Roar 2020! It’s time to get recharged and remotivated. With a new decade rolling in, it is an iconic time to put the past behind me and explode into a new future!
“This year, I choose a path of health, happiness, and prosperity.”
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION

Roar 2020: A new year of possibility and potential
Okay, it has been a while.
Last year I struggled with my weight and health. I won’t say the things I did didn’t help, because overall I believe they did. Going into 2020 I weighed less and my blood glucose was at least stable and not climbing into type-2 diabetes ranges.
But I didn’t lose the weight I wanted to and I didn’t exercise the way I had planned. All my routines struggled to take hold, and that included posting to this blog. This blog is my record of success and of failure. I was determined when I started it that I would write about the good, the bad, and the embarrassing. When I had my early successes I got in a mindset of just recording progress. Then, when my goals became more difficult to achieve I just sort of dropped out.
But this is a new year, full of new opportunities and potential. I cannot erase the mistakes of last year, but I can learn from them and improve. Every day is a new chance to start all over again and reach the goals I’ve set.

Roar 2020 – My theme for the new twenties
Going into the new decade holds as much promise for me as when I entered the new millennia. I have made so many important and life-changing decisions over the last twenty years that I scarcely remember who I was when I started. And that is a good thing. There has been progress on so many fronts that when I actually stop to think about it I really believe that I can do anything I set my mind to.
The Twenties are going to be the same. This decade will see me move from one dedicated career into another even as I move from my fifties into my sixties. I will say farewell to an important stage of my life and embrace the changes that come with the approaching autumn of my years.
This first year, 2020, is going to be one of my most powerful years of transformation. I’ve chosen to go into this year with a roar. All of my energy, thoughts, focus, and motivation will be aimed at making this year a benchmark of success and achievement. It will be the groundwork that I build on as I tackle new challenges in the coming years.

What I’m going to Roar about in 2020
There is a lot to do in the coming years. I am confronting a major shift in my career and ability to earn an income. I’m not set up to slip comfortably into retirement, my 401K and Social Security squeaking out pre-measured funds in a tightly controlled budget stretching into the next 25+ years.
The first thing I have to roar about is finishing what I started with this weightloss, wellness, and fitness plan I started so often and failed to finish. This year I will lose the excess weight that has made me a prisoner of sloth and pain. I will improve my health and fitness. My thoughts will be mindful.
From there I’m moving towards an enormous, tectonic shift in my career. My personal life is going to alter in ways I won’t try to predict. And it’s all based on launching from a platform of actually finishing my 16-week fitness and diet program.

Four steps to roaring in 2020
I have never been in love with acronyms. They seem a little cheap and juvenile. But I cannot dismiss their effectiveness. I have used acronyms to help memorize formulas and steps. So I’m turning ROAR into an acronym that will serve me this year.
I think there are four simple points I want to keep at the forefront of my daily focus.
- R – Recognize: Cultivate an awareness of what is going on. See things for what they really are.
- O – Own it: Always take extreme ownership of every situation.
- A – Act: Make sure to do something to change an unacceptable situation. Don’t sit in it.
- R – Reflect: Take time to respond; don’t just react. Think a process through as much as possible and analyze the consequences.
Every day, in every choice, make sure I am using ROAR to shape my year.

Where I am now
So, there’s no point in bemoaning the past. This is where I am. I lost weight, then I quit dieting, and I gained weight.
Today I stepped on the scale and weighed in at 248.0 pounds. My goal is to lose 3.9 pounds this week. My blood glucose level was 138mg; still in the pre-diabetic range.
I meditated for 1 hour today. I cleaned stuff off the treadmill and used it for 40 minutes. Dinner was Orange Chicken with Broccoli and Noodles.
Tomorrow I will be applying my Alternate Day Fasting routine. Starting next week I’ll be monitoring calorie counts more closely and starting an exercise challenge.