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Happy Old Year!!! The Highly Specific, Totally Personal BEST OF 2022 List

“Make improvements, not excuses.” –Roy T. Bennett, The Light In The Heart 

“We don’t need to have just one favorite. We keep adding favorites. Our favorite book is always the book that speaks most directly to us at a particular stage in our lives. And our lives change. We have other favorites that give us what we most need at that particular time. But we never lose the old favorites. They’re always with us. We just sort of accumulate them.” –Lloyd Alexander

Hello friend,

Happy New Year!  I love this time of the year for its outward permission to begin again and to be optimistic.  It’s expected that we set some goals, make some plans, and generally set out to become a better version of who we were last year.  That sounds good, right?

Yes, BUT….

While I am so excited for what 2023 has in store for me—I’m sincerely thinking it could be my best year yet—I am not quite ready to just leave 2022 in the rubbish pile.  I adored 2022!  I so often found myself thrilled at what I was engaged in, whether that was a physical challenge, a streaming series, or a delicious beverage.  So before I go bouncing excitedly into the new year, I want to make a list of the best things I did or saw or got into in 2022.  Not the usual Top 10 Movies or 10 Best Television Shows type of lists that are everywhere lately—I do love those, too, however—but rather something very personal and specific, and yet also random.  I’m thinking of any little product I discovered or thing I added to my routine or even advice I heard.  Just stuff I kind of test drove in my life.

Since I am constantly tinkering with my life in hopes of making it the most productive, efficient, fun, adventurous, and helpful it can possibly be, I love when I find a good hack or pro tip or simply something that tastes amazing.  These are the kinds of things I am always trying to pry out of people I know: their secrets for making Life a little easier or happier.  Some people seem to have a ton—my sister is good at this–and I love when they are willing to share.  So, in the spirit of bests, here are some of my favorites from 2022:

