Setting priorities for this year (2020)

Setting priorities for the new year is easier said than done. Earlier this morning, I read a few Facebook posts from friends sharing what their New Year’s resolutions are. The last part of 2019 was pretty rough. By Christmas Eve, I felt bad enough to go to a local care clinic and was diagnosed with strep throat. The day after Christmas, I woke up to find my right eye a little pink. By Sunday, it hurt so bad that I went to an emergency room. No, not pink eye – but strep bacteria was infecting my eye.  While I was waiting to see the doctor, I began to reflect on how 2019 had come and gone. I even remembered a few of the resolutions I made and how easily many of them fell to the wayside as the year progressed.

Setting priorities

I’ve decided I’m no longer participating in the New Year’s resolution game. A “resolution” is nothing more than a “want to.” Sure, how many of us have said, “for my resolution, I want to lose weight” only to find out we didn’t by the end of the year. But a priority is something which is a “have to.” Things that are priorities are not easily forgotten because we place them where we cannot ignore or forget them. This year, I have decided to set two priorities for myself.

Improving my health is now a priority

The tracker from the website, myfitnesspal.com, has been displayed on this website for quite a while now. For the most part, I’ve not been doing too well at watching my diet, exercise, or meeting the weight goals. Being a Type II Diabetic isn’t easy and comes with a lot of health risks. Part of my problem is from a long history of not being physically active, combined with military service-related health issues. In the past, I have been content to use excuses to justify why I can’t lose weight and get into shape. Yes, I’m not physically fit. Yes, I am overweight. But 2020 is the year of priorities – and my overall health is a priority. I will lose 20 pounds (9.07 kilograms) by December 31st of this year.

Why am I making my health a priority?

Why do I want to make my health a priority? While we are alive, so much depends on our physical health. Studies have shown that poor physical health impacts our mental health, our sense of self-worth and image, and how we relate to others. The worse our physical health is, the more significant impact it has on our thought processes, our ability to do our job, and how we enjoy life. As a parent and grandparent, I must set an example of being in the best physical shape I can be. Being a man of faith, science, and academic, I also have obligations to be as physically fit as I can.  There’s an old saying If the world is to be a better place, then let it begin with me. 

The short term benchmarks I’ve set

One of the things I’ve decided for this year is to quit drinking diet sodas. Sure, they’re convenient when I’m in a hurry. But the health risks of diet cola have convinced me that it’s time to quit. I know it isn’t going to be easy; it has to be done. About three years ago, I gave up diet soda but began drinking it again out of convenience. Convenience is why we do many of the things we shouldn’t do, such as sodas, drive-thru meals, and other unhealthy habits.

I’ve also decided to limit what I eat. No more days of allowing depression ( which is linked to the chronic migraines) from convincing me it is okay to eat an entire bag of Doritos. It means resisting the urge to go through the drive-thru or taking a closer parking spot on nice days. It also means being more careful with what I order when going out to eat with family or friends.

It’s more than watching what I eat. This priority is a lifestyle change that includes setting and sticking to wake-up and bedtimes, meal schedules, and other health-related issues. And as I share the other priority for this year, the two priorities are codependent upon one another. I cannot expect to improve my mind without improving my overall health.

Improving my mind is now a priority

Over the past few years and as I have neglected my health, I’ve slowed down a lot. I love to read; using last year as an example, I only finished two nonfiction and one fiction book. Part of the reason is health-related. Between the fatigue that Diabetes brings and the challenges brought on by chronic migraine headaches, I let my reading go. This year, I’ve decided to get back into the habit of reading. My goal is to read fourteen books this year. Reading keeps the mind sharp and can stimulate the very areas of the brain affected by aging. I’m starting with the books I didn’t finish last year, such as The Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan, and will add more as the year goes by.

But improving the mind isn’t done by reading alone. It involves stimulating the mind’s creativity and developing a rich and meaningful faith that serves to give life – our very existence – purpose.

Part of improving the mind is improving my faith

And as a part of improving my mind, I want to get back to improving my spiritual walk. In our age, there’s a belief that academics, the sciences, humanities, and religion cannot exist in harmony. But the more I study the Enlightenment era, I think men such as Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, Adam Smith, and John Locke, faith, reason, science can coexist and often enhance one another greatly.  Everyone believes in something beyond themselves – even the most die-hard humanist has a core set of beliefs that define their world outlook. Whether it is the laws of nature, environmentalism, philosophy, or the structure of religion, or some hybrid, faith is a part of the human experience.

Part of improving the mind is stimulating my creativity

I also want to get back to regularly practicing the cornet and other instruments I play. And I need to get back to teaching myself to play the ukelele, one of my newer self-imposed challenges. Music is a significant part of who I am. At one point, when I attempted college the first time, I was a music theory and composition major. Practice takes mental discipline and structure; something I have discovered is missing from my life for quite a while. Creativity is one of many ways the human body handles stress. When we make setting time aside for our creativity, it becomes a cherished part of our routine.

Optimistic about the new year

I start this new year with these new priorities feeling confident that I will reach these goals. This year is not about making resolutions and then laughing as I break them. It is about making lifestyle changes that will have an impact on my life and those around me.