The New Year, A Time of for Reflection and Resolutions....

New Year's Day...a time of resolutions...new beginnings...a chance to look forward to see what the coming year holds for our lives. It's also a time to reflect on the previous year....

Today, several of my friends and I took a bike ride over the Golden Gate bridge and up into the Marin Headlands.  Once you cross the bridge, Conzelman Rd to the top is nice steady climb with amazing views.  It was also a great chance to spend some time inside my head reviewing the previous year.  Yes, there have been some challenges, but our lives have also been tremendously blessed.

Both of our daughters have grown into smart, beautiful, strong, independent women of faith.  Both my wife and I have good jobs, we live in a nice home and have food on our table.  Our health, while there have been some challenges, is good and we want for nothing.

Of course I don't want you to think I live in some sort of nirvana.  My job continues to be a struggle, but we haven't missed a payroll yet.  My wife lost both her father and her brother this year and she continues to struggle with her health, but overall, we still have more to be thankful for than not.

One of my favorite things about cycling, in addition to the fitness benefits, the places it takes me and the friends that I've made through it, is the ability to just check out during a nice long climb.  It seems that in a world where we're busy from the time we wake up until we go to bed at night, the ability to just zone out aand contemplate the world's problems is a rare thing.

 Eventually, the climb ended and with it the introspection. As I stopped looking inward and took note of my surroundings, I was once again driven to realize just how blessed I am.  It's the first day of January and I'm at the top of a hill, admiring an amazing view and hanging out with good friends. Life is definitely good!

 

New Year's is also a time of resolutions. Or in my case an opportunity to refocus on previously made resolutions. One thing I've found is that for me to have and enjoy some balance in my life I need to make sure I have healthy outlets.  In the past these have taken the form of running, working out and over the past few years cycling.  This year my new, revisited resolution is to ride more.  Lately, due to work and some family stuff, I've been lucky to get in one ride a week.

The result of this is that not only has my weight gone up and my fitness level down, my "balance" has been upset.  I've found that my normal positive disposition has soured slightly, my ability to see the silver lining has dimmed, and my ability to shrug off the small stuff has been diminished.

This year, I plan on getting that balance back. I "resolve" to ride or get some sort of exercise regularly and I resolve to reclaim my life from the evil forces of work and responsibility and spend more times in places like those in the photos from yesterday's ride.