Being at the crux of a new year tends to make most of us reflective. We think on the past year and our successes and failures, maybe what we could have done differently. We think about the present, where do we stand right now in terms of our relationships, our finances and our professional life. Most of all we think about the future. What will this new year hold for us we wonder. What can we do to become better people, to enrich our lives and the lives of those around us? What can we do to improve our fortunes and our relationships? This is the time of the year to reflect and to make resolutions for improving those areas of our lives we feel are lacking.

Thinking back on 2009 I would have to say it was a good year overall for me. Family, finances and personally I am pretty darn happy with where I’m at. Can I make changes to improve? Sure I can, there’s always room for improvements. So, what will the future hold for Steve and Golf and Thailand Musings?

Personally – This may be the area that needs the most work currently or maybe just the area I feel I want to focus on to feel better about myself particularly in two areas. First of all, I have been extremely lax in learning Thai over the past year almost to the point of laziness. With a new child on the way and the imminent move to Thailand I know that this needs to change and pronto! My first resolution then is to work harder at learning Thai. I will schedule 1 hour each day for study and stick to this schedule…a personal appointment with myself. Thankfully Catherine was a step ahead of me when she posted 30 Days to Successful Thai Language Learning.

The second area of my personal life that needs adjustment is my health, and more specifically my weight. I have gained like 30 pounds since January 1st 2009 and am now over 220 pounds (100 kilos), my heaviest weight ever by far. I can feel the effects of this extra weight in my everyday life moving about, I become winded more quickly and I can barely touch my toes. Time to make a change on the diet and exercise front. I need to do this for myself, for Golf and for our unborn child. Second resolution…get back into the gym on a regular workout routine. I know this has to start slow, but by February I expect to be working out no less than 5 times per week. Diet changes may have to wait as I don’t want Golf to feel bad about her increased eating with the pregnancy. That’s ok though as I know once I am back in decent shape I can drop weight pretty quickly (or at least I used to be able to when younger, hopefully I won’t be in for a nasty surprise).

Relationships – My relationship with Golf is stronger than ever. Really I am amazed sometimes at how close we are and how much we think alike considering that we come from such different cultures and backgrounds. The only thing I would change is for us to be able to spend more time together. Sadly we both work way too much right now. That should change though after the baby is born and Golf cuts back on her work schedule.

I would like to improve my relationship with my two sons though. While I spend one day a week with them it seems that it just isn’t enough. As they get older it is harder to keep up with their increasingly complex lives. If only I could have 9 days in the week. With my work schedule I don’t know how I am going to fit this in, but if anyone has any ideas I’m all ears.

Financial – 2009 has been one of the best years that I’ve had financially in some time. Since the beginning of 2009 I’ve seen my online income more than double. Even though we are in one of the worst recessions in years in the U.S., I still have my job and am able to work substantial overtime as well. Since the beginning of 2009 I have been able to pay off close to $15,000 in credit card debts as well as increasing personal savings and retirement savings. It’s all been very good and 2010 should continue in the same vein.

2010 will see me pay off the remaining $8,000 (roughly) of credit card debt. That will be a huge load off my mind you can be sure. In addition I am going to push my retirement savings by (finally) starting a Roth IRA and fully funding it for 2010. My 401(k) contribution currently stands at 13% and I plan on increasing that to 20-25% during the year. Additional savings for the move to Thailand will go into a personal investment account that I hope to see at $25,000 by the end of 2010.

Thailand Musings – I’m happy to say that Thailand Musings has also grown nicely over the past year. January 2009 saw the site getting about 300 visitors a day and now in December 2009 that number is more like 525 per day. I definitely could have been more active in posting though and I feel bad about that. Still, 2010 gives me the chance to do better.

You already see the first change made here, which is a brand new theme for the site. It is a customized version of the Mimbo 3.0 theme which I chose because it combines the news type features while keeping the typical blog format of showing the past several posts. I hope you all like the new look. Let me know what you think below.

I have several other new additions to Thailand Musings planned which you’ll be seeing in the upcoming months. The first is the addition of a forum. I had played around with the idea of adding a forum for some time and was finally swayed by the responses to the first Thailand Musings survey. I hope to see all of you there once it goes live in the next week or two.

I will also continue my monthly donations to the SET Foundation. It’s a great cause and one that needs our help. Some other changes here at Thailand Musings are also designed to help the Foundation even more.

Golf has also agreed to begin posting recipes again which I know will please quite a few of you. Trust me, you don’t want to miss her recipes (did you see above where I said I gained 30 pounds?). They are all delicious and worth a try. In addition to that I have a few ideas for series posts that should be both entertaining and enlightening.

So there are my plans and resolutions for the upcoming year. It should be fun to revisit this post in December of 2010 and see how different (or same) the reality is from my expectations. What resolutions do all of you have for 2010?

Popularity: 2% [?]

Check out these similar posts:

• Suvarnabhumi – 1 Year Later
• Thai New Year Songkran Festival or Water Festival
• Jumping On The Bandwagon
• The Thailand Musings Survey Results Are In
• Do’s and Dont’s for Happy Traveling in Thailand
• Happy Thanksgiving
• Life Happens