My One-Word Concept for 2025: Repair

Fixing the body, the soul, and the world

Hello and welcome to Mature Content, a newsletter about lifelong learning, where I offer tools, insights, and resources for personal growth and discovery. This is the monthly installment of Good Insights, where I offer an insight about something I’m learning at home, at work, or in life.

Photo by Theme Photos on Unsplash

Hello and welcome to all of the new Subscribers!

A while back, I decided that rather than producing a list of resolutions at the beginning of each new year, I would set a one-year concept. I thought that having one integrated, catch-all theme would encourage me to think more wholistically about my life, rather than in siloes.

I was super busy at the start of this year and didn’t bother to identify a concept. And then, one day four months into 2025, my one-word concept came into sharp focus: Repair.

Fixing the Body

I’m at that stage of life where you’re acutely aware that your body no longer works the way it once did. After a lifetime of perfect vision…you’re suddenly wearing glasses. Medical conditions, like piriformis syndrome, you once considered the province of your Great Aunt Kay, now roll off of the tongue. Before you know it, you’ve turned into your mother and are “wogging” your back each morning to alleviate pain.

Some of these conditions are more readily fixed than others. Exhibit A? My teeth. For years, I’ve been very unhappy about the way my teeth look. (Click on that link if you’d like to see what my smile looked like until about a month ago.) I’d also developed a lisp due to my overbite. But I put off getting braces for more than a decade. This was partly about money; braces are expensive (and invisalign is *very* expensive). Getting orthodontic treatment in middle age also felt like a vanity project. And, let’s face it…who really cares what your teeth look like when you’re pushing 60?

Turns out, I do. Among other things, I deliver online worskhops for a living so my crooked teeth are visible constantly. They are visible not just to students and clients (who likely don’t notice or care)…but to me.

Let’s face it…who really cares about your teeth when you’re pushing 60?

Turns out, I do.

So in March, I finally ponied up and went to see the orthodontist. And, yes, when I smile, I now look about 13. I also feel about 13 because I’m getting food caught between my teeth and using dental wax to soften the wires, just like I did back when I got braces in fifth grade.

But you know what? I feel great. Every time I slide my tongue across my braces, I am reminded that I am fixing my body. I’m reminded that I will no longer be distracted by my teeth when I smile or by my lisp when I speak. And that makes me very happy.

Fixing My Soul

Lest you think I’m utterly superficial, 2025 is also about fixing my soul. I don’t mean that literally. I’m not sure I’ve ever understood what the “soul” is, exactly. (Although I did once produce an hour-long radio program on it a lifetime ago.)

What I mean is that I’ve started working on my relationship to religion. I’ve struggled with “What religion should I be?” for decades now. As a once-devout Catholic who’s been married to an atheist Jew for nearly 30 years, I’ve never quite figured out where I belonged. I’m still not sure I have an answer to that question, but I’m a good deal closer.

About 18 months ago and for reasons that remain a bit mysterious, even to myself, I started attending a weekly religious service at a nearby place of worship. I’ll have more to say about that at a future point in time. For now, what I will share is that the more I deepen that spiritual commitment, the more I feel that I am finally reconciling different parts of myself that for a long time, felt fractured and in conflict.

It’s not that I’ve “found religion” and now that Jesus (or Mohammed or Moses) loves me and all is right with the world. It’s that the process of getting in touch with my long-dormat spiritual self has been a process of healing an area of life that for a long time, had been a source of pain.

Getting in touch with my long-dormant spiritual self has been a process of healing an area of life that for a long time, had been a source of pain.

Fixing the World

Ok, let’s be honest. I’m not fixing the world. Sure, I do my fair share of volunteer work. But I’m not under the misguided apprehension that I’m somehow making the world safe for…anything.

That said, this year, and largely because it feels like the world has suddenly become a very complicated place, I’ve decided to step up my efforts to do what I can to improve it. I’ve never been much for protests on any cause I care about. That’s not my jam. I tend to do more behind-the-scenes stuff. Then I read this article on why citizen engagement of various kinds can have an impact. I began to think that maybe I could be more vocal on things that matter to me - like protecting the overseas vote for Americans.

I’ve also decided to step up my volunteer work at the aforementioned place of worship. I recently raised my hand to run a charity committee there. Charity, in this instance, does not only mean donating money to worthy causes. It means rolling up our sleeves and doing something concrete for other people. This might be fixing up a flat for a refugee family to live in, helping out with community food banks, or distributing items to people who are too sick or immobile to come to services on a regular basis. I’m no Mother Theresa. But I know that I’ll feel better if I do my part.

Taken together, I would like to think that by the end of this calendar year I will feel both more whole and more civic-minded. One thing I can guarantee you: I’ll definitely have a better smile.

What are you fixing in your life right now?