Oh my, the pundits have been busy these first few days of 2021. And by pundits I mean my friends on social media. The smart ones. The ones who share sage counsel with us regularly, reminding us to keep our chins up, our optimism stoked, our spirits high and our wine glasses less full.

I know. Who the heck said that? And why?

Don’t get me wrong. I take no issue with punditing. Please – pundit away! I am just choosing with this new year to ignore all punditions (yes, I just made up that word and isn’t is a dandy!) that compel me to fret, worry, overthink and/or underdrink. I mean, really, have we learned nothing from this past year.

One pundit advised accepting a challenge to work out religiously.

Another suggested finding your “word” for this new year.

A third decided it would be best to only drink wine on weekends.

And the fourth advised us to stop torturing ourselves to improve.

Holy crap, that is a lot of pressure, but here goes:

*I will work out regularly (and by that I mean walk) because I want to. Because it feels good. Because it’s my thing. Not because I accepted a challenge.

*My word will be fuck. Just because.

*I will drink wine whenever I damn well please.

*I will make an effort to improve what I think needs improving and lose not a moment’s sleep over what anybody else thinks.

Really, I believe it behooves us to take a page out of the glorious European notebook. Think of the Italians. The French. The Greeks. All of those romantic and poetic souls who drink wine with lunch and dinner – on weekdays even, walk everywhere because it’s fun and convenient, get all the self-help they need from Mama and have so many magnificent words at their disposal why would they ever just choose one?

Don’t forget, they are also in this. In this Covid nightmare that shows no sign of abating anytime soon. I just cannot imagine they are punditing all over their social media streams because THAT is the way to get through this crazy time. They are probably having an extra glass of wine, taking an extra evening stroll and not giving a damn what North Americans think (or do).

And that is why I hereby resolve to leave everything unresolved. No challenges, no words and certainly no less wine. I believe life is meant to be lived fully no matter the circumstance. I don’t need to be pundited into a new year because to me, it is just an extension of the old one. Just a whole bunch more days (I hope) that I get to enjoy. My way.

That excites me. Please do whatever excites you.

Fuck.

(oops)