Reflections on 2025

Like many Ontarians, our holiday plans were impacted by back-to-back winter storms. Fortunately, they didn’t affect Nick and Megan’s flight home from Vancouver, or our plans for Christmas Day. Nick spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Megan’s family, while Ray and I drove to Georgetown to spend Christmas morning with his mom. In the afternoon, we all met up at Karen and Tom’s place for Christmas dinner. I miss my parents more at this time of the year than any other, but I’m so grateful the family could all be together. No flu, no snowstorms.

We’d planned to bring Nick and Megan to see Ray’s mom on Boxing Day, but Mother Nature had other ideas. After checking the forecast, we hightailed it back to Brighton ahead of the incoming storm.

Megan’s parents invited us to join them (along with Nick and Megan) at their cottage in Muskoka for a couple of days, and we arrived just ahead of storm #2, featuring freezing rain and high winds, followed by lots of snow and frigid temperatures. We didn’t get to snowshoe, as we’d intended, but it was a lovely spot to sit out the storm. We played games, ate lots of good food, and enjoyed getting to know each other better.

The worst of the storm had passed by the time we left, but high winds and blowing snow still made the drive a bit dicey.

Nick and Meg spent New Year’s Eve with friends in Ottawa, while we had a fun evening at Rick and Josée’s. Ray makes it clear to everyone that he’s not really a games person, but fortunately they all ignore him and bring out the games anyway.

The end of the year is a time for reflection. I’m kind of a year-round reflector, but this is the time I review the finances for the year and one way I like to ‘calibrate’ my life is by checking whether how I spent my time and money over the year reflects what I say my values and priorities are. Am I putting my money where my mouth is, so to speak.

The values that matter most to me at this stage in my life are: health, contribution and relationships, so let’s see how I did.

Health

When I took the pre-retirement course at work, they devoted half a day to talking about health. I was in my late forties at the time and didn’t understand why. Health is important, sure, but what did it have to do with retirement? At that age, I took my health for granted. It was the default setting.

As you get older, you start to lose flexibility, elasticity, mobility, balance, bone density, muscle mass, and metabolism, just to name a few. Blood pressure, cholesterol, and body fat gradually increase.

Other things stick around in ways they didn’t when you were younger. Injuries that used to heal after a few days? No more. Those extra few pounds you put on at Christmas? Not going anywhere. Wake up in the morning looking like death warmed over? That’s just your face now.

When I apply the spending test to health, it looks not too bad. I spent a fair amount of money on a rowing erg and paddle adapter last year, and I bought a membership at the Y. This is why you have to include how you spent your money and your time. Time spent using either the rowing machine or the Y membership was…minimal.

On the plus side of the health equation: I don’t smoke. I drink fewer than the two drinks per week recommended by people who decide those things. I don’t eat red meat, drink pop, eat fast food, or snack after dinner. My BMI is within the healthy range (at least it was two weeks ago…). I have good sleep habits. I handle stress well. I’m not a worrier. I have strong social connections and community ties (one of the strongest predictors of longevity). I have a positive outlook on life. I stay active with dragon boating, cycling and walking (between May and October).

On the negative side, longevity is not in my genes. Cancer and cardiovascular disease run on both sides of my family. The average lifespan of my parents and grandparents was 65 years, and I’m almost 62. I inherited my dad’s high blood pressure, though it’s controlled with medication.

I regularly forget to take my vitamins to maintain bone density (as ordered by my doctor). I don’t floss as regularly as I should (as recommended by my dentist). I eat relatively well, but I could/should up my protein and veggie intake. Most critically, I was largely sedentary between November and April. Failing grade on that front.

I can’t control everything about my health, but there’s plenty I can do to stack the deck in my favour. If I want to continue doing the things I enjoy for however many years I’ve got left, I need to move more and work on mobility, balance, strength, and cardio. My brain gets that, but when those grey days of late Fall arrive, the only move my body wants to make is into the kitchen to find carbs and peanut butter.

Contribution

For the past seven years, I’ve felt such disparity between how great my life is going and how much suffering is happening outside my happy little bubble. Maybe it’s always been this way, but between the pandemic and the political climate in recent years, it feels worse than ever.

The news can be overwhelming at times, so I try to avoid it. I remind myself to focus on what’s within my control. So, contribution means doing what I can, within my realm of control, to make the world a better place.

I did that this past year by volunteering with struggling readers. I also did random acts of kindness for people I care about as well as for complete strangers. That might mean sending flowers to a friend for no reason, or buying children’s books for an underfunded inner-city school library.

When I reviewed my personal spending for 2025, I was surprised by how much of my spending fit into this category. I’d forgotten a lot of things I did over the year.

Relationships

I spent a significant amount of time and money on family and friends in 2025, which is as it should be. Having said that, my spending would suggest that my hairdresser and I are a lot closer than we actually are. Vanity may be one of my covert values.

2025 included visits to Quebec, Calabogie, Ottawa, Kingston, England, Toronto, Georgetown, Muskoka, and Mississauga, all specifically to spend time with family and friends. We also hosted several sets of friends in Brighton.

With local friends, I shared coffee chats, book club gatherings, escape room visits, neighbourhood walks, games nights, and much more.

Ray and I travelled to Saint Martin for some quality couple time, and my sister and I travelled to Madeira for some quality sister time.

Much more of my budget went to experiences than to buying ‘stuff’.

Overall, how I’m spending my time and money aligns with my values, but fitness has been a weak link for sure. The next step is to figure out what I’d like to do more / less of, and what I want to do differently, in 2026. Something for me to figure out before my next post.

Happy New Year!