  • Best Follow-My-Gut Moment: When I randomly wrote the first chapter of what became my novel. I had no clue about the plot of the story at the time, but I just decided to write a page simply to see how it felt.  The result: I was completely alive, every synapse in my brain exploding like a fireworks show.  Clearly I was onto something.  I didn’t know what, but I knew I needed to see where it would lead.  By the end of the year, I had a draft that I actually liked and felt like a real book to me.  We will see in 2023 if any publishers think so, but even if they don’t, this was absolutely one of the coolest and most rewarding things I have ever done.  I now feel like I must give myself permission to seize upon my gut instincts more often and take more chances creatively.  Who knows what other magic might be inside of me?
  • Best Addition To My Health & Fitness Routine: Bedtime yoga. I don’t know if it’s actually yoga.  Maybe it’s just stretching.  In any case, it has been so, so helpful to both my sleep and my waking life.  I have had back problems my entire adult life, including surgery and lots of rough weeks bent sideways in spasm.  I am always searching for ways to make those rough weeks fewer and further between.  This year I think I finally discovered one (knock on wood).  On a mat in the dark when I am otherwise completely ready for bed, I roll my back out with my Chirp wheel and then invert myself so my feet are in the air.   I do a bunch of stretches for my legs, hips, and torso.  I include focused breathing and a few regular yoga poses to finish up.  The whole routine—it has definitely become a routine—takes about 20 minutes.  Then I climb into bed feeling wonderfully relaxed and clear-minded.  I have had far fewer days of physical agony this year than any in recent decades, which means I can do more of the things that fill my bucket.  This addition to my routine, to which I have been faithful even when busy or exhausted or on vacation, is definitely something I am going to keep.  I am beyond grateful for it.
  • Best Electronic/Device To Keep Me On Track Physically: A Fitbit. For years I resisted getting any kind of step counter or fitness tracker or smartwatch, not because I didn’t believe in their usefulness but because I tend to get a bit obsessed with statistics and metrics of all sorts.  They are just too fascinating to me.  I knew that would happen if I got one of these gadgets, but I just couldn’t resist any longer.  I asked for one at the holidays last year and have been dialed in ever since (I started with a Charge 5 and just got a Sense 2 last week).  I love all the numbers: active zone minutes, steps, miles, sleep stages, heart rates, skin temperature, oxygen saturation, and on and on.  Beyond just being interesting, it got me to move more often and set more and different goals, sometimes many times per day.  And by judging me and assigning a sleep score every morning when I woke up, it tapped into my competitiveness and really pushed me to get to bed on time and sleep more.  Getting more active and sleeping better—it is a very satisfying combination for me.  I’m sticking with it.
  • Second Best Device To Keep Me On Track Physically: A scale. I know I know!  It’s not supposed to be about your weight but about how you feel.  I get it and I agree.  And I was also a bit hesitant to bring a scale into the house of young adolescents, as I don’t want them obsessing about their own weights.  I did it anyway, not long after I got the Fitbit.  All my adult life I had stayed fit but my weight kept creeping up almost imperceptibly, maybe a pound per year lately.  I had started to accept it as natural, but I just couldn’t convince myself.  I decided to make subtle changes and wanted to see if they worked.  I wanted the scale to give me one type of measurable data.  It absolutely did.  Yes, I admit that I am obsessed with it, checking my weight multiple times per day to understand my body’s patterns.  But it has also worked—along with the other things I have already mentioned—in helping me lose weight for the first time in my entire life.  I’m not saying a scale is for everybody, but for me it has been an excellent addition to my health plan.
  • Best New Tool For Yardwork & Chores: Battery power. This Spring, when it was time to get the stinky gas mower serviced again for the season, I instead got into heavy research about what has intrigued me for a couple of years: battery-powered mowers.  Since I absolutely loathe the smell of exhaust from gas engines and figured I could be doing something positive for the environment (and not be frustrated annually by the chugging of my engine and questioning which gas is right and how long it can be in the tank, etc.), I went for it (I got an E-GO brand).  Other than the battery not lasting as long as I needed to finish the yard in one pass, it proved to be a total game-changer.  It is so much more quiet, cuts well, and no more awful smell.  And good-bye cord-yanking; I just push the button to start it.  When Fall came and I needed more repairs to the even-less-trusty-but-more-stinky snowblower, I decided to cut my losses and get the battery-powered one from E-GO.  I can use the same batteries as the mower interchangeably and now won’t worry about running out of either.  I am never going back to gas.  Go Science!
  • Best Addition To Oral Health Routine (Hey, I said personal!): A water flosser (a.k.a. WaterPik). I have been intrigued by these things since I was a little kid but had never tried one.  At my last checkup, the hygienist said that because of grooves and pockets in my teeth, they can collect unwanted food during the day.  She suggested a water flosser.  As luck would have it, one soon went on sale at Costco.  The verdict: so worth it!  I don’t wait for the end of the night.  I do it a few times a day if I am around.  It feels so good and really does clear the food out.  I am committed for life!
  • Best Media Addition: I never understood how people had time for podcasts (or television series or movies, for that matter), so I just never considered them before.  However, on a trusted friend’s recommendation, I tried an episode of Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” as a substitute for listening to music while working out.  I got hooked, first on that particular podcast and then on the medium in general.  Who knew there was so much to learn and laugh at?  Answer: probably everyone but me.  But now I do, and I love it.
  • Best Podcast: I smile just typing the word.  This interview show hosted by the brilliant comic actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes along with one famous guest has brought me so many hours of enjoyment this year.  I listen to it while lifting weights, so along with the regular grunting and panting from me dying in my attempts to stay fit, you will hear me giggling along to the show as they mock each other to oblivion.  The guests are excellent, but the hosts are the best.  I hope this show never ends!
  • Best Indulgent Drink: Big Train Spiced Chai Latte. I’ve had a lifelong sweet tooth and have always enjoyed a huge ice cream habit.  Part of my attempt to lose weight has been to ease up just a tiny bit on the sweets, and that includes ice cream.  However, I think I may have simply traded one very sweet treat for another this year.  I like the idea of tea, but my usual favorites are about half tea water and half honey.  This year, though, I allowed myself a splurge and bought some chai latte powder.  Big mistake!  I loved it too much, especially with some added Caramel Macchiato creamer from Aldi added to make it even more sweet and creamy.  I can’t even pretend it is good for me, as I like to do with other teas (honey is a health food, right?).  It is a dessert, plain and simple.  I do my best to not drink it every day, as I don’t want to admit it is a habit.  I will just say it is fantastic and hard to resist.  I’m a big fan and yes, hooked.
  • Best Streaming Stuff: Okay fine, I surrender! Since I love television and film, I can’t pass up the chance to share things I have enjoyed this year.  Full disclosure: other than the occasional weekend evening of watching an entire episode or movie with my family, I only ever watch things while on a piece of cardio equipment.  That means I watch movies in two or three sittings over the course of a week, and episodes get broken up randomly depending on my workouts.  It’s not an ideal way to watch and probably alters what I like and dislike, but it’s the best I can do for now.  Anyway, I feel like I have watched a lot of HBO Max and Apple TV+ this year.  My favorites from there and elsewhere have been Black Bird, Severance, Euphoria, Heartstopper, Ozark, Slow Horses, and Bullet Train.
  • Best Musical Artist: Though this was not a new find for me, I was deep into Matt Nathanson this year. His new album “Boston Accent” got by far the most plays on my Apple Music app.  My daughter and I just bonded over his Holiday Livestream on Friday night.  I believe I have been transformed from a fan to a superfan.
  • Best Advice From A Meme: “Be you. The world will adjust.”  Enough said.

