Goals for the New Year

It's hard for me to be optimistic about the New Year given what we have to look forward to with regards to our political leadership, but I am trying anyway. I hope the coming months bring us successful resistance, state level progress, and we get in the habit of organizing against fascism, because The Toddler is not going to be the final form fascism takes as it attempts to remake the country, this coming year is our best opportunity to get used to fighting it in all it's forms. It can't be treated as a solitary event or individual.

The New Year is an opportunity, to apply lessons learned in the old year and to learn new ones, we have a lot of both I think.

Change starts small though, and I have goals for the New Year that don't(as far as I know) involve fascism. I don't really do resolutions for whatever reason, but I still have things I want to accomplish and this is a good time of year to talk about them.

I want to find satisfaction in what I do, and my particular circumstances mean I am unlikely to find that in my work any time soon, so I must find it in my hobbies, I played too many video games and reread too many trashy sci-fi novels this year, there is nothing wrong with games and books of course, but the sense of accomplishment from them is fleeting at best, so I am going to recommit myself to writing more, I have my politics book to work on as well as my RPG I have been playtesting. I also have my blog, which has become a little bit unreliable in recent weeks, nothing major, just a missed day here and there, but I can't let it slip much more or I know it will basically end. To that end I am officially taking Mondays off from the blog and am using that time to work on one of the other projects instead, sometimes I will post portions of what I have, other times I won't.
I know that one day a week is not really enough time to get anything meaningful done in any reasonable timeframe, so I will have to spend other time on it as well, but I feel like specifically getting in the habit of doing something regularly will help.

I want to get a new job, one that doesn't involve sales goals or food if possible. I am feeling fairly secure at my job right now, but I don't want to be here forever and the prospects for advancement are limited at best.

Work on improving my health, I actually made a bit of progress on this front during 2016, getting various teeth fixed and starting to get a handle on my eating habits, but my sleep schedule got completely fucked and let's face it, I don't exactly move around a whole lot, so improving on those two fronts would help a lot. I get to fix the last couple problem areas with my teeth this year too so as long as I don't come down with diabetes or something this goal is likely to be at least partially met. But ideally I lose a bit of weight, more ideally I drop a pants size or two and expand my wardrobe options significantly. Regular meals with portion control at predictable times will help with this, as will going to bed before 4 AM.
My current bedtime goal is 2 AM or earlier, which I think given my usual work schedule is fairly reasonable. I won't feel like a complete failure if I miss it once in a while, but I think I don't want to see the sunrise without going to bed first this year, that should be doable.

Get involved with activism, let's face it, I talk a good game, but I don't actually do anything except yell on the internet, and while that is not nothing it is close enough to it that you need sensitive instruments to measure the difference. The problem is that much of activism is outside and with people, both things I find uncomfortable, the outside by preference and the people by virtue of my own not quite crippling mental issues. I am going to have to suck it up once in a while though and go to a protest, or a meeting, or a rally, or whatever and try to make my presence felt.

All of my goals are things I have control over, with the partial exception of getting a new job, I can absolutely get a new job but getting one that pays comparably while meeting my other standards is something that I realize is not entirely up to me. But still, I have control for the most part, I can't control if The Toddler sets up Muslim internment camps or if Pence starts up some private religious police force or something, but I can choose to put words in a document, or take a walk, or take that walk downtown in a crowd with signs and shit.

So that's me, if I accomplish even one item it will be good, so I am hopeful even with the world as it is. What goals, if any, do you have?

Whether you do or don't, it doesn't matter to me, I hope the New Year finds you optimistic, or if not that, determined, I hope you had a good night, and have a good day tomorrow, and keep working so the day after that is better.

Happy New Years everyone.