and every one of us.  You may not spend much time regarding the BIG stuff but its there.  Waiting.  Its patience is phenomenal...it can wait you out.  

Today, on New Year's Day, I'm going to muse on the BIG stuff that affects us all, and I hope that in some way, you will throw a light on your BIG stuff as well.  New Year's resolutions get a bad rap for the most part.  Yes, many slough off in a few weeks, but that's not the fault of the resolution.  I resolved 14 years ago to stop smoking and I haven't had a cigarette since, not even one drag.  No resolutions today.  More like goals.   No wild-eyed proclamations that will stall next week.  Wild-eyed maybe but with some luck and a strong wind at my back these goals will last throughout the year.  BIG stuff isn't faddish and never goes away.  But that's a good thing, right?  

BIG Stuff #1 -  Health

Weight seems to be just about everyone's major concern.  Health- type professionals when discussing diets will tell you it is all very very simple.  East less, exercise more.  Forget Paleo, Atkins, 3-Hour, Skinnybitch, Cabbage Soup, Fast Flush, you name it, the secret isn't really a secret.  Cut your portions in half or thirds and you have already tackled half the equation.  In the morning and evening, take a walk around the block or a few blocks and you have done it all.  Problem solved.  You WILL lose weight.  

My friend, Jeff, walks miles everyday with his buddy, Lily Lu, the most beautiful Redbone hound you ever saw.  A most sensible and reasoned man, Jeff also has a determination gene that is stronger than American steel so I don't wonder about him, he will be a thinner person when next I see him.  

Our bodies change.  When I was in college I could eat and drink anything and never gain a pound.  Now, it is harder to manage and we need to be cognizant that things get tougher, so we need to get tougher too.  I like the example Jeff is setting, and I am going to lose wight in 2015.  I am going to eat less and exercise more.  It isn't just weight, however, it is the conditioning and strengthening that we all need to do as well.  This type of fitness costs little and can do so much to keep us generally healthy.  It is an awareness that true fitness isn't just in losing weight, it is in recognizing health in its totality.  

I have another cross-country ride coming up in August and they can be grueling if you aren't fit.  I can attest that you need to be physically adjusted to take the pounding that a bike gives you if you are in the saddle all day, and I'm not talking Monkey Butt balm.  Before my trip out West I was jogging a mile or two everyday to prepare.  Today a knee is cranky so I'll do some  walking and get ready for that trip.  Just watch. 


BIG Stuff #2 - Wealth

I find it interesting.  We mingle and chat, have beers, go out and eat with people, travel and visit friends.  But when it comes to personal finances we tend to isolate ourselves and never speak of such things, as if it is some kind of taboo.  Perhaps it is.  Donne famously wrote, "No man is an island."  He wasn't aware of how we all are with our own finances.  It is a line in the sand we seldom if ever discuss amongst our friends - too personal I suppose.  

It's almost like we all are sent out into the world with our jobs and yet, unless we get some info from family member, we may pay some guy to give us their professional advise, we are basically alone in figuring out investments and the market.  I think we should all share a bit more.  Lift the veil of secrecy:  no one wants to know how much we have, but we can all use tips on investment ideas.  

I have a lot of ideas but no money.  Aledo needs a second bar.  I'd love to build storage units in an area not yet saturated.  I've long thought of traveling the US finding old golfing country clubs and doing a coffee-table type pictorial of each hole with time-honored stories specific to that place and individual holes.  My attempt at selling my paintings and the rental house in Henderson have not worked out very well.  But I have hope.  

So in 2015 I am going to save more and spend less.  I am going to keep investing, when I can, in a couple of mutual funds.  And continue placing small amounts in on-line savings accounts.  I also hope to increase my monthly donation to the best charity I've found.  It is the Timberline Stitchers that Jeff and Carol were involved with.  It is a group of ladies around the Galesburg area that make quilts of vets, people in nursing homes, cancer patients and the like.  I don't think rental property is a very efficient means of supplemental income so I hope to take care of that this year, too.   Just watch.
    
BIG Stuff #3 - Stuff We Do Because We Like Doing It

Neighbor Tim used a phrase once I liked.  I'm not sure he originated it but he's the first one I heard it from so he gets credit.  He said working as a Technician at Sherwin-Williams is just something the does between weekends. 

I am lucky enough to have three hobbies.  I love old cars, photography and oil painting.  Luckily two of the three are affordable.  My second old car will have to wait, but taking pictures and painting can be done daily. 

My goal for the camera is to become more knowledgeable of its intricacies and to continue to take pictures, daily, if possible and to expand my abilities with it.  My ultimate goal is to take it off the "auto" setting and manually manipulate the functions to make pictures really mine, rather than what the camera thinks I want.    

For my other hobby I have set forth an ambitious goal of a painting a week.  I don't want to do a little dabbling, put the brushes down for three weeks and then return.  I want to have two or three paintings going at one time,  so if I get tired of working on one, another will entice.  

In addition I will create a page for my stuff on Etsy in an attempt to try to sell some of it.  I'm not sure how Etsy works but I'll create a page and hopefully sell a few of the paintings I have hanging on the wall.   Just watch. 


BIG Stuff #4 - Place In The Universe

I have put myself in a bit of a bind.  When I am in Florida I wish I were in Northlandia.  In Northlandia I miss my family.  Apartment life sucks, plain and simple.  I had a plethora of things to occupy my mind on Chambers Street; the big old Victorian always required attention.  Now I walk from room to room in search of purpose. 

A man needs to keep busy and all too often I have failed in that endeavor.  My truck and Miss Frump are stored 1400 miles away and I took three trips up North this past year.  Better riding up North, better night sky, lower costs, and if I run over to see the bros they may buy me lunch once in a while. Then again, each and every member of my immediate family is in Florida.  If I move back home I will have my share of projects, Miss Frump and maybe even a part time job - if I stay in Florida I will be consigned to apartment living and the sense of running out the clock.  I have friends up North, more pockets of actual fun, but there is also Norah and another wee one on the way down here.   

This year I will finally decide:  move up North or stay in Florida or if I can, maybe do a snowbird thing.   Just watch.

So that is a full agenda of things to get going on for the new year.  I leap in anticipation of what the year will bring, and will forecast, more out of hope than studied analysis, that 2015 will be the greatest year in some time.  I can't wait to make a mark on its empty slate.  Go ahead, sit down and do some thinking on your own BIG issues and make your mark on 2015.