Farewell to Facebook (for February anyway)

I’ve been so busy lately, I haven’t had time to write a post about my word for 2016, which I finally decided a few weeks ago would be “farewell”.

Farewell as in "so long" to the things, activities and relationships that no longer serve a positive purpose in my life. And farewell as in “good wishes on the journey” to the people I expect to see less often, and to myself as I put my 2016 intentions into action.

Reviewing my priorities for 2015, I was happy to realize I'd made good progress in respect to many of them. I didn’t read a book a week but finished 27 in all – which was a big improvement over the previous year.

I also dealt with a fair bit of clutter – though the job’s a long way from done. I wasn’t able to "run more" due to injury and illness but certainly "trained smarter", which included taking time off to recover when I needed to.

I made the most progress in respect to diet, thanks largely to Husband who did a wonderful job of ensuring we ate more fruits and veggies and reduced grains, cheese and sugars. I also made good progress on putting “first things first” – prioritizing the things that really matter to me over the things others think should matter.

My intentions for 2016 aren't very different from those I set for 2015.

READ EVEN MORE! – I’ve loved reading more and have especially enjoyed books suggested by Husband. Our tastes are somewhat different but that just means I'm challenged to read stuff I wouldn’t otherwise and I've liked the books he recommended more than I expected.

EAT EVEN BETTER – We’ve made good progress increasing our intake of fruit, veggies and nuts and reducing the grains, legumes, cheeses and sugars in our diet but we’re keen to do more. The older we get, the more important it is to fuel our bodies well. We’re also experimenting with intermittent fasting to enhance brain health. More on that when we have a better sense of whether or not it’s working.

RUN MORE – My training plans for 2015 were frustrated by nagging hip flexor issues. Now that those are resolved, I hope to return to training in earnest for another marathon. I’m off to a somewhat slow start but there's still time to prepare for at least one 42.2k this year. My first choice is the Calgary Marathon since it would be a good excuse to visit family and friends who live there but that might change if the winter turns nasty. I won't attempt a spring marathon unless I'm sure I'm ready for it. (Fortunately, this weekend was terrific for running so I did an 8k with Husband on Saturday and a 14k run with my buddy David at Second Peninsula today. As you can probably tell from the photo at the top of the post and this one, the scenery was awful and we had a terrible time. ;-) )

CROSS-TRAIN MORE – This is really about training smarter. Since New Year’s, I’ve been doing more stretching and yoga to increase flexibility and core strength but I know I'd benefit from other activities like swimming, snowshoeing and weight training too. 

MINIMIZE MY STUFF – I made great progress banishing the clutter at home and at the office 2015 but I'll need cull even more stuff when and if the country house sells. In preparation, I plan to continue disposing of possessions and – just as importantly – accumulate as little new stuff as possible. One day, I'd like to get the point where we could live comfortably in a tiny, environmentally sustainable house.

FIRST THINGS FIRST – Once again, this is my most important intention. I still spend far too much time on things that, in the big picture, don’t matter very much, and Facebook tops the list. Given that, I'm taking a Facebook vacation for the month of February and plan to minimize the time I spend on it for the rest of 2016. Though I confess I'm experiencing some withdrawal, I'm not missing it as much as I thought I would - in part because family and friends already spend less time on Facebook than they used to. 

"First things first" applies to more than just Facebook. One of the things I've struggled with in recent months is finding the time and energy to maintain all our social connections. On the one hand, I'm grateful for our large extended families and the many friends Husband and I have made over the years. On the other, it's difficult and tiring to nurture so many relationships. Like it or not, we need to make tough choices and say a quiet "fare thee well" to some of them. Hopefully, we can manage it without hurt feelings.

So what about you? What are your intentions for 2016? How are you doing so far? Are you training for anything special? What are you running plans for 2016?