In 2026, I Need to Stop Being So Complacent

I gained weight this year.

A bit of it. More than I expected to.

And I know this because I watched it happen.

Last year, when I spent all that time in Florida, I didn’t eat as much. And when I did eat, I generally ate better. Smaller portions. Healthier foods. I also got a little bit more exercise, just from walking more and having lots of nervous energy. As a result, when I weighed myself at the end of 2024, I’d lost about 20 pounds. I looked better. I felt better. (All things considered, of course.)

So, I decided to conduct a small experiment: On January 1, I began documenting my weight at the start of every month, just to see if I could keep it off.

Suffice it to say, things went in the opposite direction. And, if I’m being totally honest, not only did I put all the weight I lost back on, I actually gained a little more, too.

An armchair therapist might say this is not surprising, and I should give myself grace. After all, I was mourning my dad, who passed away at the end of 2024, and dealing with a lot of stress from the continued situation in Israel and Gaza and increasing levels of antisemitism all over the world.

But I think the reason it happened is that, in 2025, I just got complacent. I stopped trying. I got lazy. I stopped caring. Not about everything, but about some core things, like my weight — as good a symbolic metric as any. Since I wasn’t spending time in Florida anymore helping to take care of my parents, or constantly worrying that something would happen to my dad or my mom and I’d be too far away to do anything about it, I settled into some bad habits where I just let stuff happen. Or let them not happen. And I was okay with it. In some cases, I felt rewarded for my lack of effort. Suffice it to say, since there wasn’t much incentive to change, I didn’t. 

As we reach the end of the year, that has to stop.

I know the start of a new calendar year is kind of an arbitrary time to make changes I could have made a while ago. But as I end 2025 and look back on the last 12 months, I’m taking stock of what I’ve done and what I’ve not done, and I’ve been reminded of what I looked like in January versus how I look now. So, I’m using the new year as a marker, just like I did a year ago when I started to keep track of my weight.

Of course, as noted, I wasn’t complacent about everything this year. Not when it came to the war in Gaza or the constant threat of antisemitism around the world, for example. I continued to speak up on and offline, sharing news and information — negative and positive — and attending events, rallies, and vigils, to advocate for my people. I donated money to related causes and organizations. And I tried to be a louder, prouder Jewish person, just in general.

I also tried to reclaim my time, as Maxine Waters once said, now that I had so much of it back. Most notably, I took my first proper vacation since before COVID: two weeks in Southern California. I enjoyed VIP treatment at Universal Studios; a hike up to the back of the Hollywood sign; an overnight stay on Catalina Island; two days at Disneyland (one for free); studio tours at Warner Bros., Walt Disney, and Sony; Comic-Con (from the outside, anyway); good times with good friends; and so much more. It was a trip I intended to take last year for my 50th birthday, before I decided to go to Israel instead. Better late than never.

I didn’t go to a lot of concerts this year, but I went to a handful of Red Sox games, more than I have in any other season. SeatGeek made it so easy to snag a last-minute ticket for below face value on a Friday afternoon if I had no other plans and felt like having a Fenway Frank for dinner. It was very cool to be there the night the Sox clinched a spot in the playoffs.

And I got back in the habit of watching movies again, after a year in which I basically took the second half “off.” Even better: Toward the end of the year, I got back in the habit of publishing reviews of many of the movies I saw. It felt good to have this blog be active again. Each new post gave me the incentive to post another.

That’s the kind of energy I need to carry with me into the new year. 

If every year has a word, and my word in hindsight for 2025 was “complacent,” I’m declaring my word in 2026 to be “intentional.” Next year, I’m pledging to try harder — personally and professionally. I want to lose the weight I gained this year, and I want to get more of “my house” back in order.

One lesson I was reminded of these last couple of years, on multiple occasions, which I’ve said to other people, is that life is short. I’m already 51 years old. Yes, I know it’s hard to change habits when you’re my age. And yes, I know I’ve made these kinds of declarations before. But I know I need to take my own advice.

Life is short, and I want — I need — to make better, more productive, healthier use of mine.

So, Happy New Year. Here’s to better things, more intentional things, in 2026.