I hate New Year’s resolutions! But, it is the season of them, or at least by February, the crunch has come and you’ve faded or kicked that promise to the corner. We only know what we know, and we’re only as helpful as the information we have.
In 2024 JANZ wants to keep that in mind so we don’t miss our own expectations and fail to meet yours. I loathe those endless ‘Monkey Surveys’ asking inane questions so let's keep this simple. Send an email to Lara at admin@janz.nz and answer this in a word or two. Better still, talk to us. No boundaries, well apart from decency! So go as broad or narrow as you like. What do you want more of? What do you want less of? How can JANZ support you? And your answers will change! Before the next New Year. Maybe before the next month. So keep these three thoughts at the front of your brain for as long as possible, a way of opening the doors between us and welcoming your unstated hopes and needs. You may even find these 3 simple questions help both at home and in your common room chats!
Here are 5 more resolutions to consider. I especially like number 5!
Getting as sober as a judge
Former fun friends who’ve gone down the Alcoholics Anonymous route tend not to be much of a joy to be with, but it doesn’t have to be that way: there is a third way between AA and the drunken highway. Following a late-night New Year's Eve talk with a judge mate who became sober, she promised me an op-ed on her journey. I found it grounding and inspiring. I hope you do too! [INSERT LINK HERE] Apart from being sober, what makes a good judge?
Keeping it simple and keeping it clear… That’s the Problem
Were I American, I’d have been tempted for the first time last week to vote for Donald Trump. I beg you to read this junk: a job ad for a new director of New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. The successful applicant will be chosen “without regard to age, alienage, caregiver status, childbirth, citizenship status, color, creed, disability, domestic violence victim status, ethnicity, familial status, gender and/or gender identity or expression, marital status, military status, national origin, parental status, partnership status, predisposing genetic characteristics, pregnancy, race, religion, reproductive health decision-making, sex, sexual orientation, unemployment status, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons of minority sexual orientation or gender identity, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply for vacant positions at all levels.” So they may discriminate against, say, beards? The entire word soup could be improved by a single sentence: “We will disregard personal characteristics unrelated to the applicant’s ability to do the job.” We do ourselves a disservice by disguising the seriousness of our difficulties — our problems — with a euphemism. The word ‘problem’ has been virtually replaced in our language by ‘issue’. ‘Problem’ suggests there is a — well — ‘problem’. ‘Problems’ are by definition difficulties. ‘Issues’ are not necessarily; they’re just something that must be addressed. Problems demand answers, issues not so much. Something rotten in the State of Papakura, now that’s a problem… Read Something Rotten in the State of Papakura…And Elsewhere!
Just stop!
In an essay entitled “Why I want to die at 75,” the oncologist and renowned health adviser Ezekiel Emanuel astonished America when he wrote that he will refuse all medical treatment after 75 (even for cancer). It’s not just that he hopes “to die before I get old”, in the immortal lines of the Who. Rather, Emanuel pledges that at 75 he will stop trying to cheat death. He will act as if the history of medicine since the 19th century never existed, seeking no cure for any of age’s encroaching ailments. No chemotherapy, certainly, but neither antibiotics, operations, statins, stents, screening, tests or vaccines. Avoiding contact with doctors, in other words. He would like to be carried off the old-fashioned way, by nature’s mercifully swift brutality, rather than endure the decade of medically extended multiple illnesses that, on average, awaits us in the final furlong. Read The Oncologist Who Will Refuse All Medical Treatment After 75
The 21-day metabolic reset: lose weight, boost mood, feel energized
Come on, you lot. No New Year resolution would be complete without a promise to do more and eat less. A certain judge is in the midst of his metabolic reset! Metabolic Reset aims to reboot your health — fast. It combines intermittent fasting with a modified ketogenic diet to help your body keep blood sugar levels under control and improve its fat-burning ability. By the end of the 21-day program, you should see improvements in everything from mood, mental clarity, and energy to skin, digestion, and hormone balance. Here’s how to do it.
Read The Diet Plan That Changed My Life In Three Weeks
Take it easy on yourself. Make this the year of you! Just say ‘No’.
We can be very hard on ourselves. It comes with the job. Our inability to say that simple two-letter word ‘no’. There is no resolution that, if kept, will make life less uncertain and allow you to control your aging parents and your teenage children and the way other people act. So this year (as every year), may you just skip the part where you resolve to be better do better and look better this time. Instead, may you give yourself the gift of really, really low expectations. Not out of resignation, but out of generosity. May you expect so little of yourself that you can be super proud of the smallest of accomplishments. May you expect so little of the people in your life that you actually notice and cherish every small, lovely thing about them. May you expect to get so little out of 2024 that you can celebrate every single thing it offers you, however small. Because you deserve joy and not disappointment. And especially in this Year of the Dragon celebrated this month.
笑口常开 (Xiào kǒu cháng kāi): May your mouth be full of laughter! Wishing for a year filled with joy, happiness, and laughter.
Gerard.