How did I do on my 2024 New Years Resolutions?

There were many steps forward and setbacks this past year.

A lot can happen in a year.

Three-hundred and sixty-five days ago, I set three New Year’s resolutions that I was hoping to accomplish in 2024. At the time I said they seemed a bit easier than normal and they were all attainable.

Looking back, how’d I do?

Resolution No. 1: Take better care of the little things.

This had to do with the fact that I wasn’t taking care of myself, whether it was the growing pile of dirty dishes in my sink, the dirty clothes on my bathroom and bedroom floors, the naked pillows that had fallen out of pillow cases, etc.

I’ll be honest, this one didn’t happen overnight. For the first 11 months of the year, I was content to pretend it wasn’t a problem. If I needed a clean dish or utensil to cook or eat with, I just grabbed a dirty one from the sink pile, washed it individually and then used it. If I ran out of clean clothes, I scrounged the dirty pile from the bathroom floor and went to the laundromat. I got used to stepping over the growing pile of books, clothes and miscellaneous items on my living room floor when I got home from the office each day.

But finally, in December, I started turning things around. I did enough laundry that you could see the carpet on my bedroom floor again. The trash is being taken out regularly. I threw out some of the nasty Tupperware in my sink and actually cleaned it out completely while trying to tackle a nasty clogging situation (two bottles of Liquid Plumber and counting). Later this week, I’m even finally going to build that unconstructed bookcase that I got as a Christmas present from my sister (in 2023).

I don’t know if I even had a guest visit my apartment in all of 2024, but I’m already having a friend over this week, which gives me an excuse to finish cleaning my apartment.

It’s still a work in progress, but I can proudly say the little things are at least being taken care of better than they were when I started 2024.

Resolution No. 2: Finish what I started with weight loss.

I started 2024 on a backslide slowly working my way back up after losing 60 pounds in 2023. Simply writing about wanting to lose weight and signing up for some weight loss challenges didn’t actually make it happen. I think I completed the first couple challenges before I fell short in a hard way and then gave up completely by February.

I yo-yoed up and down through the summer, going on a nice first date that turned into a fun second date watching a heavy metal concert in Detroit, but when that budding relationship fizzled out, I let my base instincts take over. From June until about early November, I went out of my way to eat like complete garbage. I was eating fast food every day. The people at the Dairy Queen knew me by my order in the drive-thru. I was on a first-name basis with the cashier at the Mickey Mart in Sycamore, where I’d pick up gas station pizza or other junk food every morning for breakfast.

Right after the November election, I had tied my heaviest weight of all time, which was when I teamed up with my friend Rick and formed The Kilo Boys. I’m proud to say that we’ve been working hard, going to the YMCA almost every single day to work out and I haven’t touched fast food in nearly two months. I’m down 27 pounds in the past seven weeks and am going strong.

I may be heavier right now than I started 2024, but my momentum and mentality could not be any more different. I wouldn’t trade with January 2024 me for a second.

Resolution No. 3: Publish a book.

I really wanted to have my book done by the end of this year. I compiled all my favorite columns I’ve written over the past three years into a big document and organized them into different sections. I then brainstormed several ideas for some original columns, which (would give any regular newspaper readers a reason to buy the book) and those originals have been the sticking point.

I have my own process for writing my weekly columns. Most of the time, I’ve got the idea for the column well in advance and I’m slowly writing it in my head throughout the week. Then when I get to the newspaper office on Monday, it all just flows out of me like a faucet and I am able to stream of conscious it into a well-formed and articulated column in about 30 minutes.

Well with these original columns, I don’t have that same process. I just need to write them in my own free time and then save them for when I’m ready to share them in the book. Finding the motivation to actually write them is difficult because I write at the office and I also write for my two side gigs (MMA reporting and Cleveland Guardians minor league coverage) so I’m not exactly in the mood to write some more in my free time. I have ideas written down for about 12 original columns that I plan to add to the book and some of them are pretty heavy emotionally. I actually was able to complete the most difficult one of all earlier this year. I even wrote a column about it “Breaking the seal.”

I was hoping that would be the initial trickle that turned into a roaring river of motivation, but it didn’t happen. I’m finishing 2024 with about 10 more original columns to write. I’m hoping with some upcoming free time that I have that I’m able to finally just sit down and pound them out. Once that happens, I can print out some preview copies of the book for my proofreaders to read and start getting some constructive feedback before final edits are made.

So while I didn’t successfully complete them, I did manage to put a dent in all three of my resolutions for 2024. I made enough progress with all three that I can feel comfortable setting new goals for 2025.

At the end of the day (or year), I think that’s all I really was hoping for.