My New Year's Resolution: Slow Down

In past years, I created goals (often SMART goals) with specific, timely, measurable outcomes. Often, I accomplished those goals: lose thirty pounds and compete in a marathon, write a novel, write two non-fiction books.

This year, I want to do a few of those same things. I would like to get back into shape. I've been on that journey for two months now. I would like to write the novel that I started for Joel and Micah. But I'm not writing bold New Year's Resolutions. I'm not creating and tracking goals.

Instead, I want to slow down.

I want to write that novel, not in a month (like I did with NaNoWriMo), but over many months. I want to think well about every sentence. I want to write and re-write. I want to have an illustration in most of the chapters. And I want the final result to be something that exceeds my own expectations,  because I want to give the book to each of them next Christmas.

I want to get back into shape. But I don't want to think about calories burned or pounds lost. I want to feel the sense of being lost in the run, in that moment that my legs take on a life of their own and it feels like flying. Crazy, I know. But I want that feeling again. And I want to run in a way that I think and plan and pray.

Don't get me wrong. I want to do some cool stuff this year. But I don't want to move so fast that I miss the journey. I want to slow down.