I suppose I should take it as a good sign that I have not gotten too old and set in my ways that I can have this many fabulous new additions to my life in just one year.  I do love my routines and am undoubtedly highly opinionated, but I am constantly tinkering and trying new ways to see if I can make both my mind and my entire existence better.  And since I love learning, new experiments, ideas, and art forms are the natural way to scratch that ever-present itch.  This year I just happened to get lucky on many of the things I tried, leaving me feeling pretty darn satisfied with my Best Of Everything list and fairly certain many of these will become long-term positive changes in my life.  I love that.  So bring on 2023 and all of the new things I can try out!  My mind is open for business.

How about you?  What is on your Best Of Everything 2022 list?  Open up your journal and move your mind back through your year of new attempts at changing your world one little thing at a time.  Get specific and keep it very personal.  Which physical items (e.g. gadgets, tools, furniture, toys) made your little corner of the world a happier place?  Is there something that makes you more comfortable?  More efficient?  More organized?  Happier?  Which things that you tried or changed have made you healthier?  Which part of your daily routine or schedule have you changed the most?  What improvements have come from that?  Is there a special food or drink item that you have added to your diet?  How about a new favorite recipe?  Have you added any new people to your circle that have become favorites?  Which media that you consumed this year (TV, movies, music, books, podcasts, etc.) do you find yourself recommending to others?  Is there one medium that you have been particularly into this year?  Which artist(s) did you spend the most time with or appreciate the most?  What is the best advice you got this year?  What is the most important thing you did?  Did you spread your wings enough?  Did you get uncomfortable for the sake of growth?  Twenty years from now when you look back on 2022, what will be the most poignant and lasting item on your Best Of list?  Do you leave the year satisfied that you tried out enough new ideas, foods, art, and adventure for one year?  Will you be more or less willing to test your limits and stretch your comfort zone next year?  Do you expect next year to be even better than this one for you?  Leave me a reply and let me know, What is on you Best Of Everything 2022 list?

Onward and upward,

William

P.S. If today’s letter resonated with you, please share it with your community.  Examining our lives makes them so much more sweet and vibrant.

P.P.S. If this way of self-reflection appeals to you, consider buying my book Journal Of YOU: Uncovering The Beauty That Is Your Truth at your favorite online retailers.

