2019 Review
So 2019 was pretty cool, at least most of it was. I think I did more traveling in the first 6 months than I did in all of 2018. I also FINALLY put in the new floor in my living room! Towards the second half of the year I sustained a pretty serious injury that thwarted some of my travel plans and set me back in some of my fitness progress. But no matter, I'm still on the road to recovery now and I'm hoping for some big plans in 2020, and the start of a new decade.
Speaking of, I can't really believe how much has changed in 10 years. It's pretty surreal. A new guy, 2 new jobs, 2 new cars, a dog, new friends, new experiences. It's been a ride. I going to try to continue the trend and be positive about the next 10 years, and pretend I am not getting old.
So here is my review of my goals from 2019:
1. Cross off one of my main travel locations. So there are a few places I keep saying I will go, and I always end up putting it off. These are the trips where I have to spend a good amount of time, and I'm not entirely sure of what the location is like, so I get hesitant. These places include Havasu Falls, Banff, Zion, Vancouver, Yellowstone, Hawaii, and Acadia. I have 3 weeks vacation this year plus 4 days that rolled over, so that should be plenty of time.
--> Success! Not only did I do the incredible hike to Havasu Falls, I also spent 5 days in Acadia, traveled to Los Angeles for a conference, went to Toronto for my first design conference and went to the Hockey Hall of Fame, spent a weekend in Nashville, and hiked Mt. Flume and Mt. Liberty in New Hampshire. That's a good amount of stuff.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
2. Run at least 3 5k races. I stopped running and I want to get back into it. I'm not sure my knees will agree, but I think I can handle a 5k spaced out through the year.
-->Meh. I had many 5ks planned for the year. I did one, the Terrain Race - which holy hell, turns out I am NOT a contender for the ultimate ninja warrior. I did however, climb the rope and ring the bell which was pretty rad. I wish someone had gotten that on video. Shortly after this race I tore my calf muscle and was sidelined for 12 weeks. I missed the foam glow run, the black light run, the Christopher Martin run, and I missed 14 weeks of hockey. Serious ouch. I am still dealing with the complications of this injury.
Rating: 3 out of 5. I give this satisfactory because I had all the intentions and was well on my way, but being injured is out of my control.
3. Use Buddhify more regularly - finish entire circle at least once this year. I spent money on this app, "Buddhify", which is supposed to help with relaxation and clearing the mind. I've only used it a few times, but its pretty neat. I think it will help a lot with my anxiety, so it would be beneficial to my mental health to use it more often.
Fail. I did use this app more than I had last year, but not nearly enough. Luckily some new friends at work are into self care and meditation as well, so they've encouraged me to do more, but I wouldn't say I succeeded in this task.
Rating: 1 out of 5.
4. Try new at least one new method to try to solve my stomach issues. So I feel like I'm back to the year 2014, where nothing is working, the less I eat the more weight I gain, excessive bloating and stomach distention - all of it. It seemed to help when I took some antibiotics, but after a month or so it has all returned. So I think I should try some radical measures at this point. This includes acupuncture, an actual food allergy test, some yoga, meditation, etc.
Sorta? I did try a DNA test to determine some food sensitivities and found out some interesting things. I also went back to taking some herbal supplements. And actually, my stomach has been pretty great! The weight gain not so much - but I attribute that to lack of movement from the injury and also stress. Once I can run again I think I can stick to my diet better and work it off.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
5. Take at least 3 new classes in anything new. So this is somewhat of a repeat, but I'm combining two that I failed at in 2018. Basically anything new, whether it be something physical (like the aerial silks, karate, yoga, jedi training) or learning a new skill from an online class (3D animation, video editing, new XD training, a new language), as long as I'm putting my mind to work.
Yeaaaa... No. Fail. I did learn some interesting things at the conferences I went to, but I definitely didn't take the steps I wanted to toward learning a new skill.
Rating: 0 out of 5.
6. Take my bike out onto at least 2 new trails. So Gary bought me this awesome bike 2 years ago and I still haven't taken it out. Mostly because I don't like doing things alone, but I need to get over that. There are plenty of bike trails in CT, so I need to just go.
Almost! Once I was cleared to start light exercising, I went a little overboard and took my bike out to the canal trail. I made it all the way to the new section in Cheshire that I had never been on before, and wow was I exhausted. There and back was about 15 miles, and I got caught in a storm on the way back so I was really hustling. It was nice being out there on my own and seeing the new part of the trail. I had intended on going all the way up to Southington but it's quite a bit longer than I realized. I also found that the Quinnipiac Trail has been extended after I took a walk with the doggy, but I never went back with my bike. So good effort, but I did not make my simple goal of two trails. My time was limited due to the injury, but I still had the month of November to finish and I did not.
Rating; 2 out of 5
Overall rating: 2.5
So 2019 could use an improvement, but it's still a significant boost from 2018's rating of 1.6. In fact, most of my ratings are pretty low, I don't think I've ever scored above a 3.5! This means I need to be more disciplined. But really these goals should just motivate me to be better, and encourage me to do more things in my life. I was pretty happy with 2019, aside from the injury. So I expect to work hard in 2020 to redeem myself and get back the time the torn calf muscle took from me.