2022 has been full of surprises, blessings, challenges and adventures. I cannot ask for much more in my life (although I still do) I have a fantastic life. Enough love around me for a few lifetimes, friendships and bonds that I’ve been blessed to encounter throughout the years, challenges just enough to keep me on my toes and better health than I could ever imagine, just to number a few of 2022 blessings.
As the years go by I’ve been intentional about fortifying my relationships and thankfully it’s reciprocated. This past year I feel I have really gotten some great momentum with my relationships in my family. I have really been working on becoming the best husband I can be as well and although there’s plenty of room for improvement, I did see some great progress here too and it has been reciprocated as well.
In 2022 I not only got the opportunity to meet some amazing folks but also really solidify the bonds I’ve made with friends in Chattanooga. I may move this coming year but some of those friendships will last a lifetime. I have gotten to learn so much from those friendships. I’ve even been pleasantly surprised by being inspired by folks much younger than myself.
I definitely encountered some challenges in my professional field but nothing too bad and nothing I couldn’t handle. These last few years I’ve really lived in the spirit that if I can’t change something, control it or it doesn’t serve me, then the correct action may very well be to remove myself from that situation. Sure there’s fear, stress and anxiety that comes from making moves and getting outside your comfort zone but I made a wholehearted commitment to myself some five years ago to not settle for less than the best for me and from me so, on to the next journey.
In the three and a half years that I’ve been running I’ve put in a total of 2,577 miles on these size 15 feet. This year beginning on February I decided that I should probably get into the gym and start working out too. I didn’t do a great job balancing the two but I am proud to say that I still managed to run 528 miles (118 hrs) and I managed to workout 151 hrs. So roughly five hours a week devoted to my overall fitness.
Mental and spiritual health are very important for me as well. I definitely didn’t read as much as I wanted to. Although I am officially an adult reader because I actually read a whole book in one day which I’ve never done so since I read kind of slow and I re-read so much because I get distracted. The book happened to be fantastic, about an old cuban fisherman in his fishing journey written by Hemingway, I believe it might have been his last book. I now know why he won a Pulitzer and Nobel prize for literature.
I was trying to see if I could get metrics for audiobooks I’ve listened to in 2022 but it only shows the last 5 months which come up to 80 hrs or basically 16 hours a month of listening to audiobooks. I can see however that I’ve listened to a total of 86 audiobooks since I got the audible app in 2019.
A huge part of my mental health and motivation are motivational speeches, seminars and videos on YouTube every single morning for at least an hour minimum.
For years I’ve been using writing as a method of mental health, therapy and to become a better communicator. In 2022 I managed to write 17 Blogs.
Addiction
Everyday Wisdom
Resentment
Atom’s Journey (draft)
Be inconsistent in order to be consistent
Whose fanning your flame
Another failure
Food for thought
How do I get motivated
Humbleness – to be or not to be
Practice is Perfect
To Fear or not to fear
I raised my standards
Harmony between spirit and body
How to drive real and authentic change in your life
Physical, mental and emotional pain
What to do when you don’t feel like giving 100%
In addition, I am currently working on a short story inspirational fiction book that if all works out I’ll have published in 2023. Just to review, since I created my website for the blogs in late 2018 I’ve entered over 90 blogs in there but some were from the past that I moved over.
I’ve never been much for balance, I’ve been a true believer that sometimes you give all your time to work and family if you’re lucky enough and sometimes you gotta suck it up and pick your poison. Usually that means work to me, I’ve been married to work for a very long time and my actual wife has been more a mistress that sometimes I have time for.
I am grateful to admit that at my old age (yeah right, I’m still a baby) I’ve come to the realization that my wife (work) doesn’t usually love me back. So now that I’m a bit softer headed I’ve been prioritizing family and myself a lot more. Needless to say that I still worked more hours than I absolutely should’ve in 2022 but I definitely made time for my kids, my wife and my health. And yes, for a whole lot of weeks and months that meant getting up at 4am to go on my runs and getting home from the gym before the boys even got up for school. I made zero excuses.
This year I decided to create and execute monthly goals as resolutions rather than waiting until the new year to figure it all out. For my 1st time doing so it went well but I can still do better.
I’ve been big on goals for sometime now and yet every year I learn better techniques on creating and executing them. This year while having a couple personal and professional coaching sessions from the best out there (David Perez, my big brother) I realized that in order for us to have a higher success rate on achieving our goals we really should format our lives as we do our businesses. Create a mission, vision, values, objectives, possible hurdles, and device a plan broken down for the long haul, the year, quarters, etc.
This really put things into perspective and I feel confident about 2023 because I did organize myself in this manner.
We don’t lack time, we lack prioritizing and sacrificing for what matters to us.
You can only have results or excuses, never both. They don’t even live next to each other.
For many years I’ve been Relentless about my goals and I’ve went about them very hard headed like. I now know that although I should still be relentless in my determination, sometimes I have to change my approach about them. I’ve been working on me for a long time (over 20 years) and I have so much to learn and experience.
I always keep certain watchwords and phrases top of mind like
If I know better, why am I not doing better?
Execute
If not now when?
Relentless
Mindset
Discipline
Goal oriented
Stay in the fight
Resiliency
Resolve
To name a few. However, in 2022 I added a few new watchwords,
Equanimity
– Oxford Dictionary – mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation.
I believe I heard this word first in The Power of One More by Ed Myllet.
This word has helped me keep my composure about things and accept that maybe I need to stop talking and pushing and just move on. Meditation helps tremendously for to achieve equanimity.
Altruism
– Oxford Dictionary – the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others.
Although I’ve known this word for a while it hit me different listening to a motivational speech by Les Brown.
This watchword resonates in my soul 1st and foremost with my relationship with my wife but in 2022 I kept this front and center as I worked with the community all over Chattanooga including with my friends and the folks I worked with in the restaurant that I was responsible for.
Attrition
– Oxford – the action or process of gradually reducing the strength or effectiveness of someone or something through sustained attack or pressure.
I encountered this word used in a negative form by Eric Thomas I believe in one of his books or by someone just as energetic but as I learned what it meant I could resonate with it when it comes to my goal driven manner. I will fail, fall and bruise up but eventually the constant pressure will give and I will attain all my wishes, dreams and goals.
Looking back at 2022 it definitely shows how busy yet productive the year has proven to be. And that’s not even mentioning the amazing vacations to SC and to FL that we went to and spend great times with our families, watched my brother retire from the Navy and got to have an amazing Thanksgiving break with them all. Many of my running miles were with my boys since in 2022 I started the Money Runs where they get $5 for every mile they each run with me. It’s been awesome. We’ve gotten to do so much, the boys have learned new things like skating, been year round in sports, art, leadership classes and great extra curriculum activities. My wife will be done with her master’s in a month or two.
As an added bonus my good friend Greg West write a book called ELEVEN about 10 people who inspired him by training for a year to complete this awful run in the woods of Kentucky and Tennessee in some beautiful yet extremely challenging terrain. The book is about 11 people though, I’m the 11th which join the race about a month before it with zero training, weighting about 270lbs and never had ran in such a terrain. Needless to say that I didn’t do very well but I was still proud of my performance. I should receive my copy Wednesday, can’t wait but definitely a cool way to end the year.
So blessed. I was going to share my goals for 2023 but I think this review has gone long enough. Love you all and have a great 2023.
Stay in the fight
Jimmy Perez 
Leave a Reply