Thanks, 2020! Personal Firsts, Bests, & Discoveries From A Year Like No Other

“Life is about accepting the challenges along the way, choosing to keep moving forward, and savoring the journey.” –Roy T. Bennett, A Light In The Heart

“The only way that we can live, is if we grow.  The only way that we can grow is if we change.  The only way that we can change is if we learn.  The only way we can learn is if we are exposed.  And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open.  Do it.  Throw yourself.” –C. JoyBell C. 

Hello friend,

I felt like a 90-year-old who couldn’t figure out how to get the remote control to play the movie.  I was on the phone with the Apple guy, stressed out and flummoxed, trying to learn how I could get my CDs to play in the new laptop I was considering buying.  “Why in the world wouldn’t it come with a disc drive?  How will I load all of my CDs into iTunes?  How will I burn the next album I rent from the library?  Surely I’m not alone here, am I, young genius person?  How else will I listen to my precious music????”  “Umm, well sir, you could just stream it.”  “Pay for music?  No way!  No….well, how would that work?”

Suspicious but intrigued by this sorcery he was explaining, I hung up the phone and called a couple of my friends who actually live in the modern world.  When one told me that he subscribes to Spotify Premium, I asked him how he plays all of his CDs that were the soundtrack of our many cross-country roadtrips a few decades ago (you know, when CDs were the newest, coolest technology).  “I sold them all on eBay,” he said, crushing my soul in one sentence.  How could you just dispose of those priceless archives of your life???  So, I called my other modern-yet-more-nostalgic friend.  She guided me through my fears, starting with a cost analysis: the cost of Apple Music for a month is the same as the cost of one CD.  But how do I get new albums when they are released?  I still need to buy them, right?  “They’re free.  They just show up on the release date.”  I didn’t believe her.  “Okay, name me a new album you would want?”  Indigo Girls: Look Long.  She looked it up: “Yep, it’s there.  I can listen to it right now if I want.  And anything else I want.  Anything.”

I was like a living, breathing version of the “Mind Blown” emoji.  I was stupefied by this new reality.  No CDs?  My whole world felt like it was coming apart.  But that stupor only lasted for a few minutes, the part when I was intellectualizing it all, thinking through plan options and credit card numbers.  After that, when I actually activated the free trial, well, then my whole world felt like it was opening up.  Wide!  All of this blessed inspiration was suddenly right at my fingertips.  I couldn’t get it in my ears fast enough.  Before the day was over, I had created several new playlists and downloaded hundreds of albums.  I was the proverbial kid in a candy store.  Honestly, as someone who is absolutely nutty about music, it felt like the discovery of a lifetime.  I was in Heaven!  Just so cool.

That day, lying on that hammock with my headphones on and my devices all aglow, with that music filling up my entire soul, was a total game-changer.  It was mid-2020—the height of the coronavirus pandemic, social unrest over racial injustice, and a crumbling economy—but all of those things that have become the year’s headlines suddenly had to share space in my heart and mind with something new and beautiful and, well, cool.  I don’t think a day has passed in the ensuing months that I haven’t been on Apple Music, granting myself that little space to both escape from this world and to be inspired to build a better one.  It is one of the things I will always remember 2020 for, and probably the one for which I will always be most grateful.

But it’s definitely not the only cool thing I learned or tried this year.  It’s not even the only eye-opener for me in the world of technology and media.  No, I got even further out of my old man mode when we finally cut the cable cord at my house.  My wife had been cursing the cable company for years.  I always watched the least amount of anything in my family, so I had no opinions.  However, when we got Netflix and Prime Video a couple years ago, I was intrigued by this streaming thing but just never found much time to watch anything.  When doing my cardio workouts in the gym, I always read books on my tablet.  However, when the gyms closed in March and my workouts moved home, watching Netflix as I rode the treadmill became my new thing.  I loved it.  Later, when we finally cut ties with the cable company and took on Hulu, Sling, Disney+, ESPN+, and Apple TV+, I was in the mode of wanting more material for my workout hours.  It was a revelation!  Bravo, streaming services!

