This could be your year to worry less about your waistline and spend more time at the movies

We are now more than a week into 2026, and it might shock you to know I’m feeling quite cheery. All the professional emails I’ve waited a month to send are out. The grout in my shower is scum-free. The music at the pharmacy is normal again. If you’re like me, and you find the holiday season a grim and lonely time that involves too much booze, too much food, too much Mariah Carey and not enough routine, the start of the new year is more than welcome.

The one thing that dampens my cheer at being dragged back to my desk for the comfort of drudgery – besides the endless and brutal news headlines – is the New Year’s resolution. The tradition of picking a few things to promise yourself to do (or not do) in the spirit of wellness is centuries old, dating back as far as 2000BC. Not sure what the Babylonians were resolving to do. Tidy up the storage closet in the ziggurat? Finally finish that tower they’d been thinking about? Try not to get sold into slavery (again)?

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist