Do You Make New Year's Resolutions?
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Ah, the sweet strains of ABBA.

Harkening in, is it harkening in a new year? Julie Van Rosendahl joins us today. Adam Karsh is here. Caitlin Green is off as she should be on a little bit of a sunny respice. Hi, Julie. Hello. Happy new year. Happy 2022. Oh my gosh. Doesn't 2022 seem like so far in the future? It's like the Jetsons. Yes. Why don't I have a jet boots yet?

I feel like I should have jet boots. Santa didn't bring them. I don't know. I don't know what I did, but no jet boots. Well, I will keep my eyes peeled. Maybe there's some New Year's jet boot sales. I have seen jet packs.

that, you know, even these at-home Looney Tunes inventors are forever building jetpacks. They either burn their legs off or crash through the neighbor's garage roof. But there's always somebody trying to lift themselves off the ground with a Jetson-type jetpack. Anyway, I will keep my eyes peeled, as will Adam, because he's our tech guy.

Yep. He has all the new gizmos. Don't you have a jet pack on your watch? Yeah, sure. Yeah. Right. Let me, a hot air balloon, just like a parachute. Yes. You can't tell me that when you were a kid guys, that watching the Jetsons and looking at them talking on their watches and

you know, talking to each other, you know, come home now, come home now. Let's, you know, it's dinner time. Yeah. And, and looking at that going, Oh God, if that was only real and now it's real, it's all real. Did you ever watch Knight Rider as a kid? Knight Rider. Yes. Blast from the past. Speaking of tech, like I thought that was the craziest, coolest car. I love the show. And I was obsessed with,

as a kid with the GPS system in the car, like how there was a map. So when GPS came out for real, I was so blown away by it. And even to this day, if I'm just going to the grocery store that's a minute away, I use the GPS so I can watch the map. You're like, Kit, take me to the grocery store. It was Kit, right? Yeah, Kit, Knight Industry 2000.

Oh, you're good. I wouldn't have remembered that. David Hasselhoff. He came on my tour bus in Salt Lake City in the 90s. Really drunk. We played at a club there. Insensitive was big. And we played at a club in Utah where they had to have special licenses to serve alcohol. This was back in the day. Maybe it's different now, but...

David Hasselhoff of all people was in Utah shooting something and he came on the bus and he had like a bomber jacket with the leather sleeves, you know, those leather jackets that said Hasselhoff on the back. And he went into the lapel pocket of this jacket and he handed out all these David Hasselhoff postcards that he had signed and was giving them to us on the bus. And then he asked us if we had anything, you know,

I think he had a beer with us or something. He was really nice. I have to say he was really, really, really nice and obviously a little bit tipsy, but I'm sure we were plastered out of our ever-loving minds. And I remember him looking so clean. His hair was so clean and he's so tall and he was so fit and his eyes were twinkly and he was so good looking in person. And anyway, when he left the bus, we were all just like giddy with him.

Anyway, happy New Year. You are hypnotized. Hasselhoff-notized. Is that the poster you have hanging above your fireplace right now, Jan? The David Hasselhoff poster? Julie, stop giving away my...

Secrets. Listen, I want to get right to it. 2021. I saw a really funny meme about 2022 that it's like 2021 again, or it's 2020 also again. Yes. I've seen that. I know I've learned a lot personally, professionally. I feel like I've learned lessons that probably would have taken me five or 10 years to kind of get my head around.

I'm generalizing, but Julie, is there things that stand out to you that you learned about yourself, about your family, about how you're making your way through the world? I'm just curious to know if you felt that kind of bump in a timeline. Since 2020? Yeah.

You know, I was thinking it's, it's even been longer, you know, five years before I feel like the whole world has been shaken up and, and sort of turned on upside down. It's like a big snow globe, you know, we keep shaking it up and it's, I don't know. I feel like I, everyone has sort of been forced to reassess their lives and, and, and pay attention to what's most important. Um,

And, you know, my lifestyle hasn't changed that much. I don't do as many, you know, events. I'm not traveling as much, obviously. People are still eating. I forgot what the question was, but what have I figured out? I mean, if there's any general things, looking at your Instagram page, I was so thrilled for you to...

have those visits with your parents. And I'm a little bit jealous because my folks are gone. And of course, this is a very sentimental time of year. And my mom passed away. She'd been gone now three years on the 29th of December. But just looking at your mom, your relationship with your folks, I really am so, so very envious of it and where they are. They're out in the West Coast and it looks very idyllic when you go out there.

Well, and they actually live in Calgary, but they have a little place. Oh, sorry. No, that's okay. Yeah. Yeah. And so I go out, I love, I love going out there and staying with them. And they have a tiny little hundred year old cottage on the sunshine coast. And I love being able to go and,

and live with them, which sounds silly. I always lived in the same city as my parents. So I always envied people during the holidays who would go home, you know, and stay in their childhood room or whatever with their parents. I just love being able to live with them for a few days or a few weeks or however long I can stay. I don't take for granted that I still have them, but I definitely do appreciate those smaller gatherings, you know,

you know, it used to be, we were so distracted by the pressure to be doing stuff and going places and who's doing what and who's going where. And we've sort of, you know, figured out who's important to us, uh, who we want to stay connected with. And, um,

And, and not taking for granted those little gatherings, those little, like having my parents, they started to come inside my house again, just recently helping pack books. We had been gathering outside, but now they're starting to come in again and we're starting to eat together again. And it's just, it's the best thing ever. And it's the sort of thing that we, I don't think we realized how great that was before. Yeah.

you know, to gather around a table. Just, I mean, I've always known that it's always been sort of the focus of my work, but it's the small things really are the big things, right? That's something that you've said for a long time. Yeah. The minutia that we often overlook are the things that we really cling to, um, for our wellbeing. It's not the, it's not winning big awards and it's not getting a new car or, I mean, all these things that we're kind of taught to, um,

gravitate towards the stuff. It really is just somebody waving in the driveway at you that you haven't seen for a long time. The gesture of a hand in the air. I think about that a lot. Just a simple hand that's 10 feet away from you waving out a window that you've just seen or a handshake.

