The Week in Between; The Week After

The Week in Between
Measured anticipation.

On Christmas, there's an air of excited expectation. Gifts galore. Family in town. Stuff to do. People to see.  On New Year's Eve, there's a decided plan for recreation.  A precise moment in time to take stock. A celebration of culmination.  The opportunity to start fresh.

The week in between is strange blend. The hustle bustle of Christmas gives way to a week of returns and penance for overindulgences.  Malls are jam packed, presents and cards still coming in, holiday guests are still lingering (special thanks to the "Great Blizzard of 2010")...  There's always plenty to do the week between Christmas and New Year's.  Somehow it feels both hectic and slow moving.  It's the eye of the storm.

The Week After
Resolved reflection.

A joyous celebration on New Year's Eve, New Year's Day is hangover.  We're reflecting on the previous year, planning for the new one.   Now, there's the optimism of a new beginning.  A renewed hope for tomorrow. Comfort that the past, 2010, is gone, done, finished, kaput.

Horay! Let's get started.  New diets.  New commitments.  Everything is new again.

Until next week.  When work will resettle.  The holiday will guests go home.  Things will return to normal.  What will make this year different?


For 2011 & Beyond
Measured resolve.

The trouble with traditional resolutions is that they tend to be huge, unachievable things, without a timeline or even an actionable plan.  Instead, this year, I resolve to change and grow on a different, more tangible timeline.   Instead of one big list of New Year's resolutions, I'm going for one single, realistic goal a week.  That's 52 smaller, bite-sized intentions.

This week?  
This is partially guided by the fact that I'm reading Tim Ferriss' Four Hour Body and partly because on the advice of gal pal Denise Costello of the Energized Body; this week, I'm going to really try to incorporate protein into every meal (and snack) that I eat.  If you know me, you know I have a love for all things carby and delicious, not necessarily nutritious, so this may be quite a feat.

What about you?  Are you looking at resolutions differently this year?  Share your ideas.

Back in Boston in Time for the New Year

AKA Down with 2009


















I got back to Boston from Oregon on New Year's Eve day. Just in time to compare notes with my roommates on what made 2009 the worst year of all time. Between intense breakups, break-ins, and uncovering family-shattering lies of unbelievable proportions, 2009 was kind of awful. And that's not even mentioning the economic nonsense.

No where to go but up, right?

We celebrate milestones--changing years, birthdays, new moons--because they offer a chance to take stock, reassess and refocus. Collectively, we've been through a lot this past year. The New Year is a great time to look forward with new optimism, new hope.


But, I've got to say it and breath a great sigh of relief... Thank goodness that's over!



*The art is from a PigSpigot (client) greeting card by artist Konstantin Vernikovskiy.

Apples and Honey: Happy New Year!

L'Shana Tova!

Make it a sweet one.

Finding People in the Blogosphere: Blast from the Past

I'm absolutely amazed. Five or six years ago, when I was looking at colleges, I visited the University of Washington's daily paper. At the time, I was editor-in-chief of my high school paper (Cat Tracks) and I thought it was super important to establish a relationship with the staff at the paper before choosing a school--Really, it was a practice I should have been more diligent about keeping up, because I hardly set foot in the newsroom at BU in my four years there.

In any case, one of the people I met at the U-Dub newsroom googled my name and came up with my blog. And he left me a comment on the most current post he found--a post on new year's resolutions (one of which was to post more, which I don't seem to be doing that well at).

In such close proximity to the new year, it's really nice to be reminded of what I thought was really important six years ago. I loved writing, which is why I was applying to journalism programs. At the time, I remember feeling like journalists could expose important truths of history in the making by being the first eyes on the seen. I believed, as I still do to some extent, that the fourth estate was and is charged with the upkeep of the first amendment more so than the government that founded that right. That responsibility necessitates unbiased reporting.



It's funny how a blog can connect people who haven't spoken, or even thought about one another, in six years. I would expect such interactions to take place on Facebook or MySpace, but my blog has become an unexpected vehicle for reigniting past connections--and a way to remind me of the changes I've made in the past few years. What an unexpected way to start my day.

Yom Kippur: A Year in Review

Yom Kippur. A day for introspection. A holiday dedicated to atoning for a year's worth of sins with the hope that you'll be reinstated in the book of life.

Praying and reflection are compulsory. Eating is prohibited. Drinking water is also disallowed (except for those with a medical reason). It's a day to be uncomfortable. And it's a day to wallow in self loathing.

Let's not kid ourselves. It sucks.

Sure, you can sugar coat it. Reflecting on the negative gives you time to think about being a better person and how you can go about achieving that ever-repositioning goal.

But let's face it. We have sinned.
We have lied. We have killed. We have gossiped. We have cheated.
Whether we did it intentionally or not, everyone has sinned (against g-d or against fellow man).

Atoning for it all communally reminds us that we're charged with keeping everyone in the right. "We" being the operative word.

Yet, all of those things will happen again next year--with or without a self regulating community.
We will kill. We will lie. We will cheat. We will gossip.

And it will all happen again year after year. So what's really the point?

Of the 613 commandments in the old testament, how many of them really bother you when you disobey? What of the old testament really strikes a cord of moral awareness?

It changes every year for me. This year I had a few thoughts that really stuck with me though, so I thought I'd share them...

First, a question by way of example. If two people are arguing and one is sticking to his moral principles and the other is hurt emotionally consequently, what's more important sticking to your moral guns or repairing the damaged feelings.

Second thought--reflecting on regret. Every year I struggle with this one. Does repenting imply regret? Is it false repenting or disingenuous to repent if you don't regret something?

Final thought here. People are allowed to break the fast for medical reasons, such as illness, pregnancy or being to small (children under nine aren't allowed to fast). But people who can't fast for medical reasons feel terrible about their inability to participate. Guilty. Really, not being able to keep the fast is a reminder that something isn't quite right. Aside from eating with them, how can we make people feel whole?