Happy New Year 2025, Review This!

According to research conducted by Strava, the social network for athletes, Friday, January 12, is the fateful day when you’ll most likely trash all your grandiose, high falutin, idealistic goals posing as resolutions.

For the last 20 or so years, I’ve generated major blah, blah, blah, every winter (under the rubric “Resolve This!”) about the beauty of that blank page arriving on January 1, giving us all the chance to be the authors of our own future. Seriously? What’s so special about one arbitrary date, other than a local flower parade and the miserable traffic that goes with it? And this year’s Rose Bowl/College Football Playoff features the Ducks and the Buckeyes. The marching Ducks rarely win an important game. And Buckeyes are toxic to humans. Oy vey.

Nope, forget the future. Instead of a blank page, what we get these days is mostly negative, divisive stuff and pictures of friends we don’t know coming straight outta our iPhones. It’s not so easy finding a clutterless page these days, is it? And if you’ve ever bought anything coming by way of a pop-up ad, please do not tell me; it carries the life penalty of my eyeroll on all future visual contact with you, the felon after the fact.

And rather than feeling frustrated by competition and comparison and listing unrealistic stuff like “Be a scratch golfer,” “Write a novel,” or “Develop 6-pack abs,” I’m giving resolutions the finger and taking some time instead to look back on how I grew, and what I achieved and learned in 2024. I read a lot and walked a lot in 2024, and maybe my favorite read (outside of Italian crime novels) was the Gap and the Gain. So, enough about the gaps between now and me finally getting a Pulitzer, let’s roll with the Top Ten Gains of 2024:

#1. I read 63 books! Became know at Peet’s Coffee as the reading guy. Better than decaf man.

#2. I walked an average of over 13,000 steps per day (4.6 million for the year) and experienced a breakthrough: I said hello and smiled to everyone who crossed my path (unless they were focused on their shoes or holding a thousand-yard stare.) Empathy went from a C+ to maybe a B.

#3. While covering 2,300 miles on foot (the distance from Pasadena to Cleveland), I was not attacked by any of the 2,300 canines that live on my street (nor by any of their owners.) Less antagonistic. :)

#4. Ugh. I failed watching a single USC Football game for a total season without uttering at least ten expletives; that’s because I didn’t stop watching after three quarters (when Choking Time began.) Room to grow...up.

#5. I visited my fave local Italian spot (Gale’s Restaurant) at least 52 Fridays in a row. Self-imposed attitude adjustment and taste bud therapy. Found a place where "everybody knows your name."

#6. I replaced the soundtrack, “Too good to be true” with “Every time, somehow, I always figure things out.” Thank you, author/speaker Jon Acuff.

#7. I learned who my friends were. Two of us are starting a new business.

#8. I recited a gratitude list, right out loud in public, every morning. Being grateful is a great way to start the day. And talking to yourself creates some serious breathing room.

#9. I found out that our practice purpose "Making Dentistry Fun" works in real life too.

#10. I accomplished continuing education in optimism. And during a stressful year, I was grateful humor was a medicine with no side effects, and always available if your were looking for it hard enough.

"Don't worry, be happy!" Happy New Year 2025!