I was flipping through a spiral notebook the other day and I came across a list of five New Year’s resolutions I had written to myself heading into the year 2020.

Four years later, I have only accomplished one. I could very easily scratch out the last zero in “2020” and pencil in a four in its place. I am still trying to get things done!

It is not that I haven’t accomplished anything in the last four years, I have. But things change, life happens and priorities shift.

For the most part, my New Year’s resolutions look the same every year – to save money, pay off debt, get in better shape, etc. Those three are on “auto – repeat,” but outside of that, my resolutions are about the person I hope to be someday.

I am all about setting goals. I grew up in athletics and spent several years as a coach, so goal setting was and is important to me. If you aim for nothing, you are bound to hit it.

Seneca put it this way, “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”

But what I am learning as I age is that my goals become less about me and more about others. This year I have whittled my New Year’s resolutions down to one sentence, and I plan to repeat it each year after until I am no longer on this earth. This is where I have decided to set my sail, my instructions to me.

“Todd, fight the good fight.”

I have a picture in my mind’s eye of the type of person I want to become, and I try to think and act like that person as often as possible.

Each day, I fight against apathy to gain ground on “that guy” I want to become. I may never completely get there, but at least I am getting closer when I think and act on what I believe I can become.

What is the “good fight?” I guess the best way to answer that is to ask yourself what in your life is worth fighting for?

Family, health, and kindness are a few off my list that I am willing to fight for.

I fight to protect, provide for, and encourage my family. I believe we all would, but do our families know it?

I fight for my health by exercising when I don’t feel like it and not scarfing down one too many pieces of pumpkin pie at Christmas dinner.

I even to fight to be kind to others. Sometimes I just don’t feel like it, especially when they are unkind to me. But where is grace or courage in repaying unkindness with more unkindness?

There is a line from the movie Tombstone that I refer to often. Legendary law man, Wyatt Earp was challenged by a drunk Johnny Ringo to a gun battle. Wyatt looked at him and said, “I’m not gonna fight you, Ringo, there’s no money in it.”

In other words, fighting Ringo was not worth his time and effort because he had nothing to gain from it. He was not talking about money as such; he was talking about his value as a man.

There are people and things I choose not to deal with. I take the Wyatt Earp approach; there’s no money in it and I have nothing to gain from it.

I refuse to waste my time on anything that does not add value to my life, so I keep my mouth shut and quietly move on.

I love what Winston Churchill once said; “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.”

The older I get, the fewer fights I pick. I’m not afraid to fight, I’m just learning what is worth fighting for. I may not win them all, but at least I am fighting for what I believe in, and a good fight is always worth the scars.

Anything other than that, I’m just punching air.

***

Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles appear on Fridays. Email comments to [email protected].