Wow. I mean, just wow. Am I really that old?
All I can think of as I sit down to share my annual New Year’s resolutions with you is that it truly seems like it was only a month ago that I was writing my 2025 list. You know, time flies and all. Maybe it is because the Healio | OSN columnists submit their January articles in advance and it is not really January as I write this. Still, I think I am starting to really dislike whoever it was who said that time moves faster as you get older.
Any faster and it will soon be yesterday!
Anyhow, here I sit, once again, reviewing last year’s resolutions and trying to figure out how I did. Schirmer tests? nope. another epic fail, I am afraid. Routine assessment of corneal sensitivity? now this is one I pretty much nailed. No excuse not to if you think about it. All you need is something tiny that you can use to touch an unanesthetized cornea and then look for a reaction. Of course, you can use an expensive, fancy instrument to do that, too, but I will bet that at least a few of you resolved not to buy stuff you really did not need.
Still, all in all, I did a bit better at my dry eye disease-centric list in 2025. Enough so that I am not sure I have all that much new to add to a list of resolutions.I was thinking about this on a return flight from a conference recently at which I hung out with my closest professional colleagues. This is a group that is roughly 50-50 men and women, with an age range of late 30s to early 70s. We spend a couple of days teaching each other about new stuff and about how we handled some of the rough stuff. Most of us are deeply involved in consulting with the leaders of the companies that make products for us and for our patients; all of the folks from industry who attended this meeting were invited to attend our clinical talks on days 1 and 2.
Where this meeting shines, and where I found my inspiration for this column, is what we do on the last day of our meeting. We send all the industry folks home to enjoy the weekend with their families. Behind closed doors, we then spend 4 hours talking about how we can be better at everything we do. Not just the doctor thing, even though without a doubt we talk about that, or even the boss thing for those of us who run practices, residencies or entire programs. On day 3, we open up and ask ourselves and each other how we can just be better people.
This year, I resolve to be more like these special colleagues.
I resolve to see the good side of everyone I meet like my friend Bill. More than that, I resolve to let everyone know about the good things I see in those people and to give everyone a chance to see what I see in someone the way that Bill does.
I resolve to be brave like my friend Audrey. Faced with an untenable practice situation at a stage in life at which many people would simply retire and ride off into the sunset, Audrey realized that she was not yet done making a contribution, so she left a place that was no longer welcoming and hung out her shingle. When I need to have some guts, I resolve to think like Audrey.
I resolve to look at something new, and frankly a bit intimidating, and just jump right in like my friend gary, who decided that he needed to learn all things AI in eye care. gary gave us a tool kit for everyday AI in our practices, one he assembled by literally just diving in. I resolve to jump into my next challenge just like that.
I resolve to tell the unvarnished truth like my friend Eva. Now, to be sure, I am fairly well known in my circles as a bit of a truth-teller already, but not like Eva. My truth often seems to come out like a novella; Eva’s truth is more like haiku: fewer and truer words without flourish. My truth could use a little more Eva.
I resolve to persevere like my friend Dee. With quiet dignity, she overcomes challenges that would cause most people to unravel, and yet she marches on, leading us all to greater levels of achievement in our personal and professional lives simply by living hers. I resolve to think of Dee when things are hard and to push on.
I resolve to have dreams, big dreams, like my friend Mitch, no matter what other folks may say about them. If I should come upon a dream I cannot walk away from,I resolve to follow Mitch’s lead and go all in. I resolve to look in the mirror and say, “I DID!” like Mitch.
And when I do have one of those dreams, I resolve to have faith that my belief in those dreams is justified like my friend John. To keep that faith even when things are hard — especially when things are very hard — when I know that my dream is worth that faith. I resolve to have faith in that like John’s.
I resolve to find a way to inject love into every place I might find myself like my friend Vance. As a rather cynical East Coast kid, this one might be tough, but Vance might very well be the happiest of my friends, and I think his ability to find and share that love might be the reason why. I resolve to give it a shot.
It is indeed getting toward the end of this little bit of drivel. Heck, it is indeed getting near the end of a whole lot of stuff in my career. I resolve never to look back with regret, sorrow or longing, like my friend Maria. Just like a Hall of Fame quarterback who retires holding the super bowl trophy,Maria went out on top and now waits for us in some wonderful adventureland far from the offices and ORs we shared over the years. Someday, I resolve to join her there.
This is far from a complete list of the extraordinary people in this special group, but perhaps you will find some inspiration from this small sample. as I do each year, I resolve to keep on doing this, right here, for provided that you all will have me. Happy New Year!
For More facts:
Darrell E. White,MD, of SkyVision centers in westlake,Ohio,can be reached at dwhite2@skyvisioncenters.com.
Sources/Disclosures
Source:
Expert Submission
Disclosures:
White reports speaking and consulting for Allergan, Bausch + Lomb, Sun, Tarsus and Viatris, consulting for Aldeyra, Bruder, Nordic Pharma and Thea, and consulting for and being an investor in Orasis and SpyGlass.
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