Well, 2018 is fast upon us! I went to a public session today, and like every session I’ve been to this week, it was quite crowded.

Part of the draw is that it has been really, really cold here–much too cold to take advantage of the many outdoor rinks. So skating on these holiday-week sessions is a bit like “Survivor.”

Along with the other figure skaters, I’ve been staking out my little piece of the rink in the center. And we try to avoid one another–not because we don’t like one another, but because that’s the way skating works–while the other recreational skaters carve ruts into the rest of the rink. And the ruts get deeper and deeper, and closer and closer–sort of the skating equivalent of Jaws. You get the picture!

But at least I got to skate. And what’s more, it was free! I think a combination of New Year’s Eve and the cold weather made the rec center into a skating party, complete with free hot chocolate at the skate rental booth (I passed on both). They even had a DJ.

Unfortunately for him, one of the first things that happened was that party-pooper me went over to complain that the music was too loud. He turned it down, but it was still loud enough that I had to stick my headphones in my ears just to block some of the sound. Ah, much better. I like the music–just a little quieter.

This got me thinking that the reason I’ve had such a hard time thinking about resolutions for the new year is that I can’t think of any big changes that I want to make to my life. Oh, I can think of a number of big changes that I would make to the world if I could (huge ones). But for the immediate and do-able present, just little changes to my daily routine.

• Get to bed a little earlier. Sleep a little longer.
• Start practicing a new piece of music–or maybe just the last movement of the pieces I’ve been working on.
• Lose five pounds.
• Stretch for a few minutes every night before bed.
• A little less sugar. A few more veggies.
• A little less time spent worrying about the daily news.
• Leave for the rink five minutes earlier so I can have a little extra warm-up time.
• Edges a little deeper, alignment more consistent, a little more core action.
• Spend five minutes of each session actually skating to music.

That’s actually quite a list, but the comforting thing is that it’s all about stuff that I’m already on track to do. It doesn’t take an entire change to my world-view to make it happen. It’s just a little more and a little less of what 2017 was all about.

Happy New Year, everyone!