People often make resolutions* and making resolutions is fine if you're truly dedicated to achieving them, but life has ups and downs and halfway through the year you may be forced to scale back your ambitions (assuming you even began working on them).

Enter the theme. A theme essentially is a broad goal for the year. It's left vague so that almost anything you do fits in with it.

For example: this may be the Year of Health. Objectives could be signing up and going to a gym or being conscious about eating healthy or sitting down with a PCP and look at your numbers. Perhaps you've held off on having something looked at. Perhaps you're already being treated for something and this is the year to double down on efforts and beat it once and for all.

What about progress? Well, you get out what you put in, but the theme still allows you to claim a victory. Say you're a sedentary person and have not set foot in a gym in years. You sign up and resolve to go workout 3x/week. At the end of the year, you only averaged probably 10x/month...that's still more than last year so, go you!

I declare the year 2022 to be Year of Learning. I already know I want to get a couple of certifications under my belt to pad my resume, but I'm also looking into getting certifications related to health (for example, getting my CrossFit L1 coach). So although the CFL1 is the only specific one, I'm gonna let the year guide me as it progresses. Maybe this will be the year I decide to take network classes or perhaps I get higher Agile certifications. Perhaps over summer I get motivated and sign up to learn Python or C++...I don't know and that's why the theme works.

*For what it's worth, there's only one resolution I've kept going since 2018: no fast food whatsoever. It's been 4 years since I've bought anything at McD, BK, Wendy's, KFC, etc...and I gotta tell you, I've come close to breaking it many times but there's something to having kept going for years that immediately makes me reconsider and move on. Not even "cheat days" or "cheat weeks".

Good topic.

My theme for 2022 will be sobriety. Too often I have turned to alcohol as an escape from life's stresses....it would be easy to blame the pandemic for that, but that behavior started well before COVID was a thing. I went a little wild on Christmas and have not had a drink since then. Going to take it one day at a time.

Would like to continue my weight lifting regiment - but with the open, close, open, close, open, close, open, close with gyms over the last two years - I'm not getting my hopes up.

Other than that, would like to start learning some sort of IT programming support that I can do at home so I've got a secondary income and something I can continue to do in the future from home after I retire, just to keep the ol' noggin active.

Turning 50 this year (shudder) - hopefully there won't be any border restrictions when the time comes, planning a big birthday bash by myself in Vegas, my home away from home.

Other than that, my financial, health and personal ambitions will just continue as they have for the last few years.

For me I plan this to be the year of hiking. Now that I am retired there's no excuse for not getting out far more often. The past two years it was always something - too hot, too rainy, too much smoke from the wildfires, no time. I live in a state (Washington) with endless opportunities to seek out and enjoy abundant natural beauty. There are hundreds of trails I've yet to explore and old favorites I long to return to.

I'd say year of parenting for me. My wife is pregnant with our first (and planning on our only) child. I want my child to get off on the right foot in this goofy world and I want to be the best father possible.

For me, I'll say staying alive all year to spend time with the family - especially the wife and grandkids. At 78 and on my 5th cancer there would have been times that would have been pushing up daisies. Fortunately the advances in chemo, surgical techniques and imaging I have as good a chance as any other 78 year old with multiple cancers. . It also helps to be married to a woman with a solid medical knowledge (Aussie trained) and determination to keep me going. Toss in the VA that has me sufficiently disabled (thank you Agent Orange!) and modest financing does well to keep us living carefully.

As for next year the theme is to do it again!

The only good theme for this year is to end PY3 (Pandemic Year) early.

Aaron747 wrote:

The only good theme for this year is to end PY3 (Pandemic Year) early.

On this we agree 100%

Snuffaluffagus wrote:

I'd say year of parenting for me. My wife is pregnant with our first (and planning on our only) child. I want my child to get off on the right foot in this goofy world and I want to be the best father possible.

Same here, though wife not yet pregnant but hoping soon ...

A year of low expectations I would say. No big career moves or lofty travel plans or health revolutions. The pandemic is very heavy on motivation and long term plans. I am very lucky to have a good job and a good family, and focus this year will be to keep the wife happy, and the kids happy and my employer happy, take our shots and stay as much out of the bugs way as possible. It is all day by day, and see pleasure in small, local things.
When this is over we'll order the tickets and drink champagne and be hedonistic and grand, and celebrate by dancing to noisy experimental free jazz!! But there is a time for everything.

einsteinboricua wrote:

People often make resolutions* and making resolutions is fine if you're truly dedicated to achieving them, but life has ups and downs and halfway through the year you may be forced to scale back your ambitions (assuming you even began working on them).

Enter the theme. A theme essentially is a broad goal for the year. It's left vague so that almost anything you do fits in with it.

For example: this may be the Year of Health. Objectives could be signing up and going to a gym or being conscious about eating healthy or sitting down with a PCP and look at your numbers. Perhaps you've held off on having something looked at. Perhaps you're already being treated for something and this is the year to double down on efforts and beat it once and for all.

What about progress? Well, you get out what you put in, but the theme still allows you to claim a victory. Say you're a sedentary person and have not set foot in a gym in years. You sign up and resolve to go workout 3x/week. At the end of the year, you only averaged probably 10x/month...that's still more than last year so, go you!

I declare the year 2022 to be Year of Learning. I already know I want to get a couple of certifications under my belt to pad my resume, but I'm also looking into getting certifications related to health (for example, getting my CrossFit L1 coach). So although the CFL1 is the only specific one, I'm gonna let the year guide me as it progresses. Maybe this will be the year I decide to take network classes or perhaps I get higher Agile certifications. Perhaps over summer I get motivated and sign up to learn Python or C++...I don't know and that's why the theme works.

*For what it's worth, there's only one resolution I've kept going since 2018: no fast food whatsoever. It's been 4 years since I've bought anything at McD, BK, Wendy's, KFC, etc...and I gotta tell you, I've come close to breaking it many times but there's something to having kept going for years that immediately makes me reconsider and move on. Not even "cheat days" or "cheat weeks".

Last year’s was Maximum. When I was faced with choices last year, the answer was to go big. If you are thinking of travel, book it. If you have another job offer, take it.

This year’s is Peak. Similar idea; just go for it. Anything crazy I want to do, if there is a way to do it, now is the time. It doesn’t mean climb Everest necessarily, but it does mean get up off the couch.