2017: My Goals for a CRAZY year

 My life has been tumultuous, to say the least, for about 15 years now.  It's a really long story, and there are parts of my own story that I can't even tell.  I'm not sure when this photo was taken, but that's about what I looked like a year ago.  Only my four legged niece Willow was brave enough to be in a photo with me.  Living with my mom for five years, my weight crept back up to near the highest it's ever been.  In 2007, as a taxi driver in California, I bulked up to 374 pounds.  I managed to lose much of that, getting down to 245 in 2011.  Then I started driving a taxi here in Winston-Salem, and gained much of it back. 

In any case, a year ago I had two choices: become a Sumo wrestler or start losing weight again.  After some soul searching, I realized I'd never make Yokozuna.  There ain't nothing good about being fat.  OK, being super fat DID actually save my life once as a taxi driver, but that's the only time it helped. 

Around May 1st, 2017, I weighed in at 368.8 pounds.  In the situation I was in then, It was really tough to lose weight.  But I wound up having it out with my mom, and heading here to Winston-Salem, living homeless, and focusing on getting my art going as a business.  I had two main goals this year:

1) Lose weight and get below 300 pounds.
2) Start making a living from my art and writing.

I "failed" at both.  That's how most people would categorize it.  I didn't make either goal. But I come from the BMX and action sports world where "failure" is simply seen as a necessary part of life.  I weighed myself today at the mall for a quarter, and came in at 317 pounds.  And that was all bundled up for the cold weather.  So I'll call it 315 pounds.  While I didn't achieve my goal, I DID manage to lose about 54 pounds in the last eight months.  I'll take it. 

As for making a living from my art and writing...  I have eight drawings up at Earshot Music here in Winston-Salem, my first solo art show.  Four have sold, and that show helped me sell a couple more.  I'm staying busy as an artist.  I'm not making a living, but I'm making about 1/3 of a living doing what I love to do.  Like with my weight, it's not exactly where I wanted to be, but it IS progress. 

That's the point of goals.  Even if you don't achieve the goal exactly, just working towards a goal gets you heading in the right direction. 

Here are my two main goals for the first six months of 2018:

1) Lose 50 more pounds, and weigh in at under 265 by July 1st, 2018.
2) Get to the point where I'm making $1200 a month or more from my art and writing by July 1st, 2018, and have my own place to live. 

Those are the two big things I'm working towards.  What are you working towards in this New Year of 2018?