2016: A Year of New Resolutions

Happy New Year to you all! We made it through all of the holiday and New Year’s parties and fattened up to the point where that resolution of getting into the gym to lose a few pounds is ringing louder than when we first made it. I know I’m one of those people; I sit behind a desk most of the day typing away or gabbing on the phone. My largest cardio challenge of the day is walking from the car to Starbucks and back for my morning coffee. So I too am making one of my resolutions for 2016 to have a healthier year. Eat better, get out and walk a bit more and maybe even—yes—establish a gym routine.

Being new to this whole idea of going to a gym a couple of times a week is a foreign concept to me. There is no doubt I need help with this. What program would be best, what is the recommended workout schedule that will get me the results I’m seeking, where is the right place? Maybe some of you can tell me about where you go and why.

But getting our bodies into shape is not all we have to do this year, we also have to get our nation into shape. 2016 brings one of the most important fundamental rights we have as Americans and that is to choose our leaders via free and open elections. This year we will vote on almost everything from Dog Catcher to President and everything in between. If you thought getting to the gym will be the heavy lifting, surviving the gullet of political advertising for the next eleven months will be like running a marathon by the time we get to the voting booth in November. It’s not just the candidates for office we have to vet and choose from, there will be all the propositions that are so carefully worded in couched terms one can easily misunderstand. It’s enough to make one dizzy just thinking about it.

The other great excitement this year will be dodging the petitioner’s out in front of the store asking for our signature to support this or that issue just to qualify it for the ballot. I know some of those people are just trying to earn a few dollars, and others are there because it’s an issue they firmly believe in. Either way, it is our responsibility to understand all of the above and support the candidate(s) and issues that best reflect our own personal views. We have only ourselves to blame if we fail to take part of this great civic right in voting.

Politics is not all we will have to vote for. Just two short weeks ago, the biggest film of all time opened. This latest installment of Star Wars is redefining box office records that will probably stand until the next installment comes out. However, along with Star Wars, a handful of other films were also released and many of those were timed to qualify them for the granddaddy of all the awards being handed out over next two months—The Oscars. The buzz is out there already and in three weeks we will know who has a shot at taking home the gold. Sometime next month, a couple of theaters will be hosting the all– day nomination watch parties. This is where you, along with 300–plus movie lovers, can see everything that has a major nomination leading up to the big night so you will be in the know when marking those Oscar ballots.

Don’t let 2016 overwhelm when facing all these tough choices we will have to make. It’s much more then picking the correct trendy gym or picking your favorite film in the Oscar contest. No, 2016 should be about making the best choices in everything we can. And that will be my 2016 resolution, to make the best choice I can and live with it. Stay informed, my friends!