My blog is now six years old. I have posted 225 posts over the past 312 weeks. I kept a one post a week pace up for the first 3 years, three posts a month pace up for the 4th year, 1.5 post a month during my 5th year and just over 1 post a month of the last year. Although I used to have goals for posting, I let those go last year, and I won’t have one this year either. I definitely still enjoy blogging and I can say without a doubt that this blog has been a complete success for me. It has helped me change my life over the past 6 years. I live a very full and happy life with my wife, our 6 kids, 2 grandchildren and more soon I’m sure, and our terrific friends and family. My goal when I started this blog was more than posting on a regular basis, it was to change the way I lived my life. To grab life by the horns not the tail. I can say without hesitation that I have done that and I give blogging about some of the things we do a lot of credit for this. Not just posting what we do, but putting together goals, and tracking my progress on the blog.
A few years ago I set a goal to run the Marine Corps Marathon. Tracking my progress against my plan on the blog definitely helped me achieve that goal. I am currently tracking 2 goals on the blog, my Bucket List and my list of local hikes I’ve completed from the book Afoot and Afield in San Diego. I’ve been able to make steady progress on both lists and plan to keep working on both lists over the next year.
I also plan to add a new list. We love going to National Parks and I’ve been to several, but we tend to keep going back to our favorites. I don’t plan to stop going to Yosemite, or other parks I’ve been to, but I do plan to try to add some variety. I’m not adding a goal to “visit every National Park in the United States”, but I do plan to track the ones I’ve been to and look for opportunities to see those I have not been to. (Note: Added page on the top menu for National Parks Visited.)
I still have some projects to get done around my house, but I also expect I’ll be busy helping our kids with their houses, and of course spending plenty of time with our grand kids.
Although it is hard to believe that I’ve been writing this blog for 6 years, it is also hard to remember living life any other way then I do now. Life is definitely not slowing down. Even though we don’t plan as many big things as we used to (intentionally), we rarely have a quiet weekend and home alone. We plan some adventures, and we check some things off our lists, but our life just seems to fill in the rest. We still find ourselves having to say no, or not that weekend too often, but it is not as bad as it was a couple years ago.
I’m looking forward to the fall and lots of local hiking around San Diego county. I want to get back to running if I can early next year. I have foot surgery toward the end of this year and I’m hoping that will help. Next year we also plan to reward ourselves with at least one big item from the our bucket list. Right now a vacation to Italy is what we are thinking but we have some more time to put together a plan for that.
Now it’s time to blow out the candles and eat the cake … Happy Birthday Blog!
Here's to a Full Life 