Resolve This! Or Resolve This?

Just so you know, this Resolve This! is a departure from all those written by moi in the past. And 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.

And I realize, for the last 20 or so years I’ve generated major bla, bla, bla, about the beauty of that blank page arriving on January 1, giving us all the chance to be the authors of our own lives. Seriously? What’s so special about one arbitrary date: why not any day? Other than a parade and the miserable traffic that goes with it, plus this year’s Rose Bowl/College Football Playoff game pitting one school that never wins out here versus another from a state that elects semi-illiterate ex-football coaches to the U. S. Senate, what's so special?

Nope, forget the future. Instead of a blank page, all we get these days is mostly negative divisive stuff and pictures of friends we don’t really know coming straight out of our iPhones. It’s not so easy finding a clutterless page these days, is it?

I once had a business advisor who preached, “stayin’ in the bubble;” he coached paying attention only to what you could control. But where’s the coaching for those of us who have been work-related sober for only one year? I thought I’d be living inside a bigger bubble; almost coast-to-coast, but at least from East to West Las Tunas Dr. or maybe Colorado Blvd. through Old Town Pasadena.

And I’m not sure if it’s brain fog from Covid-19 or simply the result of decades in dentistry but, these days, I’m not even so sure if my bubble is expanding or shrinking. For most of 2023, I just walked around saying “Yes.” Please pinch me, I’ve become a volunteer, the ultimate team player.

I never saw myself as a gung-ho volunteer/team player, but I guess things change. I used root to against the kid playing in front of me while I sat on the bench during my high school basketball days. But surrounded by growing numbers of smarter women in a dental practice since I was in my 20s, I became a team player. Looking back, I guess anything might be possible after all. There might be no “I” in “team” (unless you’re from Alabama), but there’s an “I” in “win.” Maybe some of us are just slower studies.

And rather than feeling frustrated by competition and comparison and listing unrealistic stuff like “Be a scratch golfer,” “Write a novel,” or having “6-pack abs,” I’m giving resolutions the finger and taking some time to look back on how I grew, achieved, and learned in 2023. And really, this paragraph would’ve morphed into Resolution #1 if I hadn’t given up on that BS maybe 10-minutes ago.

So here they are, the Top Ten Review This! reviews from 2023

#1. I gave up overpromising and underdelivering to myself (especially regarding two out of the three examples from two paragraphs ago.) My advice: try little, achievable steps first.

#2. I walked an average of 11,000 steps per day! 2,000 miles! I saw the movie “Air” four times!

#3. I smiled and said hello to 70% of my fellow Pasadena Madison Height’s walkers (30% voted for Trump.)

#4. I watched an entire USC Football game without uttering one expletive. I also developed a new internal soundtrack for the Trojans, “Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.”

#5. At last, I had surgery that had “scared the crap outta me” for 20-years (and the robot who assisted did an excellent job.) And the post-op Anesthesia Nurse opened the "Happy Hour" medication bar.

#6. I learned that what can be perceived as a negative, can create something positive. I lost 20-lbs, ate better, exercised seven days per week, and even stuck with my intermittent fasting every day preparing for surgery and maintaining the gains, all because of a robot carrying a blade.

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

#8. I read well over fifty books, started an LA Invisalign study club, became a board member for the Health Science Immersion Program mentoring high school students, continued writing for and helping to recruit content for the American Academy of Clear Aligners (AACA) journal. And…posted quotes and a video commentary for AACA dental practices and Instagram Monday through Friday (you can find me at tcdc1.)

#9. I learned my retired patients were truly just as busy as when on the job but relaxing more and enjoying their choices. It was the right time for me to join the club; they weren’t lying, and neither am I.

#10. I copied genius from 2022 and today I’m copying genius from 2023. Why stop looking for honesty, generosity, humor, bravery, and compassion 24/7 and hoping we all take the time to work at being our better selves?

Happy New Year 2024