I often think about the trust that goes into a handshake and the intimacy and the vulnerability of reaching your hand out and hanging on to it, hanging on to a stranger's hand, a colleague's hand, a friend's hand, or touching someone's shoulder. I think the little tiny physical gestures that are so much a part of our humanness. I mean, I love that your parents are coming in your house again.

I love it. And I think it can be done safely in lieu of everything that's happening right now. I still believe in these things and I don't, can't even believe I'm saying this, social distancing, wash your hands, wear your mask when you're around people. And, you know, all the rapid testing now is going to make life easier. It's something that we need going forward. You can have a dinner party, have everyone rapid test.

Yeah, it's true. And have them do it for a couple of days. And then everyone feels good about having eight, 10 people around a table and sharing a family style meal. Well, and like you said, I mean, we're paying attention to the people in our communities more. And I think when the whole world seems so, there's just been this like,

rapid fire of, of things happening, you know, floods and global warming and fires and droughts and people being displaced. And it's just so much that focusing on the people around us, even the people at the grocery store, you know, I've started to, rather than rushing through, and I started this quite a while ago during the pandemic, um,

really paying attention to the, especially the seniors who are chatty, you know, stop and make chit chat with those seniors in the grocery store, because they're probably not interacting with a lot of people. And those small, I actually did a story about this for the Globe and Mail years ago, those small interactions, and it was in response to online shopping, right? Online shopping was rolling out, we were missing those, those small interactions. And it's so crucial to our

our physical and emotional health, those little day-to-day running into people in the elevator, talking to people at the checkout line or in the grocery store. And so I try and make an effort now to do that with, you know, just pay attention to people around. Well, making eye contact, I don't think has ever been more important, although they cannot see the lower part of our faces when we're out in public. Yeah. I can't tell you how many times people have said to me in the last couple of years, I'm smiling. Yeah.

Yes. I said, I can see you smile. And you can see so much emotion with the eyes. I think you guys would agree with me that you see that lift, unless you're Botoxed up, the yin-yangs. And...

My eyebrows don't lift the way they should. Sometimes I'm like, listen, I'm interested, but my eyebrows don't move because I've had a lot of Botox. But I can tell when someone's smiling at me, passing by me. Totally. I just think it's so...

Amazing how we have adapted our physical interactions, those little tiny changes in how we do look at people. So yeah, Julie, I love that. I love taking the time to ask a person how they're doing and stopping long enough to listen to the answer. Yes.

Exactly. Exactly. And smiling with our eyes without looking creepy, like squinting. Sometimes I try too hard and I'm like, oh no, that's, I think that's laser beam eyes or dagger eyes, not smiley eyes. We're going to tell you how to not do that. When we come back, you're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. I'm here with Julie Van Rosendahl and Adam Karsh. Don't go away. This is our 2022 in review. Oh, this is why.

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Coming to you from Springbank, Alberta, I'm with Julie Van Rosendahl from her Calgary home. Adam Karsh is in his Toronto home, respectively. And it is 2022. It is the first day. What could go wrong? What could possibly happen? You know, we, here we are. I think last year we were just thinking, wow, it just, it couldn't get any weirder. And I think we really realize now that it's just going to get weirder and weirder and weirder.

And some of it's really good and some of it's a little daunting. But listen, I'm not, I'm happy just to be here. I haven't had COVID yet. I fully expect to get it at some point. I don't know how you guys feel about that. But I'm kind of like, I probably will somehow. I don't, I'm doing everything I can, but.

A few of my friends that are so diligent have gotten COVID. I have a lot of friends who have had it. I have friends who, I have a friend who lost his mom, uh, first October. Um, yeah, I mean, and it's, and they're, they're diligent people, you know, all of them. And so it's, you know, I, especially with Omnicron being so much more, um, um, you know,

That sounds like a fancy watch. It sounds like a, like it just sounds like a really nice, the new Omicron. A transformer, a watch that turns into a jet car. Sorry, I had to go back to jets. Your jet, your jet boots. Yeah. Can I ask what you guys ate over the holidays? Like what, what was a big, did you guys make things either of you that was a big hit? Did you try new recipes? Yeah.

Did you... Everything. I mean, I got to say that the potato is still my standout winner, winner. I just cannot tell you how much I love a mashed potato. I love mashed potatoes. Winner, winner, potato dinner. I've been having a lot of potatoes. I just want to say, Adam texts me on the regular with his dishes that, look what I just made, and I love it.

I love it. But yeah, potatoes, I could live on potatoes easily, no problem. A lot of the world did for a while. Like in the UK, they lived on potatoes. So my mom tried something new every year that was always, you know, we would kind of turn our heads or roll our eyeballs. Well, I'd like to try something new on the holidays. Hmm.

And inevitably got either forgotten about and left in the oven or the microwave. Did you guys have any of those that you'd finish dinner and everyone's like, Oh God, I forgot the, I left them in the microwave or the worst, whatever the call it, the cauliflower gratin is it's in the basement fridge downstairs. And every single year we did that. Yeah. And I'm like, well, we'll just eat it in an hour. Don't worry. We will eat it in one hour.