There is really some wonderful stuff out there.  The artists are clearly in full bloom with all of these new outlets.  I have found that I love documentaries.  I have watched several good ones on different topics—from Bill Gates to Greta Thunberg–but find that I keep coming back to films that cover music and musicians, particularly those who were involved in the revolution of the 1960s.  I just finished two fascinating ones about The Band—Once Were Brothers and The Last Waltz—but have also been captivated by pieces about Keith Richards, the artists who lived in Los Angeles’s Laurel Canyon in the sixties, and Sam Cooke, among others.  I have dozens more on my watchlists.

Of the non-documentary things I have watched, a few of my favorites from this year are When They See Us, Schitt’s Creek, and The Trial Of The Chicago 7.  There are so many more that intrigue me, but I know my chances of getting to them are slim.  I am grateful for what I have seen, and grateful to 2020 for opening my eyes to so many wonderful works of art.

Whenever I watch a movie or TV show, though, it comes with a measure of guilt that I am ignoring the many brilliant books in the world.  I did, however, find one released this Autumn that has stayed with me in the weeks since I have finished it.  It is Greenlights, by the actor Matthew McConaughey.  I was drawn to it because I learned that, like me, he has kept journals for all of his adult life, and the book used many of the insights he gained in writing them over the years.  I have never been particularly drawn to McConaughey as an actor and so was otherwise skeptical going in, but I found myself captivated by his tales and the wisdom he drew from them.  It is my favorite literary discovery of this year.

While I doubt I will ever be anyone’s favorite literary discovery, I did have a Journal of You highlight this Summer, albeit coming not from something I wish I had to write about.  By many times over, more people than ever showed up to read and share my piece called “But I’m Not a Racist!” And Other Things We White Folks Need To Do Better.  It came on the heels of the George Floyd murder, as the protests were getting into full swing.  I certainly appreciated the positive feedback and was glad I could contribute to something so important.

I never know when something I write will resonate, but that moment in American history seemed to sweep so many of us up with it, and rightly so.  In addition to writing a couple of pieces on it, the George Floyd murder brought me to another significant first in my life: my first real protest.  I wasn’t in the throngs of people downtown getting teargassed or anything so dramatic, but I did bring my children to a local event where we got to lift our signs and our voices in a show of solidarity with our community against police violence and racial injustice.  It was moving for me and hopefully something of a precursor for more social activism, both for me in my later years and for my children for the rest of their long and precious lives.

I spent more of 2020 than any other year on the seat of a bicycle.  That seems a strange record, but it is true.  With fewer “play” options for my kids, we took so many more rides on the streets of our town.  I also got more into mountain biking at local trails; that was tremendously invigorating.  Then, as Fate would have it, I sustained an injury that would not allow me to walk, run, or play sports.  That would normally drive me to the nuthouse, but in a stroke of luck, I discovered that I was still able to ride a bicycle.  Early mornings in Summer and Autumn were spent pedaling out the miles on the quiet streets in the surrounding towns.  It was a delightful release to drink in that fresh air and still be able to sweat amidst my other physical limitations.  When the days shortened and chilled, I got myself an indoor bike to sweat away the Winter.  While I miss the fresh air and the lakes and trees, the workout is fantastic and much-needed.  Perhaps I won’t need the riding so much in other years when my body is more cooperative, but I am so grateful to have found it and made it a big part of my life.

Speaking of that fresh air and those lakes and trees, my last, best discovery of this year was about spending time outside and having more adventures.  Maybe this one qualifies more as a re-covery, since I have had it and lost it more than once in my many years on this planet.  I feel like the year has left me more committed than ever to design my remaining years around being outdoors and exploring the beauty of Mother Earth.  Most of my social media scrolling this year has been on the pages of National Parks and travel sites.  I don’t think a single day has gone by when I haven’t added to my itinerary and fantasies for my next trip to Glacier country in Northwest Montana, and I have plotted adventures all across the American West, from Utah’s “Mighty Five” parks to the Sierra Nevadas of California and the Cascade Range in the Northwest.  I have developed plans for overnights and weekends near home as well, with lots of hiking and sleeping in the pine-fresh air to the sounds of the forest and rippling streams.

