Happy New Year everyone. Hope all of you had a good holiday season. I learned things about myself and others over this period and it will all be presented in this post.
First, you know what’s coming.
Music to listen to: Single by Everything but the Girl
Something chill to start the year.
Everyone makes resolutions at the beginning of the calendar year because it represents a chance to change your lifestyle for the better. We all would like to improve things in our life or enhance the positives that we are already practicing.
Unfortunately, many resolutions are hindered over time and we fall into our same habits.
So, I don’t have resolutions for this upcoming year. Instead I have lifestyle alteration suggestions. Some of these will be specific things which you will see but its more about influencing your lifestyle in a positive way instead of trying to stick to a resolute ideal that may be hard to maintain. With that, let’s get started.
-Be healthier physically. I’m still a relatively young man but I turn 29 in May. I’m reaching that age where I have to make preparations physically so that I can have a better lifestyle when I’m 60. At this pace, I may struggle to even make that number. This will mean increasing my physical activity but also watching my food intake or diet. Its not about being on a diet where I cut out carbs or increase protein, things like that would be helpful I guess but I know what I should eat and not eat.
-Be healthier mentally. This is the most important year I’ve had from a professional standpoint. Enough with school, internships, graduate assistantships, etc. This is my time to establish my career in sports and become the dominant sport manager that I was born to be. I’ve prepared for this since I was a little kid. Its my destiny.
With that, I have to prepare myself mentally for this fate. That means keeping my focus but also enjoying my life to appreciate what I have. I have to believe in balance.
-Improve my swagger. One of my nephews told me that I needed to do this. He’s 16 years old, good looking, nice guy, star football player, built like a tank, popular with the ladies and has a supreme level of self-confidence that I’m actually envious of.
The key is that he’s so young and has an unlimited future. I used to have this mentality. However, struggles in my life have zapped that out completely.
Its hard to have self confidence in your early-20’s when you get laid off of your job, the heat gets cut off in an apartment you can’t afford and you have to move into your brother and sister’s home. That’s when the serious depression and feeling like your life is worthless come in. That’s why I don’t want my early 20’s back ever again.
I’ve worked hard to get myself to this stage and many of you have seen my maturation. I will never be perfect, don’t want to be, but I need to gain my self-confidence back, or increase my swagger as the young kids say.
-Be a positive influence on younger family members. I used to be the youngest kid in the family for years but now my generation is starting to have children and they have grown up quickly. I have nieces, nephews, cousins, etc. in junior high school and high school. Some are even in college.
Now, I’ve become a mentor for them. I was part of the first group of family members to consistently go to college and its my responsibility to help out the younger generation in any way possible.
I used to not want this role because I felt the pressure to be the breadwinner of the family and honestly, I still feel it. I was always told that I would achieve great things, become famous, make a lot of money, etc. by my family members. They were trying to be encouraging and that’s great but when you don’t reach those goals immediately, you feel like a failure.
I don’t feel like a failure but I haven’t achieved what I thought I would have at this stage of my life. But it’s all good, everybody’s journey is different, which ties into the younger family members. I’ve experienced a lot of things for them to seek guidance to me for but I also know to let them take their own paths and not be as judgmental as the generation that raised me when I was their age.
-Write more and I’m talking more than the Blog. I used to write poems daily. I’ve written short stories. I had plans on a novel for years and haven’t even started it. Hopefully the Blog can lead to more creative writing or even non-fiction commentaries on things like politics, history, science and things non-sports. I have other interests and need to express them.
-Learn to play guitar. I tentatively played bass a few years ago and was starting to comprehend it but gave up. I miss the challenge of learning how to play an instrument and using it to express my emotions.
Plus, women love musicians, speaking of which…
-At least one long-term girlfriend. My longest relationship is three months and that was in high school. Its not intentional, seriously. Never cheated, never been cheated on, I think. My relationships don't last long and it would be a nice change. It would be nice to have a long-term relationship to not only develop myself but help someone grow as well.
A healthy partnership would be welcomed.
-Learn French. Women love French…actually this one is more than that. I have French origins and haven’t acknowledged them enough. I have family members from Martinique and haven’t been able to communicate with them in the native language. I think by learning French I can feel more in touch with my ancestors and my background. it’s a missing part of my life that I need to fill.
-Have better relationship with my father. This is personal but I can tell you that we’ve both been wrong over the years and its time for us to eliminate the negativity and move towards the future.
-Finally, do community service. Back in the NYC, I used to be heavily involved in community service and it was a fulfilling part of my life. Between doing activities in church, with the Leo/Lions Club, school and a community center here and there, I was making a positive contribution to society.
Sure, there was a selfish element to make myself feel good by helping those less fortunate than me, heck, it looked good on my college applications, I actually liked the process. It made me feel good inside and made me appreciate life. Furthermore, it drove me to not become deterred by any obstacles because I saw people in much, much worse shape than me loving their life.
There are plenty of ways that I can do this and this is a good time to start.
This is also a good time to end this post. Thanks for reading and you stay safe out there in those streets.
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