Here goes nothin'
Well, it's a new year. I'm doing my best to begin it with a clean slate, though some baggage always makes its way across these imaginary lines we create for ourselves. I spent a lot of time reflecting on what I wanted this new year to look like and now that I'm here, I still feel unsure. Resolutions are dumb. Years are arbitrary metrics. I get it. But I love an opportunity to do something different, or start over, or whatever, and a new year is an easy one. Anyways, I figured I'd make one last reflection and then move forward.
I suppose I also wanted to write a first blog post of the year with this fresh green design that I absolutely stole from the Good Enough blog (I love you, Good Enough).
Treat your body well
My physical health has struggled over the past year and I attribute a lot of that to my failure to eat and move well. I'm not trying to do any fancy diets. My doctor suggested some modifications that I'm playing with, but the two big things that I believe will help me a lot are to eat less and move more.
I'm not talking about starving myself, just not eating until I can't breathe. Pretty simple, but it's one that I have a difficult time with.
As for moving more, move your body in new ways, challenge yourself, take more breaks during long stretches of sitting. Just walking and working out isn't enough. The goal should be to move well in as many ways as you can, while also increasing your capacities in the realms that you care about.
Prioritize play and exploration
Learning through building projects surely has it's place, but something I've learned about myself is that if I use a project as a learning tool, especially if the goal is to share it with others, I will prioritize forward momentum over understanding. If learning is the goal—and it is—this strategy obviously doesn't work. So this year, I want to prioritize play and exploration, and if I take on any projects, they must be for myself and no one else.
This is directed at programming primarily, but it should apply to everything in my life really. I could heavily benefit from taking things less seriously and taking on a more curious attitude as I move through my life. Try some shit, expect to fail, rinse and repeat.
Shake shit up
This relates to play and exploration somewhat, but it's important enough that it should stand alone. My life has been stunted by a desire to constantly grasp for security and it feels like time is passing me by while I just wait for good things to happen. It might work for some people, but it's not a reliable way to create change. In the end, you're going to lose anyways, so make life interesting.
A few targets for 2025
Though I'm abandoning project goals this year, I do have a few things that I'd like to do, or at least move towards.
Network+ and LPIC-1 certifications
3 accepted PRs to a single open source project
Travel somewhere new, outside of the US
Originally, I wanted to do the Via Francigenca from Siena to Rome, but I'm still a little bit unsure about this. It might be cool if I'm going to keep with my "shake shit up" call to action, but I want to take some more time to think about this one. Doing a couple week walk somewhere sounds like a great way to end the year though. We'll see.