I'm currently enrolled in Leo Babauta's "Designing a Well Lived Life" course, and one of the things that was mentioned during the webinar was about some of our intentions for the upcoming year. These aren't resolutions per se because they're things that I intend to work on throughout the year, but I wanted to share some of the ones that I came up with initially (and will likely be added to in the coming months).

• Writing more / designing more: I'm finding one of my main sources of stress this past year was in not finishing up my game designs. Part of that was because I felt a dichotomy between my job search and my desire to work on the games that were percolating in my head. So my intention for the year is to put more effort into working on and finishing the game designs that I am working on, starting with the Pepper&Carrot RPG.

• Programming more: My chosen career path is that of a programmer so what better way to celebrate that than by programming more and getting some of the ideas in my head out into the world. Also learning my craft better is important to me and I desperately want to get back to some of the more theoretical and hairy bits of computer science. Yes, this means more Scheme in the future. ;)

• Engage more with people, not things: I'm finding myself getting more and more frustrated with social media so I'm turning off Twitter for now (frankly because it's a hot mess) and focusing more on meaningful interactions with people. So I'm focusing more on Mastodon (where I find more positive interactions). This also means not checking social media as much and creating more of what I'm terming "sacred spaces" where I'm allowing myself more time to focus and not be distracted.

• Blogging more: Part of not being part of social media means I'm going to spend more time blogging about my progress and other topics of interest. This will allow me to engage more with folks with longer-form articles and will also allow me more time to write down my thoughts and be more coherent with them. It'll allow me to go for more of the longer game instead of the short dopamine hits of social media.

• Getting out of debt: Frankly this last year of unemployment did wonders for our banking account and I want to get us back to where we're paying off our bills as best we can. That means scaling back our financial commitments as well as not buying every new thing that comes out on day of release. This also means finding ways of earning money that aren't susceptible to the whims of the job market and finding multiple means of income (see game design focus above).

• Supporting creators in sustainable ways: This means helping out the folks that I admire in sustainable ways that don't put us both in jeopardy. Patreon recently did weird things with their fee schedule and then walked that back. I'd like to find better ways to help keep those creators able to support themselves and by extension help them to create the stuff that I enjoy (and can also use in my own creations).

• Physical health: I need to do more outdoor activities and ensure that my body doesn't decide to crap out (throwing the above intentions into doubt).

• Kindness: This applies both to others and to myself.

• Mindfulness: Appreciating the moments as the occur and being fully present in that moment.

I'm sure there will be others but these are the biggies for now.

With that said I'm logging out of Twitter and Tweetdeck and revoking my access to Twitter via Rainbowstream. I'll be engaging more on Mastodon ((http://octodon.social/@craigmaloney) so you'll find me there. Note that I don't expect anyone who is currently on Twitter or other social media to follow me on Mastodon. I understand that Twitter is a habit and if that works for you then that's fine. I'm more doing this for my own sanity and well-being. If you want to follow then please do it because you want to, not because of me. Maybe I'll be back someday but for now I need to break the habit of checking Twitter and this seems as good a time as any to make the break.

I hope you'll join me in looking at ow to create better habits for the upcoming year and invite you to share your progress, whether in the comments here or on your own blogging platform.

Here's to a designing a well-lived life together.