And some of the best recipes come about that way. One year I had a zucchini that was the size of a small child that someone had given me. And so I was like, you know, I kept grating it and making like a batch of brownies and grating and making some muffins. And finally I was like, I'm just going to make this into a pot of soup. So I grated or chopped or whatever the whole thing, threw it in, you know, the pot with some garlic and thyme and stock or whatever and

went to bed and forgot about it. And it's about two o'clock in the morning. I woke up. Was it cooking? Was it, was it simmering on the stove? It was. Okay. So it reduced, it wasn't burning yet. It had reduced to this like delicious sludge. And so I spread it into a,

And I put crumbs and like a little bit of cheese or whatever on top. And I think it was Thanksgiving because there was some sort of dinner. It might've been Christmas. Anyway, I brought it to dinner and everyone was like, this is the best. What is the recipe? I'm like, well, you got to put in like 10 pounds of zucchini, go to bed for five hours and then get up.

But it's true, right? Like the sunken chocolate cakes, the like blackened, you know, burnt sugar or whatever. These are all accidents. They were never, but never, never apologize, right? Julia Child, never apologize.

Just pretend you meant to do it that way. If your cookies are puddles, call them puddle cookies. Say it's like all the rage on TikTok. Yes. And you can't tell me that blackened fish of any kind wasn't a grave error at some point. A lot of things. It was a lot of spices that got absolutely scorched and suddenly it kind of tastes good. Who doesn't like burnt anything? I like burnt toast. Me too.

Me too. Like I'll scrape a little bit of it, but I can count the times that I have actually thrown a piece of a pair of toasts over my railings for the animals. Usually I'm like, Ooh, this is a scraper for sure. Scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape. I love the sound.

I love the sound of scraping toast. It hits my erogenous notes. That is an ASMR trigger for me. You should start ASMR scraping toast videos on Instagram. I'm sure it's out there. Go on YouTube right now, Adam. But yeah, you're right. Some of the greatest things in history, whether it's vaccines, whether it's... I'm on a heart medication.

that's been around since the 30s. I take something called metroprolol twice a day because I've had heart issues and I get tachycardia a lot, which is a racing heartbeat. But anyway, the medication makes my life really livable and I tolerate it really well. But it was a medication made for blood pressure in the late 20s, 30s.

And they're just all of a sudden they're like, hey, this medication keeps the heart from racing off. A lot of athletes use metropole or a beta blocker, it's called. People might be more familiar with that term. But it was just by mistake. So its main use now is not as a blood pressure medication. It's for just keeping your heart from running over the hill without you. Yeah. Yeah.

Discoveries that they, I mean, that's how people discover all kinds of things, right? Accidental discoveries. I think there's a million accidental discoveries. I think everything on the planet is an accidental discovery. For instance, the first person wandering up to a nest filled with eggs going, I think I'm going to pop this into my mouth. I'm just hungry enough to try this. I think I might just crack this onto our

and to see what this, I mean, it's, if, if human life isn't trial and error, I don't know. Right. So, you know, I say this to people all the time, just try stuff because no matter if you fail or whether you succeed in your mind, it's all really awesome. Failing's half the fun. And you learn, that's how you learn. Totally. Totally. Totally.

And the more dramatically you fail and more publicly, that's how we learn that. That's how we figure things out. Right. Oh my. Well, I think it's been the basis of all our careers. I'm sure Adam, you've had a few tales in your life of getting started in your industry as a, as an engineer and a producer and, and then learning curve that we're on. I remember working with an engineer. We spent a whole day recording this trumpet. And at the end of the day, we,

that our poor engineer couldn't find the trumpet tracks. They were nowhere to be seen. It was, it was heartbreaking at the time, but I'm like, like, maybe we didn't really need the trumpet after all. And the guy got paid anyway. So, but yeah. Were those in the days of tapes, like tape where you were recording on reel to reel? I started, I, when I started in radio, I was using reel to reel. So I get it. I know how to cut tape with a blade.

Thank God for computers and the way it is now. But oh my God, I understand the struggles of actually, you know, taking a reel to reel and feeding it through the machine and taking a physical razor blade to make an edit in the tape. That's how you did it. Well, and I went to photography school back in the days of the darkroom and the film. And I remember being in the lab with a few people doing the color run and

One of my friends had wedding photos. She had shot a wedding. Everyone came from Germany and it was so anyway, she got the chemicals backwards. So no, destroyed all the negatives. And I just like, I still, Oh, I just, yeah. There's things that live with you for the rest of your life. If you summon them from that back room in your brain,

it's a very tactile feeling. It's very, it's like you're standing right there doing it, isn't it? It really, yeah, it really is. The things that stick in our mind forever. And it's interesting too, that,

my sisters and I have memories that don't overlap. You know, my sister will be like, remember that time such and such happened. And I'm like, no, I have no memory of that. Right. So we call them fake memories, right? Like, Oh, that's one of her fake memories. But my mom and dad were talking about what we, do you remember when we used to go down to four street rows and have fondue on Christmas Eve? I'm like, no, I have no memory of that. No memory of that. Right. Right.

Julie Van Rosendahl was drunk as a child. Yeah, I was a heavy drinker. I was drunk on cheese. No, it's very true. I share memories with friends all the time. Anyway, we're going to talk about New Year's resolutions, the yeses and the nos of what resolutions do to the human mind. You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. I'm here with Julie and Adam. We'll be right back. This morning, I don't know. Last night I was happy. Now, it's going to be a

Happy New Year. Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast, the very first one of 2022. And may I remind our

Dear listeners, this is still season one. It sure is. We are like 110 episodes into season one. We've never broken it into seasons. We've never taken a break. Some people do like eight episodes and then they call that a season and then they give us a season like two months later. No, not here. We haven't missed one week, which is why it's still season one. I think this is actually episode 112. So think about it. 112 consecutive episodes without a break.

Good on us. That's amazing. Way to go, you guys. I remember doing a pot. Well, it was, I don't even know where I was. Well, I just did one from Europe last week, our Christmas. Right.

