When I played soccer in high school, we would sometimes pass the ball backwards to reset the attack, and that is how I feel about 2015.  With my shoulder surgery, the dent in my physical conditioning, limitation of sports and activities, and my weight gain, I felt that 2015 was a year which I took a step backwards. As it turns out, I ended up weighing 13 more pounds than I did at the end of 2014. However, I have now started to weight train again, just finished the physical therapy for my shoulder, started playing tennis, and expect to go skiing in a month or two. Plus, I again ran in the New Year’s Eve Midnight run in Central Park, which is a fantastic way to start the new year.

It has not gone unnoticed by me, that my clothes are tighter, and and in some instances, do not quite fit, so the expectation for 2016 is to get my weight back into the 190’s, and to get back in shape — lose those 13 pounds and I’ll be fine. A promising sign is that I can now do 10 pushups without tiring out, which I could not do even a couple of weeks ago.  Also, last week, I played 6 straight days of tennis, in Palm Springs (see the above picture from Palm Springs), and my shoulder felt fine, although my legs definitely got sore.

So 2016, I  will refocus, and regroup, and I think that is a good way to approach the New Year. My approach is to create specific targets you want to meet, but keep them reasonable, and make sure that what you need to do, in order to meet those targets, is something that is sustainable. Watch out 2016.

BTW — Just a miscellaneous observation from the West Coast. While in Palm Springs I had a chance to watch some TV, and noticed the proliferation of cosmetic surgery advertisements, and for bariatric surgery, whereas, the commercials during the day in New York City are for lawyers and tort litigation.