My 2017: Refinement

2016 was a big year.  There wasn’t one specific thing that stands out, but a lot of little things.  We celebrated our first year in our new house and our second wedding anniversary, we both had good years at work, #FrankDawg continues to dominate, and the blog continues to see growth. As the year comes to a close, I can’t help but reflect.  Sure, I have a lot going on, but I don’t think that will change.  What I have noticed is that I’ve gotten a little lazy, and I’ve got too much stuff.  With so many moving swim lanes in my life, I’m going to focus on refininment in 2017.  What started this?  Well, it was a post I did on jeans.  I usually go through the blog to look at it from a reader’s perspective, and when I came across a post talking about how many unworn pairs of jeans I had accumulated, it gave me pause.

Why do I have so many pairs?  What benefit does it bring our life here at the Fort?  It tells me a couple things: first, don’t buy things just because they are on sale, and second, I’ve got way too much “stuff.”  There’s a complication that comes with over-abundance, inefficiency.  It’s a want vs. need mentality: of course you want that new pair of jeans, but you don’t need them.  I don’t want a complicated life.  I want a simple(er) life.  I want a more refined life.

I’ve come up with three specific areas I’d like to apply some refinement, along with hypotheses on the impact these changes will make.  Here we go:

Refine the wardrobe.  I have to do a better job of maintaining the personal value of my closet’s real estate.  There is only so much space, and the occupants must sustain a minimum level of importance.  I have some really nice stuff, but I also have a ton of fillers that ultimately dilute my wardrobe’s overall composition.  This causes unneeded stress when getting dressed in the morning, or before a night out.  Fewer, better, more refined choices will allow me a more satisfying experience, and quite frankly make the experience easier.  I’d rather have less, GREAT shirts in lieu of a bunch of mish-mash.  Not only that, but I want to focus on wearing the great stuff more often.  That’s why they are there, and that’s what they were built to do.  My hypothesis: less is more when it comes to a wardrobe.

Better mornings and better evenings.  I’ve gotten into a bad habit of lazy mornings and even lazier nights.  It’s as if I take a long time in the morning to warm up, and pack it in too early at night.  I want to start exercising early in the morning to give the day a kick start.  I want do a better job of utilizing evening hours for more productive endeavors, like (more) reading/writing, meal prep, and focusing on the honey-do list.  It’s amazing what you can get done in an hour (or two!).  My hypothesis: Work at dawn and dusk will better complete the day.

Be more sporty.  I grew up as an athlete, playing just about every sport I had time for.  What’s changed is that I don’t play team sports anymore, instead electing to be a spectator.  I play golf as much as possible, and have been getting into fly fishing, and have a quail hunt lined up for January.  Beyond the regular weekend rounds or casts, I want to take a couple vacations that including bringing golf clubs and fly rods. My hypothesis: By taking a proactive, vested interest in participating in a sporting life, I believe I will become a more well-rounded individual.

What’s most important?  Well, Mrs. RCS is 100% on board, so that helps.  It would be next to impossible to make these sorts of changes without her.  I’ll give updates throughout the year, but for now, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Images: Google Image search