Our Christmas episode, I was sitting in my little spare bedroom in the UK, which was really fun, by the way. I was very reluctant to post pictures and say where I was, so I never did. I posted a few pictures and I figured people that knew me knew that I was there and I was on a country road, but I never said, and here's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I just thought, mm-mm. Because honestly, I didn't want to...

put myself out there to the wrath of people being judgmental about me getting on a plane. Um, it was a plane ticket that I had. Well, I couldn't, you can't book a ticket till a year out, right guys? I think you can only do it within, within the year. So last Christmas I booked this ticket to go over to see my friends, um, for seven nights, uh, two hours outside of London. Um,

But it was the easiest trip I've ever taken. I filled out all my forms. I had to get my PCR test. Is that what it's called? I had to get that two days before. I had my booster. I filled out myriad forms, like probably two hours worth of forms that was well worth it. And I just got myself organized. And I filled out the UK app. I did not see a human being when I landed in the UK.

What? I just went up to a machine. I stuck my passport in and I said, welcome to the UK. Wow. So I had everything. And the only thing I was required to do is I had to get a test back to the UK government. I had a specific number assigned to me. I had to go get another PCR. I want to say this, right? Is it PCR? I think it's PCR. I can verify that, but I think you're right. Yeah, thank you. Because I don't...

I want to tell people something that doesn't exist. Yes, PCR test. So I had to go to a little clinic and go and get the nasal swab and get the PCR test and send the number of that negative test to the government. Then I was free to walk around the community. And as you know, I think this past week they're getting numbers of like, I don't mean to laugh. I'm laughing just out of sheer...

frustration and I'm just aghast at the 110,000, 120,000 infections of Omicron every day in the UK. But I'm telling you where I was, it was so calm. We weren't around anyone. I didn't set foot in a restaurant or anything like that. I'm not, I'm not, uh, I'm just not brave. And if for people that want to do that, I'm, if you're following the regulations, I'm all for that. But,

Anyway, then coming back was so easy once again. I filled out all the Canadian stuff. I got another PCR test. Now, keep in mind, these are expensive. I probably spent $500 on testing for this trip, but I haven't been anywhere two years, and my friends are worth it. But when I came back here, it was...

I stuck my passport in and I walked in. I never saw a human being. Wow. I feel like everyone's super organized, right? At the airport. But it doesn't, you know how it looks on TV. It just looks very, ah, everything's gone crazy. The world's on fire. It was calm and orderly. I was really proud of the YYC airport.

thought they were doing a fantastic job. Our white hatters with their cute white masks directing people, telling them where to go, telling them where to do the machines. I was really proud of the city, really proud of whoever is organizing that. What a joyful, positive atmosphere to come into. It wasn't daunting. I mean, my friends were so impressed from the UK. They came back with me because that's been our plan. And for two days they waffled. They're like, well, maybe we shouldn't. And I'm

You know, we thought about it. They talked to their friends, they talked to their families and we opted to come. Well, and you have great space out there and it's, yeah, it's, I think it's great. I'm so happy that you did and that they're back with you.

Yeah, and it's great. But we weren't required to get them a PCR test on this side. They said, if you're no symptoms, go to the place that you're going to. Follow the rules of the road here in Alberta. And anyway, they were super impressed. That's my story about traveling. But I don't even know what I was talking about. I wanted to talk about New Year's resolutions. And I guess I was starting off by going, my New Year's resolution is to be...

I don't ever have resolutions. Sorry, I don't. I don't do that either. I don't do that either. I don't. No. A few years ago, I did make a resolution to accept water when it was offered to me. Oh, that's a good one. You know, when someone says, oh, can I get you some water? I will say yes, because I do not drink enough water. I know I should. I always have it around, but I don't drink enough water. So that was a resolution a few years ago. Yeah.

I thought that was a good one. That's hilarious. That's really manageable. Right? I've resolved when people offer me money, I'm going to take it. That's my resolution for 2022. So in the past, as a teenager or a young woman, Julie, did that sort of

Did that look different resolutions? Like, did you ramp up to like, okay, January one, I'm going to do this, this, this, and this. I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm not going to be that little, little, little, little, blah, blah, blah. Story of my life. Uh, yeah. Oh, every year it was, it was expected. If you,

We're above a certain size. Oh, Jesus Christ. Sorry, I don't mean to go down this road, but that was it, right? I mean, the whole new year, new you. I love that we don't say that as often anymore. I've just been thinking about how the whole narrative in my formative years, you know, and even as an adult,

in magazines was, you know, how to get through the holidays without overeating, right? You know, stand by the crudités, cut your wine with some sparkling water, eat a healthy meal before you go. So I was always approaching the holidays from like a standpoint of damage control, right? Like how am I not going to overdo it?

How am I not going to eat that entire log of shortbread dough? And then New Year was like, okay, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to like, I'm going to do it. I'm going to eat, you know, I'm going to be on my diet or whatever. I'm going to do the Weight Watchers. I'm going to do everything.

every diet, you know, and it's just, it's so bad. Yeah. It's a terrible mentality. Like when I go into a holiday dinner, a special meal, I actually put my mindset on, I'm going to hurt myself. I'm going to do damage and I'm going to regret how much I've put in my system because I never do that. But what a weird mindset to not go into that with joy.

to not go into that with, I'm going to enjoy myself. Because hearing you talk, I think that narrative, Adam, is so wide-reaching, so far-sweeping, that it affects each and every individual. It certainly affects how I think about holidays and special occasions, is to be mindful and not do that. I'm much better now that I've gotten older. So Julie and I, I think as women, we can both attest to that.

how we treat ourselves, how we feel about ourselves. I'm so glad not to be going into this holiday at 35 because it would have been a different landscape for me. And now I'm just like, I am really going to enjoy myself. I'm going to sit in front of the fire. I'm going to have that block of peanut brittle. I really don't, I don't punish myself. But anyway, just as a point to hear you speak like that, I'm sure for Julie and I both, we hear those triggered words of,

Yeah. You know, screw it. Oh, I'm so, and then the guilt, I was just going to say, Julie, the guilt, the cheating. There's so many words that we associate with food and it's, it's just so, yeah, so wrong.

