When is Monday not a Monday? When it’s the first Monday of the year following a New Year’s Day that lands on a Sunday. Yesterday would’ve been a paid holiday for many workers in the US, but as it fell on a weekend, today is that paid holiday. Also, as college football bowl games are normally played on New Year’s Day, there is another issue – the professional football teams all play on Sunday (with the exception of one Monday night game and one Thursday night game), so today we’ll have college bowl games starting a little before lunch.
I start off the year with a “break”. I regularly consume adult beverages and enjoy a good whiskey, but from now until the 29th of January, I swear off the hard stuff. It’s just a break for health reasons, for discipline reasons, and really just to prove to myself that I can. I have a cocktail because I choose to have a cocktail, and the cocktail doesn’t make the decision for me… so, a break. I choose to raise a glass on the 29th, which is a celebration of my dad’s birthday. This year he would turn 82. He passed in 2019.
I spent a little time yesterday with my planner, going over some goals for the year. The New Year is a great time to think about those things, but the fact is that anytime is a good time to focus on setting and achieving goals. I’m thinking about my health, my writing, my reading, daily meditation, hydration, diet, and creative outlets. No one is going to add structure to my life other than me – and I’m the kind of person that needs some structure. I don’t need to plan every moment of every day, but it is good to have a framework for my day. I think that’s one of the things I like about being a technical trainer – a lot of the structure and daily framework is built into the delivery day.
I write my blog in the mornings, drink a couple of large glasses of water, and soon I’ll prepare a simple high-protein low-carb breakfast – probably a couple of scrambled eggs, American cheese, and some leftover ham from dinner last week. Today isn’t a delivery day, so I need to scope ahead and take a look at the “must-see” sports events on the day… and there are a couple.
I also need to get some work done – a new four-week class starts tomorrow, and I have a couple of preliminary posts to the Teams channel that require some attention.
OK, off to it.
I hope you find something to be thankful for today. Gratitude can feel good.
I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.
Peace y’all.
