Some 2020 Health Goal Ideas
Saturday, January 18, 2020

Hello readers, the year has started off okay and surprisingly it’s already the middle of the month. Time really flies.

Creating a site is much harder than I thought and it’s been necessary to regroup and consider what the core fundamental message is for my audience. I’ve decided that in order to obtain these goals a few things are needed.

First off I’ve determined that health is a priority. Sanity and physical health is not an option. I’ve put a lot of effort into getting this site going. There are obvious costs of running a business such as time and money, but sometimes also unintended costs like health, relationships and friendships … and that’s not really what I ever want this site to reflect or become. All the money in the world means nothing if you treat people badly and end up with bad relationships or lose friends.

A business has to not only inspire, be profitable but also be ethical and sustainable. And it has to get people onboard with the same vision and hope.

Last year caught me offguard at the end of the year when one of my relatives ended up with health issues and financial and legal woes, but luckily the individual was discharged medically and seems to be better so my relatives and I are relieved. It seems the last few years several family members have been suffering various maladies or illnesses and so I’ve come to realize the importance of health as I’ve started to develop wear and tear with age as well. Luckily I’ve been blessed with a good family and relative stability in my life and a decent job while I pursue the goal of a business startup. I hope to not be craning my neck all the time and need to find a way to work with a good posture. Last year after undergoing physical therapy and other issues, I’ve gotten an adjustable workstation at work to help with this and hope to start the year with better health and a better outlook.

About the site itself
This upcoming year some of the site layout will be moved around to archive older articles. I am fully intending to take some blogging and design courses. I have a few in mind and blogging / news gurus I’m hoping to emulate and learn from. Businesses have to continually stay on top of technology and educate and a site like this is no less research-heavy. The old saying of “life long learning” is true back in the early days of invention and business startups as it is today.

I am working on reading and learning about security more and also interested in Linux and FOSS and its technological deployments and use cases to develop articles and backup and archival. I am also highly fascinated by social media and alternative media networks as MSM or mainstream media has been highly selective aka “unconsciously biased” toward its articles it allows to be shown. Also federated and decentralized blockchain based technologies that are emerging will continuously be highlighted and interesting for us tech millennials. We are a rebellious and skeptical bunch as we will not accept the way the world has been explained to work any more. We’re too aware of the social injustices and that things are not right. We’re ethically conscious of privacy concerns while at the same time harnessing the power of shining a light with cellphone cameras and self broadcasting media.

A lot of businesses fail because the drive and vision isn’t there enough. It has to be fun enough and have enough people pushing it to keep it alive. If you’re not having fun why do it.

Other thoughts

Right now I’ve been getting my 401k in order for the year. Just a reminder for the millennials that are trying to jumpstart their financial independence that you can contribute up to $19500 for the year to most 401k’s and also a $6000 to an IRA and also to an HSA. The maximum allowed into HSA’s is $3550 this year, but you might have to do less if your insurance plan does a pass through into your HSA for you. This is called a premium pass through.

I found I have been eating too much…

My goal for the year:

• I plan to eat less at lunch time and do more walking throughout the year. I found out I have been overeating by the sheer number of times going out to restaurants and also time spent in the bathroom for hygiene lately. And I’ve just been feeling icky especially after dinner in the evening and this could just be the fact that I spend so much time in front of a computer terminal and sedentary at work. If I was mobile and moving around a lot I wouldn’t have these issues. I’ve noticed several of the ladies I’ve talked to drink protein shakes and such and so I know it works for them for maintaining health and keeping everything flowing throughout the body. I also used to be highly athletic and walk back and forth to university classes, libraries, and back to my dorm during my college years.
• I plan to drink more soup. My coworker used to say “I really don’t eat a lot for lunch” and he used to bring a can of soup to work and drink a bowl a day for lunch. I think this is a smart idea. I had been fascinated with the idea of a liquid diet when I was younger and sometimes do need to reset once a month.
• I plan to eat more vegetables and lunch. Not just for the fiber but also for my heart and cholesterol levels. Also I find there’s less worry about having to heat it up.
• I also read a few articles online and saw a female on ‘the Bird’ social media platform who had stretched a fast over the span of a week or so without completely starving herself and at the same time in the week found an article about the fact that the CEO of Twitter and Square does fasting to an extent and only eats one meal a day and then doesn’t really eat on weekends. I think that is probably a good idea that if these individuals can eat less and get by and function perfectly fine then there’s no reason I need to eat three square meals a day especially since most of my time is spent in a sedentary setting in front of a computer terminal. Obviously everyone is different and this is not health advice to anyone, but being light and lithe and functioning on less with more efficiency is probably what I’ll aim to do from no on. I do realize I’ve been overeating. After all, I had stocked up in the winter more supplies so I wouldn’t go out, but found that I was consuming more since it was just there. You might notice this if you feel aches and pains: in your heart or just feeling distended in the stomach or bloating or a lot of gas after eating. Most people don’t realize that they consume too much due to the fact that TV keeps advertising all these restaurants and also how holidays are all surrounding food as a celebratory item. It’s a good idea to only eat till you’re 50-80% full most days or nibble throughout the day.
• I would like to do more traveling and take a few more vacation days in the summer this year. The last few years I’ve done some traveling through the Midwest and also to see some Renaissance festivals and that was really fun.
• I need to learn not to scarf down boiling food. I found that during the holidays on more than one occasion I would scarf down hot food such as slices of holiday turkey or a baked potato or steaming cake and end up with a scalded throat or some other skin issues. I switched from using our office microwave to try to not use microwaved foods in general. It saves some time during the day and means less time waiting around. Of course this kind of conflicts with the “drink more soup” goal above because I will have to figure out how to prepare good tasting warm soup far ahead without burning myself.
• I plan to spend more time outdoors hopefully this year and soak up nature. I tried to skimp on going to the gym and just spending more time on working on my site, but that turned out to be what it is now and you can see the results.

This year I gifted a relative some new sandals and PJ’s for a birthday gift. I realized that you can keep your shower relatively clean if you only use a pair of sandals that only go in to the shower and nowhere else. It keeps mold and mildew from forming and also prevents your feet from getting fungus as well.

So in summary my health goals:

• Eat less in general
• Drink more soup and liquids
• Eat more salad & veggies
• Do fasting and liquid cleansings / smoothies once a month
• Consume less salt, meat and processed foods
• Take a little longer before eating and don’t scarf down boiling food

• Exercise more throughout this year
• Stand up more
• Start walking on lunch breaks (Bring comfortable hoes)
• Go outside more often
• Take more vacation days in the summer

Like I said, the if a person can fast and only needs a meal a day or can do fasting some (like the examples of the CEO and other people on social media), I think I can spend a little less time trying to eat as much. It will save time preparing food, eating it, being in the bathroom and also waiting for it to cool down and also save on money, buying it, or waiting for your order to come. Please don’t starve yourself or cause yourself health issues of course, but consider taking some time during the weekends to eat a little less and drink a bit more water to just give your body and stomach a rest. All this has been accumulating in my mind all this time and I finally got around to taking the steps and taking my first mid day walk in a while. I will start to do that more. A lot of my coworkers do it too instead of opting to eat a big heavy mid day meal that can make a person feel drowsy or sluggish. Mr. Dorsey says it helps him feel focused. (And on a side note, if you are feeling sad or depressed sometimes you don’t need that much food and your body still can get by. Luckily that’s not the case in my case.)

And lastly if you have a 3 day holiday weekend this week where you live, please consider helping out in providing service to your community as well. Have a good weekend.