2023 New Year's Resolutions

It's a new year which means it's time for the annual rite of passage of making unrealistic promises for the new year.

I created an illustration highlighting the resolutions of years' past and my realistic take on them for 2023. As I jest about my resolutions for the new year, I will bid adieu to 2022 while being realistic about how I will approach my goals to health, kindness, education, and parenting.

Health

Youth is wasted on the young. I am no longer a single man in my twenties. Being in the gym four hours a day is no longer an option. I am grateful that I am healthy enough to have made it this far without the need for daily medications. I will work on trying to lose the COVID weight on my own terms. With regards to basketball, my aspirations are beyond my skillsets. At this point, I am only doing it for the cardio. We did buy a new fancy air fryer and I still don't own an Apple watch because no one cares if you have met your daily movement goal or what your oxygen level is at.

Kindness

I have been fortunate enough to volunteer and help others in 2022. Kindness doesn't work well as a one way street and shouldn't be transactional because it doesn't cost anything. Encourage others to not use it as a score sheet.

Education

There are too many opportunities to learn within a year. Be a sponge and use them wisely. Read more, listen actively to others, and share what you know when people ask. Our society rewards knowledge, why not share it if it benefits society as a whole?

Parenting

This a tough one, especially if you are the parent of a tween. Every parent wants to give their kid (s) opportunities they never had. Doing so can result in them not understanding the power of privilege. Kids will always think their parents are lame and dumb. Love them nonetheless and find valuable opportunities to teach them lessons on humility and how to handle failure. Be the parents your parents wanted to be. They will thank you in the long run.

As page 1 of 2023 begins, I will end this blog post with a parting thought.

The word "BEGIN" doesn't have an expiration date.