Amidst this pandemic, with all the uncertainty swirling about, safety lies in the mundane. My New Year’s resolutions are therefore commonplace. As banal as they are, they are one thing I can actually control in an environment that feels out of control, so the vigor with which I will accomplish them will be atypical. Losing weight has been a staple from year to year, but not something accomplished until my visit with a cardiologist last spring. As a lazy being, exercise had not been in my repertoire, the information of which was shared with the doctor. He took one look at my overweight self and informed me that if the pounds did not flow off my body, a heart attack or stroke would be a likely event. Of course, these statistics were not new to me, thanks to the many advertisements touting such. What WAS new to me was what he said next. After lamenting the fact that exercise is difficult for me due to the knee replacement, arthritis, vertigo, and sluggish state, he looked me right in the eye and said, “But you do not have to exercise to lose weight.”

He could have knocked me over with a feather! Everything I had learned about weight loss included the importance of exercise. What he was saying was blasphemous, but it turned out to be true.

For the next several months, potato chips, French fries, and other food items ladened with carbs were banished from my diet, and the pounds simply slipped away, slowly.

Since last spring I have lost thirty pounds, with another twenty or so left to go. Losing that extra baggage is my number one New Year’s resolution. Combining this goal with my love of the television show The Greatest Loser, I have concocted the plan of inviting others to join my weight loss challenge, establishing my own version of the game to be done virtually. More details to come…

One of my biggest frustrations has been finding clean, unwrinkled, matching clothing to wear to work every day. I inevitably have a great pair of navy-blue pants ready to wear, but only green or purple shirts. Mismatched apparel is the trend I flaunt, albeit not intentionally. One big problem is my instinctive need to bargain hunt. Taking after my compulsive father, an ugly orange shirt may find its way into my shopping carriage if it is discounted enough, with no forethought as to whether it will match anything. I have decided to only purchase matching items, preferably together in order to guarantee suitability. Starting in January, my daily clothes will match every day. This will be done by consciously taking the time on Sundays to wash, iron and hang them up.

There are five hooks on the wall of my bedroom, and each hook will hold a fully matched outfit. If I feel really ambitious, matching earrings will take their place in little plastic bags, dangling from each hanger. Oh! What a consummate dresser I will be! As I have aged, my hands have begun to look like my mother’s did right before she passed away at the age of 86.

They are super wrinkled with skin that looks like tissue paper. Brown spots abound, over numbering the freckles that were once there. My fingernails are rough and ragged, and I admittedly bite them from time to time. Taking care of my hands will be a new New Year’s resolution for me, but an important one. If I lose weight, and my outfits match, it will be important to have hands that are also attractive. Yes, 2022 will no doubt continue to be a challenging year. However, working on realistic New Year’s resolutions will give me some control over achievable improvements, and hopefully the COVID environment will similarly improve. One can only hope…