My three 2008 goals to improve mental health:

1. Play more cerebral games such as Scrabble and Crosswords
2. Listen to podcasts and audio books while exercising, driving, etc. – in downtime
3. Read a book every week

My wife and I are presently attending classed to become licensed to foster. We may foster, we may adopt, we may do neither – this class is, in part, to help us find what is right for our family. Through this experience, though, one thing has been made crystally clear to my heart – I need to spend some of my time, effort, money, and other resources in the pursuit of being a champion for children. It is something I believe in a very palpable way I am meant to do, to make a difference in the lives of our future leaders and society.

This is such a new thing to my heart, that in 2008 my goal is simply to hone in on what way I’m to go about being this champion.

I attended a service at the church I call home once in 2007. The one time I went, there was a guest pastor from Uganda delivering the sermon. I was so moved by him that I wanted to hop on a plane right then and go help his ministry in their efforts. It was an amazing spiritual experience.

My spiritual life extends beyond my religious beliefs in ways, of course, but it all ultimately ties back into the very highest on my list of life priorities – my faith. I am still as strong in that as ever, but I think 2008 ought to be a return to giving to the community of my faith – those who attend my church and rely on its charity, courage, and strength. In 2008, in conjunction with my giving resolution, I will find a way to volunteer on a regular basis within the community of my faith.

In 2007 I actually spent a good amount of my time travelling, whether on business or vacation. Probably at least a month and a half, all added together. This is a good thing.

However, it was never to anywhere I hadn’t already been. This is an area of opportunity for growth in 2008.

In 2008, I will travel to two places within driving distance that I have never been to previously. I will also travel to one place not in a day’s driving distance that I have never been to before. All three of those are considered “at leasts”, and are to all be places I go at least half for vacation and half business (preferrably none of the latter though).

In 2002, when my hours at my old place of employment were cut (and the pay and benefits that went with them), I went deep into survival mode. My wife and I got through college, and five years later we both have full time jobs we love and are pretty close to achieving an optimal state of stability in our lives. We accomplished great things in our marriage, and are an incredibly tight, solid unit and team as a result of our struggles and perserverence through them.

A casualty of all this is the amount of time I’ve spent with friends. Outside of work, the time I spend one-on-one with people I consider friends in my life has been minute relative to their importance in my life. In 2008, I am bringing my friends into focus more. My goal is to go out one night each month and just catch up with people I care about and haven’t given the kind of quality attention and focus they have proven countless times to be deserving of.

The past 365 days have been an emotional roller coaster, but by that I mean that it was valleys of “life is good” interrupted occasionally by hills of amazing fortune and mountains of absolutely inspirational events. As years go, if life was even a reasonable facsimile of 2007 from here on out I’d pass from this world a happy, heart-rich man.

But life is not about stagnation. At least I think it ought not be. This year I’m pushing for more. In 2007 hundreds of others came into my life and lifted it up so I could touch the sky. There is an African Proverb about going up in an elevator, though – if you do so, you should not forget to send it back down afterwards. In other words, this year I need to give back and help many more attain their goals, realize their dreams, and spend more of their lives enhancing those parts of their lives they value most.

Last year I set my first personal goal for the number of hours I volunteered my time for some charitable cause. I served refreshments at a charity golf event, helped raise tens of thousands of dollars from a charity bowling event, helped prepare food for the hungry, read books and did crafts projects with kids – the list goes on, but the point is I beat my goal of 100 hours, reaching a total of 108 when all was said and done in 2007.

Volunteering 100 hours is a nice first step. But what is 100 hours? In the span of a year, we have 8736 hours – 8760 in 2008 with it being a leap year! Surely I can do better than spending slightly more than 1% of my time helping those less fortunate than myself. In 2008, my goal is to bump that percentage up to 2% – 175 hours of volunteer work in my community.