Cooking up a Resolution for the New Year

New Year’s resolutions have come to be so meaningless that no one makes them anymore, realizing they will inevitably be broken. Yet, there’s something about a new year that provokes that urge. I don’t know if it’s human nature to want to be a better version of yourself, but it is my nature. So, in 2026, I am going to try to do more with my writing. I love to write. When I do, I always feel more together, less scattered. It’s like I need the writing to sort out the scattered pieces of my attention. I guess it’s a form or meditation, like cooking is.

There’s all these groceries and staples in my refrigerator and all these recipes in my “want to make” file. Then there’s my mood, what do I feel like eating? I make a decision, I make the dish, and I eat! When all the pieces come together, I feel good, fed, full. Accomplished.

That’s my mental state when it comes to writing too. I have my “projects.” Among the ingredients in my “refrigerator” and pantry is time. It is such a precious resource and I want to use it well, not waste it. Nothing worse than using a valuable ingredient and the dish flops. I recently thought it was a good idea to follow directions on an Instagram video for an avocado cake using no flour or sugar with vague directions like bake it on low heat. I wasted a perfectly good avocado and an egg!

Because I love Costco, sometimes I buy more than I can possibly eat. So because I am committed to not having food waste, I find ways to save the excess, like juicing, pickling or freezing. So my time and energy, another precious resource, is put into saving my excess. Now there’s less time and energy for the essence of food – making a good, satisfying, home-cooked meal.

I have an excess of interests and hobbies; cooking and writing are only two of many passions. I recently saw a video of a man who was told he had to choose between being a doctor or playing the cello. He refused to choose, and the video is of him playing cello in a hospital waiting room in his scrubs! I don’t know if he is an excellent doctor, but he played the cello skillfully and with joy. And then there’s Eileen Gu, the Olympic gold medalist, model, and student majoring in quantum physics!  I want to be like them, not be forced to choose among all my interests, and be able to do it all. But because I don’t devote myself to mastery of one endeavor, I remain a “jill of all trades, master of none.”

So right now, writing this piece, I am going to follow my gut, go with the recipe that comes to me when I ask myself, what should I cook? What should I do with my resources? How can I best use my time and energy, so that I will cook up a piece that I feel proud of, that I can share with others? What more than anything else that I do will produce that result? And it is – writing.

So, here it is. A recipe? A seed planted? A manifesto? A reminder? A resolution?  I will write more. I will share more. I will try harder to be read, to be produced, to be published.