Personal essays
My first word of 2026
New Year’s Eve
I woke up on New Year’s Eve, came downstairs, made coffee and face-timed with Kevin.
Kevin and I met in college more than 45 years ago and started face-timing when we’re both available a few times a week.
His wife doesn’t understand how we have anything to talk about. I can’t remember a time when it’s been a problem. It makes me happy to have this friendship that spans nearly half a century.
After we finished, I made a second cup of coffee decided to start work on my next book.
I’ve been giving workshops on App Intents for a year and so the basic shape of the book and the example I would use was already pretty well thought out. By now I knew which pieces of the sample project weren’t important to what I was teaching and so I took them out.
It would take me days to get the code into shape, but I really enjoy the process of writing something, figuring out what I did wrong, and then writing some more.
I can’t be sure, but I think I was smiling while typing. That kind of puzzle solving makes me happy.
Josh called - we have a bi-weekly phone call just to catch up. I’ve probably only known him for a decade or so, but again, there’s nothing better than catching up with a friend.
I went to the gym. You know that makes me happy. Not going there - but being there.
I came home and tried a new recipe for a Rhode Island Strip. It’s a cheese-less pizza - a tomato pie. I saw the recipe on King Arthur Flour’s YouTube channel and it looked good.
I let it cool, wrapped it in tin foil and brought it and some Cinnamon/Star Anise Beef Soup to my friend Rick and Laurie’s house. We’ve been sharing a New Year’s Eve meal most years for decades. I’ve known him for more than forty years - I’ve known her for sixty-four years.
We watched our college football team lose a painful game and then I drove home in a blizzard on roads so treacherous that my speed sometimes dipped to below fifteen miles an hour and the car still slid a bit back and forth.
Still, if you ask me, despite the weather and the game - when I went upstairs to bed well before midnight I was happy.
Words
You know by now that I don’t make resolutions. Instead I follow a practice that Chris Brogan created in which I choose three words to guide me through the year.
They are little reminders of things I want to pay attention to and to use to attenuate my behavior.
And so, my first word for 2025 is “Happiness.”
“Daniel,” you say, “are you out of your ever-loving mind? Have you read the news?”
I have to admit, I almost changed this word after the US attack on Venezuela.
It was one of those lines that was crossed where I stopped and looked at my government differently.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t seen how awful they’ve been since the start. But this was my Wiley E. Coyote moment when I’m hanging in mid air with my legs spinning and I look down.
I started to drop.
I’d been looking at stoves. My ANOVA oven is dying and I’ve been experimenting with induction burners so I thought I would replace my old gas range with an induction range and had picked one out.
But Venezuela.
What if I have to flee? I don’t want to spend all that money on a new stove and then leave it in my house.
From me to you
My friend Johanna had sent me an email on New Year’s Eve that ended, “Let’s try to make 2026 even better for us, and then for the world.”
It reminded of those airline safety instructions I’ve mentioned before.
If the oxygen masks drop, you’re to put yours on and then help your child or others around you.
You have to take care of yourself in order to take care of others.
So - happiness.
I was taking a walk with a friend on my 65th birthday and he mentioned that he was trying to sell me on hedonism.
That’s not what I mean by happiness.
I don’t plan to prioritize the pursuit of pleasure - although there’s an argument in favor of that if things are coming to an end.
I mean that I should take more time to do the simple things that make me happy and I should note those moments.
I shouldn’t worry if the Buckeyes lose again. Once I’m home safely, I should shake off that awful ride. I should hold on to the memories of a wonderful evening with friends.
I still don’t like going places but I do like being there. I need to focus on the “there” part. Time with friends, walks, bike rides, and time at the gym, cooking and baking, reading a book (yes listening to an audio book counts), traveling to new places, and revisiting familiar ones.
I need to remember the things that make me happy - and make sure I include time in my day, my week, my year, for all of them.
To paraphrase Johanna, I will try to make 2026 happier for me, for us, and then for the world.
Essay from Dim Sum Thinking Newsletter 302. Read the rest of the Newsletter or subscribe