As we begin a new year, a lot of us look backwards and see some areas of their lives that could be improved. That is certainly the case in my life. I made some good progress on some of my goals but fell short on many others. I thought I would try something new and post my resolutions here on the site to hopefully hold myself accountable. At the end of this year I can revisit these goals and see how I did.

1. Buy less stuff

This is my big one for 2023. I have fallen into the trap of buying way too many things. I have found that as I make more money, I simply spend all of the extra on things I don’t really need. I am committed to drastically cut down on my spending in 2023. I have actually been doing this since the beginning of December and my goal is to continue doing so all they way though the end of the year.

2. Make better use of my free time

As someone who works full time and has two young kids at home, I don’t have a ton of free time. However, looking back on the last few years, I am disgusted with how I have spent a good portion of it. I have wasted so much time mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, & Twitter. I became so consumed with social media that I have neglected some of my other favorite hobbies, such as playing videogames and reading. Social media is absolutely an addiction and to be honest, it has not been good for my mental health. I started to get rid of some of it in 2022. I got rid of TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, & created a new Facebook account strictly for marketplace, with no friends. But the one platform I have been unable to rid myself of is Twitter. I love Twitter so much but it is time to let it go as well. I feel like by making a clean break from all social media, I will hopefully be in a better place mentally, have much more time for the hobbies that actually bring me joy, & I can hopefully be more present when I am with my wife and kids, instead of scrolling on my phone for no good reason. Along with that, I also really want to cut down on the amount of time I spend on YouTube. Even though I don’t really consider it social media, I still get sucked in to this service as well. I plan to continue using it but really limit myself to how much I do.

3. Get back into running and cycling

About 3 years ago, I made some big changes in my life health wise. I quit drinking all soda and caffeine. I went from getting almost no exercise to getting some everyday. I fell in love with running and cycling. Sitting here today, I have kept up most of these changes. I still drink water and nothing else. I still routinely get exercise, though it’s mostly just walking these days. But, I have not kept up with my old habits of running and cycling. I want to get back on track with these two activities in 2023.

4. Read more

Before I got sucked into the time suck of social media and reading articles online, I used to read a lot. I got back into reading a little bit in 2022 but this year I really want to get back to reading regularly. I want to try and read at least 1 book a month to start with. This seems like an easily attainable goal so I am hoping that at the end of the year I will have met or even exceeded it.

5. Post to the blog regularly

My last resolution for the year is to post more frequently and consistently to my blog. I should have plenty of time to do it since I am no longer using social media and I really enjoy it when I do. My goal is to post at least once every two weeks with the hope that I can actually get to posting once every week.

So those are my resolutions for 2023. Do you have any resolutions you would like to share? Do you think setting resolutions is a fools errand? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.