Of the 24 goals I made for myself at the beginning of 2022 I successfully accomplished 8.5.  Am I embarrassed by my lack of success? Nah, not in the least.  My fourth grade teacher made it abundantly clear to me that I do not live up to my full potential.  And that’s ok because I would be too much of a force if I had a type A personality on top of my inherent muchness.

I will not tell you about the 8.5 things I did accomplish because I don’t want to be braggadocious. But I will share a few of my abysmal failures.  First, no matter how many years I try to commit to the practice, I was simply unable to drink eight glasses of water daily.  Don’t judge me.  I have also failed again this year to lose weight.  Don’t judge me.  After 40 some years of marriage, I cooked something not even Garv could stomach…my failed attempt to roast a perfect brisket.  And my biggest fail was my goal to talk less and listen more.  I don’t even know how that goal entered my mind much less made the list.

Now 2023 is coming to an end. Many of my peers have remarked about how the year seemed to just fly by.  Older people and people with young kids seem to always make that claim.  Neuroscientists have come up with several theories about our perception of time.  My favorite is called the “oddball effect.”  The theory states that being engaged in a novelty (something oddball) gives the perception of time passing at a slower rate.  So, when we have a novel experience or meet new people or make lifestyle changes we experience a deeper engagement. This deeper attention seems to slow time and also produce more meaningful memories.  I can attest to this theory.

Last March I attended an Ash Wednesday service.  As a lifelong Protestant I was never really encouraged by my clergy to sacrifice anything for the Lenten season.   We Protestants tend to leave Hail Marys, deep penance and the business of sacrifice to our Catholic brothers and sisters.  But for some reason, during this service, I was convinced by an inner voice to give up television for the 40 plus days of Lent. (In full disclosure I ended up adding an addendum to my agreement allowing me to watch the Oscars and the NCAA basketball tournament as long as my alma mater was playing.)

This “oddball effect” Lenten sacrifice altered the way I experienced life for the next 40 plus days.  Insulated from morning news, I drank my morning coffee in silence and peace.  At the close of day, I relied on relaxation and meditation to fall off to sleep instead of bedtime stories from Kimmel and Colbert.  And in between those times, I actively looked for things to do, places to go, people to interact with, books to read, and podcasts to tune into.  And I listened to so much music.  These days were full and meaningful and time did seem to slow down.

Another “oddball effect” I experienced was due to cataract surgery.  It is a fabulous surgery and so nice to see clearly again.  But the healing time between surgeries makes reading and computer work challenging.  So once again I found myself walking through an entire month spending my time in very different ways than I normally would.  Again, time felt more plentiful.  Novelty was everywhere and memories were made.

In retrospect, those 70 oddball effect days produced some of the most memorable and happiest moments of my year.  And the year did not seem to fly by but rather took its time to circle around the sun. In light of that knowledge I will forgo my traditional listing of annual goals for the new year and commit to only one goal.   The goal this year is to simply waddle my way through the next 365 days Loosey Goosey style and participate in as many forms of novelty as I stumble upon. I’ll let you know how that goes.  Until next year…

What’s a boomer to do?  Stay hydrated and make it a great new year!