It's not healthy. And look, I'm very mindful about what I put in my body. I'm very mindful. I think when I turn 40, I really have a new mindset around food and the quality of food and what I eat and portion control and all that stuff. So I'm always mindful. But when it's a holiday, a special occasion, a dinner with friends, a dinner with family, a birthday, give me all the good stuff. That's when you have to enjoy your life. You absolutely have to approach things differently.

with a sense of joy. And I think, I mean, I'm no doctor and I'm no psychologist, but I would imagine how we speak to ourselves when we're in these situations does affect our biology, does affect our physicalness. I mean, how your body processes everything that you're taking it. If you're telling your mind, this is going to F you up. I'm going to take you down with this

roll of shortbread cookie dough or I'm gonna treat myself this is great I feel so good that was fun what a great get together that was delicious yeah it was not it's not all or nothing right I mean I went through so much of my life saying oh I ate a cookie I might as well just eat the rest and then I'll start tomorrow right like I've done that times infinity well I think um

As an addict myself, we'll talk about this when we get back, but I did that with alcohol too. You know, you talk yourself into all kinds of things. Oh my God, this show's going by so fast. We're going to be right back. We're going to talk more about resolutions. I want to tell everyone what the top resolutions for 2022 were once again this year. Jan Arden Podcast. We'll be right back with Julianne Adam. Let them know the public face.

that we can keep it up. Welcome back to the Jan Arden podcast. Julie Van Rosendahl joins us. Adam Karsh, brand new year. And 2022, we were talking about resolutions, how kind of pointless they are. Of course, the number one resolution for 2022, because I googled it. I don't know who they...

had, you know, put this out to, but losing weight. Of course, always. Losing weight or body image, they're kind of, they put in parentheses, get better health, but at the crux of that is losing weight, which is a tragic statement on our humanity. But moving on, I'm not even going to tell you what the other ones are because they're equally as dire. This is an idea for some really interesting resolutions that I kind of like the idea of. It's almost like Julie Van Rosendahl's

reverse advent calendar where she put something in a box with her son every day leading up to Christmas instead of taking something out and ingesting it. It was like, put in a can of corn, put in a bag of pasta, a can of peanut butter. I love that, Julie. I love these. Start a journal. Oh, that's a good one. Start a journal if you haven't started journaling. Because when you're talking about mental health and getting better, starting a journal, if you write in it once a month, tickety-boo-doo.

Give out more compliments. Yes. Say the things that you're thinking about people. When you think. That's a good one. A nice thing. Or you say it to someone else, right? Like so-and-so is so great. Oh, I love her so much. But you don't say it to the person. That is my favorite. That's my favorite. I like it. Give out more compliments. But when, in the context of making resolutions, this is all, I'm just trying to kind of change the,

all y'all's mindset on what does that have to mean? And does it have to mean I'm going to stop biting my nails? Oh, F off. Don't I bite my nails. I know, but there's shit going on in the world. Bite your nails. If you need to bite your nails, bite your nails. You're admonished about that from the time you're two years old. Get your fingers out of your mouth. I did it too. My mom was always after me. Um, put your bills on autopay. I love that.

Lift that up. If you're one of those people that are like, oh my God, I suddenly don't have TV anymore. What happened? I didn't pay the bill because it is a lot and a lot of people do not take advantage of this powerful thing called the computer that we're holding in our hands. Put your bills on auto pay, all the main ones, your heat, your light, your phone, your cell bill. Don't leave yourself in the middle of nowhere. You can't pay your bills. I mean, just little simple things. Send more cards to people. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Doesn't even have to be an occasion. That's a nice one. Make a card. Yeah. Not an e-card. I'm not a big fan of the e-Christmas cards. I've gotten quite a few of those this year. And they're free. So I don't, yeah. But I like getting a physical card with the handwriting and the, stick a recipe card in there. Huh? Love it. Good one. Yeah. We love it. Make a movie bucket list. Ooh. Mm-hmm.

Like sit with a pal or do it online if you're doing a FaceTime or a Zoom or whatever and go,

let's get through these 20 movies this year. What do we want to see again? What do we want to do? And make a list with your friends and actually do it. And you can watch them from your own homes and then talk about them. And you can watch them together on Teleparty. My friend Fiona Matatal, who is an OBGYN here in Calgary, the very beginning of the pandemic, she heard that I had not seen Dirty Dancing. It came up.

And so we watched it together on Teleparty. It turned into a pandemic film club.

I think we've watched 200 movies. I haven't been to all of them, but we had a little secret Santa pandemic film club gathering. Everyone logs in. And so it times the movie so that everyone's, it's synced. And there's a little chat box along the side. So we can all like comment, like, who does he think he is? Like, you know, like comment on the storyline, right? And it's great. It's great. So there are people across Canada in it now. And anyway, sorry, I just had to

Speaking of, I absolutely love that. But those kinds of things, you get my drift. I'm not going to keep going at this, but to rethink what a resolution is and taking the pressure off

yourself as an individual, like, what am I going to do to my body? Am I going to only get liposuction once this year? Like, all these crazy things that we set ourselves up for, but things that involve another people. Like, I'm going to go volunteer somewhere, somewhere this year. Like, a resolution like that just makes more sense than annihilating your body and mind with undoable freaking things. Well, and I like the idea of...

vowing to do more of something or eat more, eat more soup was my resolution for a while. Rather than I'm not going to have any carbs or I'm not going to have any sugar. I'm not like, rather than restricting yourself, doing more of, you know, it's, it's, it's more positive to be like, you know, rather than disallowing yourself from eating things that you love or doing whatever, doing more of this, going for more walks, eating more soup, seeing more people, you know, more positive. It's more,

It's more positive. What do you think 2022, do you have a theme of what this is going to look like? Do you think you're just going to plow on exactly in what you're doing? Do you like what you're doing right now? How things are going? Are you going to approach it any differently? Is there something in 2021 that you're like, tried that, not doing that, that didn't work for me?

