I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. They feel like a weak commitment and are mostly doomed to fail. I don’t need the start of the year to decide on something; if something comes up at any time, I can commit to it then and there.
That said, I ’ve been away on surgery rehab for the last three weeks, with plenty of alone time and time to think. Naturally, some ideas for the coming year have come up.
I ’ve narrowed them down to three big intentions this year. I feel any more would risk disappointing myself.
- Recover from the surgery I had in November.
- Reconnect with my friends.
- Cut Amazon out of my family’s life as much as possible.
Recovery
Recovery means taking it slow for the first half of 2026 until my body has time to heal. My belly is still sore when walking short distances, and I still have some water in my lungs from when they were punctured at the hospital. That needs careful observation; I wouldn’t want to turn that into pneumonia.
That also means getting back into my strength-building routine and some light regular cardio, such as rowing. I have a small dumbbell setup at home, but I might look into a cable machine or a multi-purpose workout rack. Nothing fancy, but something more flexible than what I have now.
Reconnect
The next, probably even more profound goal, is to reconnect with my friends. In recent years I ’ve become more reclusive due to my health. Caring for my family and trying to work as much as my health allows has left little time to reach out to old friends. I do miss them, though.
I plan to reconnect with my former best friends and keep in contact on a quarterly basis. Anything more than that would likely exhaust me again.
Reclaim
I don’t like how Amazon has developed in the last decade, and even less so since Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2025.
So my goal this year is to reduce Amazon ’s footprint in my family’s life as much as possible. This will be a complex, multi-stage process, since Amazon’s reach is wide and deep—Audible, Prime Video, Amazon Music, IMDB, Kindle and e-books, Amazon Echo, and of course the shopping portal. And likely a few other services I ’m forgetting right now.
I will be extending each goal in upcoming blog posts.