New Year's Eve Reflections

I've never been much of a New Year's resolutioner. Sure, I'm always settings long & short-term goals to keep myself on task with my bigger purpose but the coming of a New Year has never really inspired me. 2017 might be behind us but we're all still the same people. No one is going to reinvent themselves. At our best we grow into a better version of ourselves. At our worst we take up valuable squat rack space and then go back to our old, unhealthy habit loops a month later. If you're the kind of person who benefits from making resolutions to exercise, learn, or be kinder, that's great! Do whatever makes you happy. But to me NYE is a time for reflection. What worked? What didn't? What could I have done better? In which ways could I have fucked up but didn't?

2017 has been a rough year for the world. International political turmoil, polarization in America, an unprecedented rise in both organized and lone wolf terror. There are some of us that are counting down the days before shit hits the fan. Others who are slowly surrendering to the idea that we truly are living in a simulation. Moral decay and decadence are rampant because so many people have lost their faith in humanity, the world, or even themselves. It's a scary time to be alive. That being said, this past year has proven to be the phenomenal for me. I would venture to go as far as to say that it has been the best one I've had.

Since my last yearly reflection I've gained 20 pounds of mostly muscle. That puts me at 220 lbs which has been a long-term goal for me since sophomore year of high school. I've incorporated yoga, mobility, and stretching into my exercise routine which has paid dividends in terms of joint health. Being 6'5" is rougher than it looks, without regular upkeep my body starts to fall apart. I spent awhile focusing on long distance running and can now casually run 8+ miles if I need to. While I was hoping to attend a half-marathon in NY in March, the recent cold weather has turned me off from the idea.

I've expanded my meditation practice to include the transcendental, visualization, and analytic types along with mindfulness and loving-kindness which I had already been practicing. I learned to be kind to myself and stop beating myself up for not being perfect. I am enough. I've met a lot of kind strangers who changed my view on human beings. In general everyone is just trying to live their life. No one is out there solely to fuck everyone else over.

I've read a lot of literature as well as non-fiction, watched a number of thought provoking films and shows, and listened to a great number of podcasts. Like most other people my age, I'm still figuring out the details of what I want to do with my life and the aforementioned things have all helped me get a better idea of what interests me.

I ate a lot of delicious meals while in Chicago, my last Sunday there I casually had the best ramen of my entire life. The night before that I had Italian food that I'll never forget. I visited my friends and family in Tucson for the first time since leaving for boot camp. I checked out Washington DC and New York. As a TA in the T-1 radar fundamentals lab in A School I helped over 100 students figure out how signal tracing and fault isolation works. I convinced a friend that suicide was not the answer to their problems.

This has been the first year that I've been consistently happy. Obviously there have been countless hours that were stressful, frustrating, and depressing but at no point did I feel like I couldn't handle it. 2017 is the year that I found out I'll be serving in Japan for three years. Going into the Navy I wanted to be a MK160 FC assigned overseas to either Yokosuka or Rota. I got my wish and couldn't be happier. The Law of Attraction might be pseudoscience but it sure does seem that the universe has been helping me out along my path.

2018 is right around the corner and I'm excited to find out what the future has in store for me.