First This

There are a few things in my life that have been causing me stress and I would like to work at eliminating them. The challenge is that they are pretty big things. They are also things that I have been living with and contributing to my whole life. I want to develop a plan and habits that will help me address these challenges and overcome them. I would like to use this blog to track my progress and to hold me accountable for the goals that I make.

I'm planning on making small, cumulative changes that will hopefully add up to a lifestyle that is healthy, happy and prosperous. It has taken me years to get where I am, and I understand that it will take time to get to a new place where I am happier.

These are the areas where I want to make changes:

1. Money: I'm broke. The recession has done a number on my finances and I'm in a hole that will take me years to dig my way out of. I've reached a point where I am treading water, which feels like a huge accomplishment since I was close to sinking for so long, but now I want to start making some positive gains. I want to pay off my credit card debt, save money and curb unnecessary spending.

2. Weight: I'm fat. I've always been chubby and have been steadily gaining a few pounds every year. Now my clothes fit poorly and I have no energy. I currently weigh 231 pounds. I am 6' tall, so a quick online calculator says that my BMI is 31.3, putting me in the obese category. Wow. I would like to lose 50 pounds which would put me at the top of the suggested weight range for my height (136-184 pounds).

3. Vehicles: My car and truck need work. I have a '01 Honda Civic and a '91 Ford F150. I love both and they have performed well. The Civic gets good gas mileage and is the car I drive everyday. It starts every time and still looks pretty good but there are some strange clunks and rattles under the hood. Last year two of the windows stopped functioning. Some of the trim at the base of the windows is pealing. The truck looks all of its 20 years but it still makes me smile to look at it. I don't use it that much but it comes in handy when I need to haul something. It has a few dents, and one past collision pushed the back bumper up so that the gate scrapes when I lower it and it makes a horrible shrieking noise. I would like to adhere to a regular maintenance schedule for both and to make necessary repairs. My credit sucks right now so I'd get poor terms if I tried to buy a new car. I need to keep the Civic running in good condition for many more years and I want to keep the truck for ever.

4. House: My house is a wreck. I bought my house because it was a fixer-upper. I like a project and when I looked at the house all I could see was what it could become one day. I started tearing it apart and then the economy collapsed. I've been broke for almost the whole time I've owned the house (4ish years) and have been living in a construction zone for that whole time. It doesn't have a ceiling and is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Sometimes birds fly through. At the change of every season I say I'll never go through that again and then another year passes. There are holes in the floor and bare studs on the walls. I would like get the ceiling in and make the house look closer to my vision of it.

There are certainly other aspects of my life that could use improvement but these are the 4 that are in the front of my mind and that I feel like I can have a positive impact on. In future post I'll expand on each and start to track my progress at attaining my goals.