Reviews

New Year's Resolution: Less Is More

1/4/2016

Needed: A Hefty Bag Day for the Soul

“Have you made a resolution?” my wife asked. Had not.

She said that rather than make grandiose plans – join a health club -- it is better to lighten the load, leaving more room and time for better things that come up.

She is consolidating some details – stuff that banks and companies don’t seem to know how to do anything, on automated phone hell. Made sense to me.

I hereby vow to write less in the new year about things I don’t care about – sports that vanished in my rear-view mirror years ago. Just because the web is an endless maw doesn’t mean we should try to fill it, minute by minute.

For a while, I’m going to lay off Donald Trump and Pete Rose (who may, in fact, be the same person.)

Plus, any web site that inserts 15-second video commercials is getting X’d out of my queue. That’s not why we learned to read and think, to watch stuff jump around.

I will write about stuff that excites me – like discovering a new Shakespeare play (for me, that is). But enough for today.

Alan Rubin link

1/5/2016 09:49:31 pm

George,

Reducing the load is an admirable beginning for the New Year. It is not about doing less, but being more selective.

Retirement is about doing what you want to, not what you have to.

I avoid breaking resolutions by never making any. Instead, I begin each year with an ever growing list of what I want to accomplish.

Each day it is reviewed, prioritized and modified. Much will remain undone and dropped as not being worth the time.

New items are added when applicable, but my overall goal is to have fewer activities and devote more time to each.

As I advance in age, I feel that I can continue forever. Since this is completely unrealistic, I focus on the things I enjoy doing and spending time with family and friends whom I love.

Most of my activities involve helping others of all ages.

I follow most of the craziness that exists in our world, both locally and abroad, but I do not obsess on things that I have no control over.

By focusing on what is truly important, it is easy to avoid most of the things that we could not live without.

Stick with it George, it will be very liberating.

George Vecsey

1/6/2016 08:27:02 am

Alan: something tells me the first thing I should give up (or cut back) is sitting at the laptop for hours, typing.
Then what? The abyss of having to get a life, or an alternate life.
So I peck away.
GV

Alan Rubin link

1/6/2016 12:08:49 pm

Keep pecking away as the computer is the portal to so much enjoyment. Just keep the back supported and the head up as much as possible.

I was advised to raise the laptop screen to just about eye level, so I use a wireless keyboard. This has the advantage of allowing you to position the screen further away and to look forward.

Life is just full of these little pleasures.