Even as much of a Winter-hater as I am, my Christmas gifts this week included new snowshoes, trekking poles, fleeces, and a backpack (and I am even planning my next car and its necessary adventure accessories).  I am more determined than ever to be an active participant in the outdoor activities of every season.  Maybe I was coming to that anyway in my life’s evolution, or maybe 2020’s message of “Stay Home & Cover Your Breath” only served to stir up my natural resistance to being contained, or maybe it is some combination of the two.  In any case, I now know in a deeper place that being in Nature is one of my greatest inspirations and an absolutely necessary fuel to get me through the rest of the world’s obligations and nonsense.  It is both my escape and my spiritual home.  I am relieved to know that so clearly now.

I guess most discoveries and favorites are like that: something outside of us—music, books, blogs, bicycles, and mountain streams—lights up something inside of us.  They give our existence meaning and value.  They buoy us against the storms of Life and make historically bad years seem pretty darn good after all.  They are the source of our Gratitude and thus our Happiness.  I am deeply grateful that there are so many of these points of light in my life, no matter the year.  Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying I want to do 2020 all over again!  But I know that it brought me many gifts, and I refuse to look past them just because they arrived on the same train as COVID, racism, and political folly.  I am grateful for this year and the many new things I know and love because I lived through it.

How about you?  What are the coolest things you learned or tried in 2020?  Open up your journal and your spirit and expose what the light let in this year.  First, what new things did you learn?  If you had extra time in the house, did you pick up any home improvement skills (e.g. Marie Kondo organizing, carpentry, plumbing)?  How about personal improvement skills, like learning a language or a musical instrument?  Did you learn how to be a teacher?  Did you learn some new technology tricks, like how to Zoom?  Did anything blow your mind?  What did you try for the first time this year?  New foods?  New fitness routines?  Online grocery shopping?  Something outdoorsy?  Did you do anything social justice-related this year that you had never previously been so moved to do, like a protest or a sign in your yard?  How about with politics: did the extreme divisions among this year’s election issues and candidates spur you to participate in ways that you hadn’t before?  Were most of the new things you tried in 2020 related to things specific to this year—being on lockdown, COVID, Trump drama, etc.—or were they more random and could have happened any year?  Which of them will you continue with even when things return to whatever “normal” looks like to you?  Now to the Arts.  What musical styles or artists did you discover this year, whether they were new or just new to you?  What was the best thing you watched on television?  What were your favorite 2020 movies?  Books?  Did you try anything unique to get Art in unconventional ways, like attending a virtual theatre performance, concert, or museum tour?  What else did you love?  Did you have any personal bests this year?  Did you excel at anything at your work?  Did you improve upon a hobby or passion project?  Were you a better friend, sibling, parent, co-worker, or ally?  Did you find you were great at the self-care this year demanded?  Finally, what did you discover about yourself this year?  What issue or passion might you have had only a hint at before this year but now have a clear position on?  Do you have a core belief that has changed?  Do you know what you want to do more of (and less of) going forward?  Are you clear that there are some people in your life who you need to distance yourself from?  Are there others you would like to cultivate a deeper relationship with?  How have you grown in the last year?  Leave me a reply and let me know: What are the coolest things you have done and discovered in 2020?

Seek out the light,

William

P.S. If this resonated with you, please share it with your community.  Let’s chase the bright spots together!

P.P.S. If this way of reflection and introspection appeals to your way of being, consider buying my book Journal Of YOU: Uncovering The Beauty That Is Your Truth, at your favorite online retailers.  Namaste.