Happy new year! It’s that time of the year again, where slates are wiped clean and we all get a fresh start. A brand new year, full of promise! As always, I plan to list my resolutions for the new year here.

But before I do that, I think it’s always helpful to look back on the year that just past. These were my 2016 resolutions:

Be healthy!
Reflection: I’d say this was mostly true. The only slip was when I fell rather sick in London because my body needed more rest than my mind thought it did. That’s what happens when you have a mind that’s so strong it can override the rest of the body. No idea why this is turning out to be a humble brag hahaha.

Travel Japan more.
Reflection: I expected to only visit 3 non-new prefectures because of Milk Tea, but ended up visiting 4 new prefectures: Fukushima, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto! On top of that I also revisited a few other prefectures, so this one is a roaring success! :D

Be moderate and focus.
Reflection: Hmm, I think I can still do better in this area. I still like too many things too little hahaha. Good for exposing myself to different things, but bad because I never get close to even mastering any of them.

Play more.
Reflection: I don’t feel like I played alot but maybe that’s because I have in mind is like playing games for 2 hours every day whereas what I’m doing now is more like playing for 7 hours straight every now and then haha.

Grow our websites
Reflection: Fu did really well in this area! Me, eh… not so much :X

2017 resolutions

Starting off with the first one: Learn to do splits this year.

I’ve always loved stretching (and contorting my body into weird positions like hooking my leg around my heck, touching the back of my head with my toes, etc. lol) since I was a kid but a major back operation when I was 12 took away much of my flexibility. Something as simple as sitting 90 degrees like this:

is physically impossible for me to do.

But lately the crazy idea of doing splits got into my head so I’m going to challenge myself and attempt it! Let’s see how it goes!

#2: Become emotionally stronger and more mature. I think I’ve been growing well over the years, especially after I came to Japan, but there were still times last year where I felt I was still not as emotionally stout as I would like to be and I’d beat myself up in my head after that over how I reacted and handled things. This will be something I’ll be constantly working on.

All the other resolutions are not too different from the past years’:

• Be healthy
• Travel Japan. Target: 3 new ones again this year? Hehe.
• Focus! Less breadth, more depth.

In short, I only hope to continue 3 things: learn, grow, and challenge myself.

I’m excited to see how 2017 will unfold and the good things it will bring!