Happy New Year! Is 2020 the year you will start doing Archery?

Happy New Year!

I am scheduling this post to go live at 12:01 AM on January 1st 2020.

While I am writing this on December 31st 2019 it is technically already 2020 in Tokyo Japan, so I guess 2020 has already started.

Many people do New Years Resolutions, but personally I started my New Years Resolutions a few months ago.

After all, why wait for January 1st 2020 when you can start your new resolutions RIGHT NOW. Or in my case, back in November.

So what are my resolutions for 2020 (some of which I started doing early)?

#1. Do More Archery.

As a Toronto archery instructor it is a guarantee that I will be doing archery, but on a personal level what I really want is to do more personal practice. More time for me to do archery myself, or possibly while just hanging out with my son or my friends who are also archery fanatics.

For those people looking for archery lessons in Toronto I recommend prebooking your Spring or Summer archery lessons now to get the best time slots which suit your schedule. After all, if you don't get your ideal time slots that will interfere with your goal of "doing more archery".

For those people who have been procrastinating about starting archery, for whatever reason, now is your chance. I provide all of the archery equipment during lessons so you don't need to buy anything. Just book the lesson(s), show up, and be ready to shoot.

#2. Eat More Salads.

My wife and I started doing this one back in November.

What makes it easier is we having been buying lettuce, cleaning the lettuce leaves, and ripping it up into smaller pieces which we then store in ziplock bags in the fridge. Then whenever we want a salad it is very easy to just grab a handful of lettuce from the bag, toss it in a bowl, add salad dressing, croutons, etc and it is ready to eat.

Having the extra steps of having to clean lettuce leaves when you are trying to decide what to eat (and possibly feeling lazy) discourages a person from choosing the salad option. Since they are already cleaned and ripped it makes you more likely to choose the salad.

#3. Write More Magazine Articles.

Okay, this is more of a personal resolution for myself, but maybe some of you out there are also writers.

I regularly write and submit articles to Archery Focus Magazine. Sent a new one back at the beginning of December 2019, so this is another of the resolutions that I have already started.

However I don't want to limit myself to one magazine. I want to start submitting more articles to other magazines, both those about archery and other topics as well.

#4. Publish More Fiction and Non-Fiction.

Another personal resolution for myself. In 2019 I published three fantasy paperbacks. A novel, a novella and an anthology. My next book "The Blizzard's Daughter" is due out March 1st 2020 and is currently available for preorder.

I am hoping to publish four new fantasy books during 2020.

I have also been working on a work of non-fiction, about archery, which I hope to publish September 1st 2020.

#5. Go to the Beach More.

Going to the beach with my wife and son is a fun family activity. We get to build sandcastles, shoot stones into Lake Ontario using slingshots, throw frisbees around, and even swim.

#6. Go Bicycling More.

I own 8 bicycles and I would really like to use them more often. However in my case this means I may need to purchase some kind of trailer for towing my son around with me.

Bike trailers typically range in price from $160 to $800, with many of the mid-range trailers being about $300 to $500.

Now you might think "Gee, that is awfully expensive!" But when you consider a gym membership is about $900 to $1200 per year that it doesn't seem so bad, as this allows you to get outside and exercise with the toddler in tow. (I don't know any gyms that allow toddlers to come exercise with you.)

You can also find used bike trailers fairly easily as parents with toddlers eventually switch to bicycles and want to get rid of their old bike trailer, which is probably in decent condition if they barely used it. So if I could find one half price that is in decent condition that will satisfy our needs.

#7. Take my son Sledding.

In 2019 my wife purchased a red sled for our son to ride inside during the winter. So during January and February of 2020 I want to make use of the sled by taking him sledding. For me this is effectively exercise and an excuse to take photographs of my son.

Hopefully he has fond memories of sledding when he is older.

#8. Do More Chores.

I have a list of tasks I want done around the home.

#9. Take More Naps.

Do chores then take a nap. Sounds like a plan!

#10. Spend Quality Time with Friends and Family.

Something to do in the evenings? Better than staying home and watching Netflix and Disney+. (BTW, I am really disappointed with Disney+. It is very glitchy. It is so bad I would rather read a book when Disney+ starts glitching constantly.)

#11. Read More Books.

I have a stack of books waiting to be read, by a variety of authors.

#12. Work on my cooking skills.

One of the best ways to take control of your health is to learn how to make healthy food. I admit most of my cooking skills however lean towards foods that are fattening / high in cholesterol. In 2020 I would like to learn healthier recipes and learn how to control my intake of fat and cholesterol.

I am not getting any younger. I need to eat healthy.

And so should you. Many of us suffer from a lack of healthy cooking knowledge.

One of the things I do is I am subscribed to a number of cooking channels on YouTube and they show up in my YouTube feed when I watching YouTube. Whenever I spot a recipe that looks interesting I watch it, and sometimes I end up trying the recipes.

Here are two cooking channels I recommend:

1. Food Wishes
2. Townsends

Food Wishes is all modern cooking, and includes a variety of healthy and non-healthy options. But learning both are potentially useful as you are still learning cooking skills.

Townends is likewise interesting as it focuses on traditional recipes from the 17th and 18th centuries, many of which are healthy options. Townsends isn't all cooking either. They also talk about other topics from those periods.