I wanted to write this yesterday. But I procrastinated. So I’m writing it today. I’m posting publicly so you can hold me accountable if you see me slipping. 🙂 Happy new year!

  1. Stop procrastinating, especially when it comes to writing and posting.
  2. Not think about my kids too much.
  3. Become a better parent.
  4. Study Jesus.
  5. Get a better grasp of Islam.
  6. Become more decisive.
  7. Become a much better writer.
  8. Try to finally figure out love.
  9. Not care what intellectuals think about my writing because the audience I’m trying to reach is everyday normal people, not academics.
  10. Be more vulnerable with my emotions even if this includes crying.
  11. Write more honestly about what I truly think and feel with out fear of what people will think, especially my Evangelical Christian friends.
  12. Learn Arabic and improve my Spanish and French.
  13. Resume my commitment to memorizing large portions of text: quotation, book excerpts, parts of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
  14. Study the Ottoman Empire.
  15. Replace 10 pounds of fat with 10 pounds of muscle.
  16. Punish my body in the hottest yoga studios and on the steepest hills.
  17. Listen better.
  18. Begin video posts even though I don’t have the technology to make them professional.
  19. Become less tolerant of bigotry, prejudice and xenophobia, especially when I see it in people who claim to be Christian.
  20. Launch The Christian Muslim Alliance to help (Christians especially) love and understand each other.
  21. Spend more time helping the homeless.
  22. Be more of a giver and less of a taker.
  23. Learn to be selfish because caring for myself isn’t easy.
  24. Become politically active in the 2016 presidential election.
  25. Attend synagogue with Elliot.
  26. Attend Mosque.
  27. Spend 10 days somewhere on the Italian coast this summer, alone, writing.
  28. Be kinder to myself.
  29. Better my understanding of US history.
  30. Laugh more.
  31. Become more of who I am and less of want society seems to want me to be.