It's about 11:00pm on December 31st and we're preparing to ring in the new year. Like so many others, I'm taking the chance to reflect on my 2017. Now I can't say that it was a bad year by any means, but it was also nothing special. I am fortunate to have had some positives this and limited number of negatives.

First off, my family has remained healthy and safe. Now, I know this sounds like typical thankfulness, and for most people they probably thank god, but for me it's just an observation. It means a lot more when you have a young child. Any parent can empathize with this idea because shit can all just go down hill before you know it. So for this reason, I am thankful for the health of my family.

I achieved a major goal that I had for a few years now. I helped produce a podcast with a handful of my friends Big Daddy Disc Golf. Though we haven't recorded a new episode since summer time, we did manage to release 13 episodes over the course of 6 months or so. In the process of making these episodes, I was lucky enough to interveiw an individual whom I was a huge fan of and became a known name to some within the disc golf media circles.

I believe I made more money this year at work than any other year so far, which is good, but at the same time seems like I haven't gotten anymore out of the hole than I was at the beginning of the year.

My family moved out of the first place that my wife and I consider our first home together. It was the home we brought our son home to and the only place he knew for his first four and half years. Now we live in our own half of a double that my brother-in-law owns, which includes a good size yard and freedom to do what we want with it within reason. A place that we can really grow as a family.

In the last year, I've managed to make a bunch of new friends as a result of the Facebook group Big Daddy Disc Golf. Though many of them I will never meet who are from all parts of the US, these people have become my brothers in cause. The group focuses on bigger people who play disc golf and wish to support each other in healthier life habits. I am happy to help inspire these guys as I am to be inspired by them in return. It's been great group of people that has genuinely benefited my life.

Now not all noteworthy things this year have been all that great. Due to an outburst at work quite a few months ago, I wound up in mandatory counseling... anger management if you will. Though I'm not happy about being forced into the situation in the first place, especially because I felt pushed in the first place, but there is silver lining. It's not how I wanted to get involved in getting counseling, it did get me there, and that's something I've wanted to do for some time now to deal with the baggage I've unfortunately had to bring to the world. Though in general, I've learned to let a lot more stuff slide, I am still a very emotional person and get easily angered and completely lose my filter. I didn't grow up that easy, there's definitely a lot I need to deal with.

Now for 2018 goals... I want to become a lot more creative, or at least put my ideas out there. That honestly includes the writing of this blog because I would like to become a better writer. A few years ago I had the idea that I wanted to write a children's book, and I still do. But I would also like to write a real book, or at least some short stories even if they were only published online. I had a friend write a book and publish it to Amazon, I would like to try as well.

As a kid, I did a lot of drawing, and I would like to get back into that. I wish I could afford to get myself an iPad Pro with that fancy pencil, but I will suffer with my kindle and fancy stylus and see what happens. Possibly attempt to write and illustrate my own kids book.

Bring back my podcast... or some other version of it. Maybe a weekly vlog, I don't entirely know, but I like to talk and vent and talk with people. So its definitely something I would like to revisit on some facet or another.

Health... yes, the typical New Years Resolution. Better health. Well, I have been on a weight loss journey for a bit over a year now and I've been stagnant the last few months or seven. I won't to continue to try and be someone my Disc Golf group looks up to, so I must try to lead by example.

Lastly, I would like to become a calmer, more centered person, which believe me isn't easy. Stress of a crazy 5 year old, an anxious wife negative wife, and a job full of people who hate their jobs. All that with limited person time to decompress, makes this one difficult. Changing the people around me isn't easy to my best bet would be to change how I interact with those around. Try to put off positive energy in hopes of reaping what I sow.

Well that's about all I have for now. Here's hoping for a positive forward moving 2018.