As I have for the past few years and in keeping with my not making New Year’s Resolution, I said I would work on the following in 2012.
Worship more. Pray more. Read more. Celebrate more. Work less. Play more. Eat less. Exercise more. Write more. Create more. Spend less. Give more.
Here’s my self assessment.
Worship more: I continue to need to seek times for worship beyond the corporate worship experience on Sunday mornings. Music helps with that. So did quiet times on the beach. I found some of those times, but not enough.
Pray more: What I need to learn to do is pray without ceasing. And I need to learn that prayer isn’t always asking God for things, or telling him I’m sorry I screwed up again. Prayer is a relationship with God. He’s there waiting. I need to show up.
Read more: I did a pretty good job with this. A total of 25 books, including reading through the Bible again. That doesn’t include hours of reading news stories, blog posts, etc. Still, I want time to sit down and just immerse myself in books.
Celebrate more: We did some of that. But we need to be more intentional.
Work less: Sigh…
Play more: One week at the beach is not enough. We did make one day trip to DC. But the summer lacked amusement parks, and hiking and just…play. I did allow myself to watch more television this year. But selectively, I spent time with Glee, SMASH, Awake, Suits, Downton Abbey and I’m getting caught up on Dr. Who. I think the thing is, if I’m doing something I enjoy, it’s not really wasting time.
Eat less: I probably shouldn’t do this assessment between Christmas and New Years. The first half of the year was pretty good. The fall kind of got out of control.
Drink more: I’ve basically given up soft drinks at work. But I still need to drink more water.
Exercise more: Again, it seems as though the first of the year was pretty good, then I got off schedule. I was in a show this summer and didn’t go to the gym when we had late night rehearsals or performances. Then some family scheduling and vehicle challenges got me out of the habit and I’ve not quiet reestablished it. That changes this week.
Write more: I seem to be writing all the time. Not enough on the novel. And I didn’t do Nanowrimo. But I’m putting words together on paper…or on the screen.
Blog more: The 365 Things I Believe project has caused me to post on my personal blog every day. I need to be more deliberate about the other sites where I write.
Create more: I did a couple of art projects, but I haven’t put anything on canvas. I got some art supplies for Christmas that I’m looking forward to breaking open. I tried a few things from Pinterest with moderate success. But I need to spend less time looking around there and more time actually creating.
Spend less: I don’t know that we’ve spent less. But we’ve spent less frivolously. So I guess that’s better. We did have some pricey outlays with having to buy a new car, replace a dishwasher and repairing a shower that was leaking into the foyer.
Give more: It feels like I did. But I’m sure I can do more.
All in all, it doesn’t look like I’m giving myself such a good grade. But I have to keep in mind that with all of that, I was in three major shows this year. I am consistently writing for pay, even if it’s not a lot of money. And I was actively involved throughout the campaign season.
So, more or less on a personal level, it wasn’t such a bad year. 2013 can be better.
On a larger scale it was an emotional roller coaster of a year, and I’m writing that review for Bearing Drift. I won’t be sad to tell 2012 goodbye.
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