Be a better man.
Do you like the cover art for this post? It’s strange seeing myself as an old Viking king, but cool nonetheless.
It’s that time of year when I, like most folks, spend a fair amount of time navel gazing. I start with good intentions, but I tend to digress into self-pity, focusing on all the things I can no longer do. I’ve lost a significant amount of athleticism over the last few years due to getting older. The tides have changed in my career. My kids are getting older and facing new challenges — not to mention the new challenges I’m facing from them, for which I feel ill prepared.
Woe is me. This pity party is about as exciting as a root canal.
Esse meliorem virem — “Be a better man.” I’ve always been a goal setter, but I’ve noticed over the years that the goals that tend to fail or fall short are mostly self-centered — meaning the outcome is meant to only benefit me.
That won’t work.
I’m a man of service. My purpose is in providing for, protecting, and serving my family. So moving forward, all my goals will be inline with that purpose. The benefit should be to make me a better man for them.
Of course, all my goals are neatly organized and categorized in nerd-centric fashion.
Warrior
Warrior goals are focused on my fighter/protector side. They’re focused on health & fitness, self-defense, physical skills, and tapping into my primal instincts.
Scholar
Scholar goals are focused on learning and feeding my creativity. It’s important to nurture the gift of curiosity.
Craftsman
Craftsman goals are focused on improving my trade skills, learning new profitable and marketable skills, as well as simply building things with my hands.
King
King goals are about building my kingdom — my family, my friends, my home — and creating an environment in which they can thrive.
Okay, enough philosophical brooding.
In other news, early this morning, I took a photo of the last moon of 2023. It’s amazing how much more detail I can capture when there’s less moonlight.
Also, in a couple of weeks, we’ll be attending the NWA Comic Con, where I’ll get to meet Alan Tudyk and all four voice actors from the original TMNT cartoon. It’ll take a significant amount of will power to not go all fanboy.
No promises.
Until next year…
お元気で