I think I'm just going to do this. Like, does it, does the turning of that calendar feel different? I feel like it's sort of deeply ingrained in us to sort of look at the new year, look back at the old year, sort of reassess, figure out the highlights, the low lights, you know, think about what we want to, to do, you know, and it's, unfortunately it's so often framed around achievements and accolades and accomplishments and,

goals and and I think so I think it's natural to think think that way and I certainly have been thinking about how I spend my time and who I spend it with and and and in terms of work just doing less right working smarter not harder as my granddad and I think everyone's granddad used to say that well my granddad said get a job build something my granddad was into building things

build things. Adam, 2022, what are we doing? I know you don't want to go back to the office. I do not want to go back to the office. I love working from home. I think I say at every show, I'm manifesting that. I'm putting it out there to the universe because I love my setup and I hope that it continues this way. I'm not suggesting I'll never go back into the building, but my life is really, the balance is great. And I'm hoping that

I want to be optimistic and say that I hope 2022 things can really get back to normal. I know that the state of the world right now, it's not looking like that so much. So we've dialed back a few things. But I got my third booster. My girls got their second shot. Everyone in my family far and wide is triple vaxxed or double vaxxed for the kids, triple for the adults. I'm hoping that everyone stays safe and healthy and that it can get back to normal.

Whatever normal is. I'm just going to try not to get pregnant again this year. Again. Again this year. I don't need to go down that road at 59 years old. So I'm going to just... Jan, do not get pregnant. You need that like a hole in the head. So, you know, that's simple. And if I can inspire another 59-year-old to make that positive choice... Achievable goals are important. Listen...

I know that men can have kids at pretty much any age. They can probably have an erection on their deathbed and a

I'd probably make a child as they're taking their last breath. Not, not something I want to picture, but it's true. It's true. Adam, giggle all you want. It's true. Women, you know, it's just like, so any, any man that enters into that relationship in his seventies with like a 33 year old woman, I know we're wrapping up the show. What a weird way to wrap things up. It's just getting good now. If he actually, I just get to talk. If he actually wants to, well, maybe we should do some bonus material. If he wants to talk, yeah.

you know what? This is the Jan Arden podcast. If that was not enough of a teaser for you to come back for maybe a 15 minute bonus of the 2022 podcast, you're missing out.

Happy New Year, everyone. We love you. Thanks for listening. Subscribe to the show. Leave us a review if you think of it because all those things help. And we appreciate you so much. Let's just keep season one real. Julie Van Rosendahl, all the best to you. 2022, here we come. Adam Karsh, stay with us for more bonus material after this. But in the meantime, totally do. Should old acquaintance be forgotten?

Welcome to the bonus content of 2022 with Julie, Adam, and Jan. This is bonus content. This is content that is still completely free of charge. Here we go. Here it is. The bonus begins now.

Or the boner begins now, which is... Wait, let me get some toast to scrape. So if the guy wants to... And, you know, we're dealing with mortality, I'm sure. A man's fragile mortality. And when I say man, I mean the human race. If he wants to have a one-year-old at 73 years old,

And a two-year-old, if he wants to embark on that, if that's that important to him to service a 35-year-old partner that wants to have a child. I know. Who am I to say? Yeah. To me, it sounds ludicrous. I think about now, if I had a child, if I had a newborn child at the foot of my bed at 59 years old, I would not whether, I wouldn't know whether to shit or squeeze an orange at this point in my life. Yeah. Yeah.

I know. I know. Like, just hearing the sounds. A dog was a lot of work for me. I mean, a joyful amount of work. And I miss her presence so much, as you do with your dog, you know, Louie. You really notice that gone. But you have a newborn child, Julie. Ramon. He's a beautiful boy. He's a toddler. He's adorable. Yeah, it's...

It's interesting. It made me lose. It's a lot. It made me lose. Oh my gosh. Miss Louie. Yeah. I say the wrong words all the time. But it is like having a, I mean, last time I had a puppy, I also had a toddler. So it was kind of, I was in that mode.

But now I'm like, I'm too old for this. He's getting better, but like in, out, in, out, in, out and, you know, chewing things. And when I'm, you know, doing stuff, he'll come and bring like mitts and hats and be like, look, look what I'm eating. You know, just like, but yeah. I love the cardboard box that he had in your backyard. That made me laugh out loud. That brought me so much joy and it made me feel positive. I mean, I'm far from,

from being ready for another dog. And I know Louie was a good year for you, a good year. And I also know that Ramon was kind of this,

magically I'm here dog well like magically totally what happened well so my yeah my my nephew and his girlfriend uh have a couple dogs who I love and they came from her mom her mom has eight dogs um anyway so they had another litter her dog had another litter and uh so I was out in carbon and I think Katie just knew we would be like easy targets right so she brought the whole litter out

And I was totally not, it was not on my radar to get another dog, but seeing Willem with the puppies, like, you know, he's an only child. He's 16. He's always had a dog. Pandemically, he doesn't have a whole lot of friends and he doesn't see his friends that he does have very often.

