I’ve made all the classic mistakes. I’ve noticed that when I put together a daily to-do list, I wildly overestimate how much I can do in a day. After much failure, I realized I list for a day what it takes me a week to accomplish.
Multiply the urge to overdo by 52, and you get an idea of my past New Year’s resolutions.
The week after Christmas is when I forget all that went before, convinced I can conquer anything in the upcoming new year. I make all the usual resolutions and then some more. Lose weight, write a new book, start a new fitness routine, read 70 books in a year (one of 2025’s goals), learn to sew, start canning from my own garden – I dream big.
Ever since I read Jamie Wilson’s article on how to make better resolutions, I’ve been rethinking mine. I’ve chopped my list to just two. Per Jamie’s instructions, I’m making them specific. One is small and particular to me; one is something I think all conservatives should be doing.
Several days ago, my colleague Stephen Kruiser published a video in the Morning Briefing that hit me hard. Around July, I got sick, and my fitness routine collapsed. I started ordering takeout multiple times a week. When I saw the spoof on Uber Eats Wrapped, I knew that app had to come off my phone.
For 2026, I’m going to limit takeout orders to just three times a month. (I know darn well I’ll never go cold-turkey; why kid myself?) Three meals out of 90 is acceptable. Plus, this goal is specific and measurable. I can track it easily!
That’s the small goal. The other is much bigger: I’m taking steps to create community by 1) introducing myself to any new neighbor I see when I walk my dog, and 2) inviting neighbors over for a gathering at my house every two months. A huge, overarching goal, but one I’ve broken into small steps that even I can do.
It’s been 25 years since Robert Putnam published Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. The atomization of our society has worsened much faster than I’m sure he would have predicted since then. The smartphone wasn’t even around until 2007, with the introduction of the iPhone. For all the good it has brought us, these handy devices pushed us further into ourselves. Just walk outside and note the number of people not interacting with each other: they’re staring at the small portable computer.
I love social media as much as the next person, eager for my fix of the latest news and gossip. But we’re spending so much time watching videos by “content creators” that we’re missing out on creating real moments with the actual people in our community.
And another thing: Whoever came up with the anodyne phrase “content creator” should be tarred and feathered, then run out of town on a rail. Who wants to be a content creator when he can be a writer, or a videographer, or a filmmaker, or a comedian? We used to have a proper language.
Bringing back community is one thing I want to change with my resolution. Haven’t you noticed that the very definition of community has changed? It used to mean the neighborhood you lived in, the schools you attended – your geographic world. Now the word has been warped to mean a subset of people who share some superficial characteristic like color or a grudge. Besides blowtorching small businesses and bollixing education, COVID also drove us further apart. One horrible result is that people turn to ideological movements to cope with their isolation.
Radio host Jesse Kelly often encourages his listeners to act legally and locally. We all get excited when the presidential election rolls around every four years, but the real work happens on the ground, on our streets, day in and day out. It doesn’t look or seem like a big deal, but getting to know your actual neighbors, to learn their names and talk with them, is one way to start building community.
That’s my goal for 2026. I’ll let you know how it goes.
