Every year, many of us try a New Year Resolutions—many of us fail in those as well. I’m no exception, so this year I wrote One Resolution to more of a focus this year to my Pastoral role—which is not a “New Year’s Resolution” in the modern sense of the word. It is much more of a true Resolve to focus on one area. But, as always, there are other things I want to focus on as well. So, this year, I have three main projects that I am going to work on, on the side to better myself and expand my growth in my hobbies.
Writing: Focus on Improving my writing to develop as a communicator and build a following on my blog.
I love to write. I write here at dustyfile.com daily and I keep a mostly regular journal. I also keep a story journal where I place one story about my day in a little notebook. But, this still isn’t enough and the writing isn’t where I want it to be. So, this year I have a project to improve my writing. One of the tasks in the project is to continue writing daily here and my daily stories. But, I also want to get more regular and more intentional once again with my daily journal. Another aim is to spend a couple of hours a week doing a writing prompt in another notebook altogether. Hopefully, there will be difference in my writing by this time next year.
Genealogy: Develop a better understanding of my family history to understand what my heritage is and pass that to the next generation.
Another area that I love is studying my family history. It is time consuming and sometimes, I simply do not have the energy to spend the time researching. But, this year, I want to spend some time taking little chunks and develop my family tree. Right now, I am beginning to build all of the siblings into the tree as far out as I can go. Then, I will begin going after the next generation, one by one. Some of these tasks will not take much time, but others could take weeks or months. I am looking forward to digging in a little deeper before I go back to South Carolina in the Summer of 2017, where one of my family lines is very prominent.
Gaming: Take time to become proficient in video games to enjoy a new pastime, to have skills to spend with my kids, and to relate to others.
For years, I have been interested in video games. But, since I am older, I am not a “digital native” and I have to spend a little more time to improve my skills. During these years, I simply accepted that this was probably something that I would have time to do. Then came my assignment to Korea. Monica and I talked and discussed that it would be a good chance for me to get a PlayStation for my time here. I played some during the first six months that I have been here, but I desire to truly up my game during the second half of my trip. Up my game to the tune of, hopefully, an hour a day or more. Even this may be a challenge, but I will never have a better time to focus and to learn to play like I have now. I am focusing my energy on Call of Duty as my primary objective, but Overwatch will also be a part of the fun. I also have Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, and FIFA17 to throwing the mix to keep interesting.
As you can see, I have my work cut out for me. However, even if I get a little bit done on each through this year, it is much more than I would get done if I didn’t try. I hope that you have a great year on your projects as well!
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