And so seeing with him, just, I was like, oh yeah, he needs this kind of love in his life. You know, he doesn't want to snuggle with me anymore. What's wrong with kids? It was just like a no brainer. And he just like, so yeah, he, you know, and maybe he'll take him with him when he moves away from home. Right. Like he's, he's almost an adult.

But getting back to my point of a man having an erection on his deathbed who would be able to impregnate a 20-year-old, like these are the ironies of life that it just seems it should be the other way around.

it should be the other way around. Men should only be able to make children up to the age of 18. And then that's it. Wow. That's harsh. 18. I became a dad at 37. So, well, and I was 35 and I, and at the time it was, it was, uh, considered you were getting old at 35 to have a baby. Right. And now you're an old, you were,

I have tons of friends in their forties who have had sometimes surprise babies, but they call them, they call them geriatric pregnancies when you're in your forties, which does, that's not, that doesn't make me feel good for those other women who are, you know, a geriatric pregnancy. But if you have twins, they can be Jerry and Atrick. Jerry, Atrick, Atrick, Jerry. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I always wanted twins. I, they kind of ran in my family and, uh, and it would, as you get older, apparently your chances are, are better of having twins. I thought it would have been fun, but anyway. Well, listen, if I didn't get pregnant in my twenties, I don't know. There is, there is, there is a God actually, cause I did a lot of praying and, um, I,

I came out of that crazy decade in my life of just, I mean, it was rock and roll. Singing in bars and Smithers and Yellowknife and Dawson Creek and just being in a white panel van and singing ZZ Top songs. That's cool. You know, our sets were epic. It would be like Sheena Easton and then it would be ZZ Top. I love ZZ Top. ZZ Top in Canada. ZZ Top. Yeah, ZZ Top. Every girl crazy about a sunbed.

You know, you think about how these years roll by, like the fact that it's 2022. I remember sitting with my friend Michelle in my bedroom with the white shag carpet and the white wicker furniture. And I said to Michelle, oh my God, in the year 2020.

right we're gonna be 38 years old or whatever the hell we were just talking about yeah oh yeah because yeah I was born in 62 we were born in 62 and we were just like oh my god and put on the and put on the Runaways record and listen to Joan Jett and just feel so cool and then you know

I'm laying in bed like last night with my hands folded behind my neck, just looking up at the knotted pine ceiling going, here I am living out here in the trees. I'm looking forward to getting up to feeding the birds, bird seed, and hopefully the deers will show up. And yeah,

I, what we were talking about in the episode today is just those small little things of triumph that really bring you joy. And I, I have to say, I'm surprised at the, the things that bring me joy. I thought it would be so different. I thought it would be, you know, career and, and music and, um,

All those things that I thought, those are going to be the things that really make my heart sore. And I like them just fine, but it's feeding these freaking birds. And it's such small things. It's walking down the road that makes me feel well and makes me feel like I'm doing the right thing. Yeah. And grounded in your place in the world. And how lucky are we?

That we get to be alive. Right. Yes. Like Norm Macdonald said, it's the best gig in the world being alive. Yeah. I agree. And it's just, yeah, it's just great. But I think we're set up, you know, to, to have these like big goals and dream big and go big or go home and like be the best and the pressure to just like perform and have these accolades and awards and, you know, achievements and,

You know, for whose sake? For, you know. I think appearances. Yeah. I think so many things are motivated in an outward way to how we're going to be perceived. I mean, and we've talked about this ad nauseum on the show. Yeah, of course. Is curating Instagram. Yeah. Curating our social media. Yeah. And being on a boat and having a flute of champagne in your hand and a dolphin is jumping beside the boat. Yeah. And...

You know, all these things. And I'm telling you, it's taken 500 pictures to kind of make it look like that. And young women talk about that all the time. But anyway, I think earnestness, I think we can see through it a little bit better these days of what...

Of what that looks like and what happiness looks like. And I think you're right, Julie. We're all just so happy to be healthy and well. And so many of us have lost people and lost pets and have friends that have their grandparents in long-term care. And this has been a brutal 24 months of change and loss and sorrow and

And job losses and moving and a lot of relationships have ended. Well, a lot of relationships have begun too, but it's really tipped the apple cart, as it were. So much change and people are...

trying to figure out how to find that balance. But I bet it's the little things. Yeah. It's a cup of tea in the morning. Yeah. Or sitting with your book and, you know, keeping your comfy clothes on. All the things we've heard about comfort in this last two years are simple, simple, simple, simple. Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. And being okay with it and got my haircut. I know right to a hair salon, got my hair colored. These things that we just took for granted, right? I had people in my house who would have ever thought that that was going to be, I've had a few friends stop by and come in and sit in the kitchen and hang out. I missed that so much. That is the greatest sinner. I know I've been to my parents' house for dinner and they've been in my house and I

We just, you take for granted your family sitting around the dinner table. And now it's like the greatest joy to have that happen again. Yeah. But I know people are, I feel like people are really hitting a wall. It's like,

I may have used this analogy in the past, but it's like, do you remember going to jazzercise or aerobics? Did you ever do that back in the, I used to, I used to go to Heaven's Fitness and, and the instructor would be like, 12 more, or whatever, five more, four more, three more, 20 more. And you'd be like, fucking hell. Like you thought you were at the end of it. And then she'd like jump back up. Right. Like, you can do it. You can do it. You can do it. Oh no, here's another 12 reps. Right. Yeah.

