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Happy New Year- 2026



I haven't done a New Year's Resolution in a couple of years but I think I have one this year.  I've been pondering what makes for a festive holiday season with lots of holiday spirit and what makes for a stressful holiday season.  Everyone wants a low stress holiday season with lots of fun times and memorable moments, of course, and I feel fortunate that that’s how mine has been.  For me, I know the most obvious reason is because we haven't traveled anywhere.  It’s been really nice staying home to relax and enjoy the holidays.  Our last trip was in September for Bruce's birthday but we haven't gone anywhere since.  I get in a good routine when I’m home and I have a nice, low stress frame of mind.  My diet is more healthy and I exercise regularly.  I'm not going to say that my New Year's Resolution is to not travel, however.  There's more to it than that.  We also had friends and family come over for dinner parties more than usual so there was lots of socializing going on around here.  After the baseball season finally ended in October, we had nothing on the calendar so we decided to invite several friends over to get "caught up".  We had four different couples over for wonderful dinners and lovely visits in November.  Then we had one more in December with two other couples that was also fun and festive for the holiday season. 


Of course, Christmas with my family here is always a fun time with a wonderful Christmas dinner that everyone pitched in to help with. 


I enjoy doing dinner parties and so does Bruce.  It's like a celebration of good food with people you love in the comforts of your own home without the loud noise and disruptions of a restaurant.  We feel very grateful to be able to live where we do, in the neighborhood that we do, in the house that we do and to be able to share it with friends and family.  It's easy to just think about being grateful but to do something about it with people you love brings it to a whole different level.  Ever since my joint replacements, I've been feeling grateful about my health and life in general which is when I started my New Year's Resolutions or what I call my New Year's Intentions. It's been six years now and my gratitude just keeps getting stronger and stronger. I understand that I am in my 70's now and my milestone 70th birthday stressed me out a little.  I was so relieved when it was over! 


Fortunately for me, it was in the summer and my friend and I went on an Alaskan cruise for our birthdays which was super fun and then I got really busy during the summer with the grandkids here and lots of visitors, I never had time to think about it again.  Do we look like a couple of old ladies?  I should say NOT!


I really haven't thought about being 70 since my birthday.  I know there is a lot of factors to consider to age gracefully like to keep moving, exercise your body and your brain, work to maintain muscle mass and strength, engage in social activities, etc.  My New Year's Resolution will assure that I continue on the right path.  Previously, my New Year's Resolutions have been: a Year of Reconstruction (2019),  a Year of Rehabilitation (2020), a Year of Reformation (2021),  a Year of Reconnection (2022) and a Year of Reflection (2023).  Those were really good for me and I learned a lot from them.  Now, I’ve decided that 2026 will be my Year of Resilience.  The definition of resilience is the ability to keep moving forward when everything is falling apart.  I don't think I'm actually falling apart but aging can make you feel that way.   Now that I'm 70,  I plan to keep moving forward.  I plan to keep moving forward with my exercise program.  I started doing  Barre 3 during the week along with my Pilates and I can feel the difference.  I'm stronger and I have more energy with a positive mentality.  Exercise will do that to you.  I plan to keep moving forward with Hannah Freese, RD's diet and all the strategies she taught me.  I wrote about that during my Year of Reformation and I am still doing it. I am hoping that my Year of Resilience will set the pace for me to continue with it into the future clear into my 80's.  These are not just New Year's Resolutions I do for one year but more like a way of thinking which is why I call them my New Year Intentions.  Being resilient isn’t new for me but now I think I'm at a point where it will be very important.  For example, being resilient is like failing in something but learning from it to improve yourself. As I get older, I will need to embrace all that I've learned about resilience and practice it even more now.  Being resilient will mean going with the flow.  Going with the flow may cause problems or difficult situations but being resilient will mean finding a solution and pushing through the obstacles.  It's really a good thing to be resilient.  The more I think about it, the more I know this is a good New Year's Intention.  2026 will be my Year of Resilience.  





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