As 2025 begins, I can't help thinking that there is one goal each and every one of us should have that can improve our society: Chipping away at ageism.
OK, so you've finished the leftovers from your holiday meals, tossed out all of the ripped wrapping paper, put away the religious or other holiday objects, and maybe even finished binging on that streaming show you put off watching for months. Your mind now turns to focusing on the start of a New Year.
Yeah, it's resolutions time. Maybe. For you. Or maybe not so much.
I myself am not a great resolutions maker, let alone keeper. I've tended to give them a shot for anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of months, and then...well, you get the idea.
I've come to realize that my consistent failure to keep any promises I make to myself is based on how I've framed those goals. It's the moral equivalent of one's eyes being bigger than one's stomach when first sitting before a plate piled high with food and ultimately not being able to finish the whole thing.
Goals of any kind, including the New Year's variety, need to be structured in such a way that achieving them becomes doable. They should be 1) reasonable, 2) measurable, and 3) relevant. Let me give you two personal examples.
There was the year when I resolved to lose a lot of weight by eating better and exercising more. A relevant and reasonable idea, to be sure, given how my clothes weren't fitting and that other people have been able to reduce through such disciplined action. But not a measurable one. I didn't specify a certain number of pounds, neither did I specify what foods I would and wouldn't eat nor how many minutes a week I would exercise. So how would I know if I succeeded? Just how much would "a lot of weight" be, anyway?
Then there was the year I was so annoyed at the notion of making New Year's resolutions at all that I resolved to reduce my smoking to 5 cigarettes a day. Reasonable, because it's indeed possible for a person to quit smoking. Measurable, because I specified a number. By the way, that was the first time I actually kept a resolution. That's because I was a nonsmoker in the first place. Not relevant, big time.
I imagine you're getting the idea.
But as 2025 begins, I can't help thinking that there is one goal each and every one of us should have that can improve our society: Chipping away at ageism.
If you can agree with me that it's a truly relevant goal to reduce discrimination based on age from everyone's daily life including yours, then allow me to suggest these bones of four resolutions, which you can then fill out with your own reasonable, measurable parameters:
Think more positively about your own aging. If you harbor any fear or dread of getting older, reframe the process in more realistic, natural terms. After all, we're supposed to age, and with any luck, you'll be doing so for many decades. Ask yourself what's behind your negative feelings. Also, be aware of the ways in which our culture constantly reinforces the anti-aging idea that being young is better than being old (both are equally valid conditions), and reject those messages.
Take action to improve the course of your aging. Whether it's eating healthier, being more physically active, getting more sleep, socializing more, reducing your stress, or any other effective strategy, decide which one(s) can help you to live the life you want to have in the coming years. And consider, too, how you might work to make public policies and your environment more all-age-friendly.
Make friends with people who are younger and/or older than you are. The number of new friends is up to you, as is the age range. Research shows that forming positive relationships with people not of your own cohort (however you define it) is one of the most effective ways to bust the often negative stereotyping that encourages misunderstanding and conflict between artificially determined generations.
Speak up about ageism when you encounter it. Again, even if you decide to limit it to only one experience in the course of the year, that act adds to the anti-ageism movement our society desperately needs in order to become a more just and civil one. Depending on the situation, you might use gentle correction, even a bit of humor. Or you might engage in a peaceful, organized effort to call attention to the condition or experience. Again, it's your call to determine the reasonable and measurable way in which you respond.
I fully recognize that it can be challenging to lose weight or if you’re (truly) a smoker, to quit. However, in this start of another year, I hope you'll consider joining me in making one promise that is indeed possible to keep:
Being personally resolved to help end ageism.
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Thanks for calling out "Chipping away at ageism" as a goal that we can all easily do once aware of it!