It’s my first ever New Year’s blog on Boundless, so to commemorate, I thought I’d give you a glimpse at one of this year’s most badly guarded secrets: my New Year’s resolutions list.
OK, to be fair, I think New Year’s resolutions are slightly silly, because it doesn’t really make much sense to wait for Jan. 1 to make the changes in your life that you need, especially since most people fail on doing them before Valentine’s Day. However, since everyone and their moms are making the rest of us reflect on 2014 and usher in the new year with meditations and goals, I thought I’d share some of mine that I’ve been forced to write down.
Accept feedback.
Being a youngish male who for a living tells younger people what to do, it’s often hard for me to accept feedback or criticism. I often fall for the lie that because I teach others, I don’t need anyone to teach me. Even writing that previous line only serves to reinforce how much I know and thus don’t need to learn from others. I’m the best; I know everything I need to! I … Ahh shucks! It hasn’t even been a week yet. Sigh.
Bridge divides.
I’ve always been a big believer that the church needs more rational conflict and less “nice” people who never really say what they think or mean and just judge everyone in their hearts. This year, however, I’m going to work on bridging divides that are already in the open rather than solely focusing on bringing to light what conflicts may exist deep down. Look for future blogs on my adventures with this.
Chew properly.
This is a tough one. I average about five to six chews per mouthful of food, steak included, and it’s not very good for me. So I’ve decided that this year I’m going to chew properly. I hope my eating patterns will be transformed through the renewing of my mind.
Develop patience.
You’ll see a trend throughout these resolutions eventually, depending on how far I get. About half of them have to do with patience. I’m a very “efficient” person. I know exactly how much time I need to do pretty much everything I usually do and how much time it takes to get from one place to another. I give very exact time estimates for myself and almost always stick to them. Now other people, even God, don’t always follow my time schedules, which can be frustrating. However, if the One who created time itself doesn’t always show up at the moment that I specify, maybe I should allow for more flexibility in my timing.
Enjoy life.
Amidst all the things I have to do these days and the various responsibilities and work that seems to endlessly pile up the older I get, one thing I realized from last year is that I need to enjoy life more. For those of us who are more objective-oriented, joy might often seem more like a goal, three steps into the future. However, I’ve begun to see that joy in life is more often found in the journey we take and not just in the destination that we think will make us happy.
Fast from the internet.
According to my data plan, I’ve spent almost 40GB this year on 240p videos streamed from YouTube on my mobile alone while not on WiFi. That’s up a whopping 40GB from 2013 (yes, I had a smartphone back then; I just didn’t watch stuff on my phone). Yes, I’ve realized this is way too much. Food doesn’t take up much of my time or concentration; eating out is easy in Hong Kong, and I usually do stuff while eating anyway. Technology though? Suffice to say, in 2015 I’m going to try fasting from YouTube/viral videos for at least a month straight, perhaps more.
Anyway, those were just some of the ABCs for my New Year’s resolutions; let me know what some of yours are. They can be funny, deep or simply personal to you.