And I know that people are having a hard time right now. It feels like that. We're just about done. We're just about done. You can go back to restaurants. And kidding. Yes. Nobody in your house. Yeah. But you see, does this not shed some light on where these old timey stories come from of your grandparents saying, you know, back in our day when we had...

this and that we couldn't, we couldn't have people under the house. We had to wear face coverings and your grandchildren are looking at you like you're such a turd granddad. You don't even know anything. It is going to be that. Because those exactly, because those pivotal big things that, that shift humanity and society, um,

Like we're forever changed. Yeah. There's no, we're not going to be going back to normal, whatever it is. It's going to be something very new and it's going to look very different. But, um, I love the fact that we're now going to have these stories that you're going to be telling Willem's kids. Yeah. And they're just going to roll their eyeballs, take off in their jet boots and go to their friend's house. Right. Their hologram friends will be over visiting. Yeah.

But yeah, it's true. I mean, at least we're, I mean, we're pretty, I think we're pretty spoiled as a, as a society. I think back, you know, driving through the prairies in the middle of winter, I think about the people, you know, who lived in a barn and, you know, during the depression and had no, you know, had maybe one book to share and the store of potatoes and like,

Right. I mean, we, how lucky are we that we have technology like this to keep. It's unbelievable. We're pretty lucky and it's pretty great. And thank you, Netflix. They should sponsor us. Exactly. My gram shared skates.

Oh, yeah. They had one pair of skates. There were 17 kids and they had one pair of skates. And they were obviously big boy skates. But Graham said they stuffed cloth in the end. Yeah. And she said, we never even thought twice about it. You just take turns, right? Never thought twice about it. We order them online and they arrive within 48 hours. And if there's a delay, I mean, I think we understand a lot better how it's

how things work, how supply chains work, how supporting local makes such a huge difference to our communities. And so I don't know. Small is good. You know, small is good. I mean, I love that you've been leaving your cookbooks at local stores and asking for donations. You know, you're basically saying, this is what this book costs to make, and it would be great to, you know, keep that back. But I think you've been really surprised at, and further to that, Julie has donated

what people donate for those books in these, in these local bookstores to great charities and people that really, really need a couple hundred bucks to, to make their day special for somebody. But it's, it's so great what you've been doing, Julie. It just, those, and I know they seem like small things to you, but the way they reverberate out into the community, being helpful to others, helping other people,

brings happiness. That, that is fact. That is psychological proof that when you are in service of others, you benefit so much. It just feels good. It feels good to do the right thing. Yeah. It just feels good. So many people doing amazing things back. So yeah. But, but that's how it works. And, and believe me, it's, it's, you are a catalyst. You know, when people see that it's,

it's like it does prompt them to go, what can I do? It certainly prompts me because I always tell people about the stuff that you're doing. And I just, I love that. And I love that it doesn't have to be these grandiose, we're trying to raise $1.5 million to build the new set. And that's when people get lost in it. They're like, what does my 10 bucks do? Fuck all. Like, I'm not going to do it. And that's where it gets so...

people feel overwhelmed and getting back to that whole, how we're, we can eat ourselves into a cleaner, brighter, better planet by making choices that don't involve big animals that require a lot of energy and a lot of space, you know, um,

two meals a week make a huge impact in the world. Imagine 6 billion people making the choice to do two or three plant-based meals a week. Now you're talking a new game. So all those people that are feeling like, what can I do? What can I do?

It's suddenly this force. It's a tidal wave of change that is, it's unbelievable the impact it has. So small is good. Well, and I think it's not all or nothing either, right? I mean, people, I think there's this very sort of divisive, either you eat this way or you eat that way. Anytime I post, you know, oat milk or other, you know, bio life cheese or whatever people are like, but you know, why, why are you eating that kind of thing? And there's sort of this,

Anyway, this is a whole other conversation. Yes. Maybe in the new year, but we could do that. Ramones got a squeaky toy. Did you hear that? No, we will. We'll, we'll wrap it up, but don't, you're never going to convince everybody all the time.

And the fact that you are doing that, surely they can see that the occasional change or trying something new. And you have to imagine that these companies, too, are they're the way of the future because they're the ones that are making changes globally. You know, just because that's the way things have always been done doesn't mean that's the way you do them. You don't see horses and carriages going down the main streets. Cars were invented.

They stopped having milk, man, because we didn't have milk delivered to the houses anymore. You bought it in the store and now it's not milk being delivered. Now they're clearing out entire sections for all the plant alternatives that are better for the environment. They're certainly better for the cows. When it comes to animal welfare, man, I'll have this argument with people anytime. If I can do something that doesn't hurt something else, I'm going to do it. How can you argue? Why are you eating that? Why? Because it doesn't...

You don't have to go into a diatribe, Julie, ever because once in a while it does the environment good and you hurt less people by doing it. And you're supporting a small business. This is a small business person that came up with this idea. Yeah. And they get sold. They get sold to these bigger companies, which is great because they can get to more people that do make those two meals a week instead of having a real grilled cheese sandwich.

They have one with Veolife cheese. Veolife, please sponsor us. And make them more affordable too, right? For people. The more you make them, the more affordable they'll get. But as long as they're niche, you're going to be paying more. Remember how much fucking microwaves were? Yeah. Oh, I know. I know. Yeah, a luxury item. My dad brought one home. It was $1,500. What? Yeah, my parents in the late, no, early, mid-70s brought home a microwave. Wow.

It was the size of a fucking car. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We were scared to use it. We all thought we were going to get blown up. Yeah. We thought it was going to kill the dog. Radiating. But yeah. Yeah. But it's true. I mean, we embrace technology in so many ways. And why not? Now they make milk out of oats. Right. So awesome. And it tastes delicious. Amazing. So why? Why are people?

so set. I mean, it's like you said, it's the way things have always been. That's all it is. It's, it's, it's, uh, but once you try it, I've even got my brother, my older brother buying oat milk. Yeah. I'm just like, it's, it's, it's going to be better for you during the long run because he's one of those guys. It's, it,

It's dairy's bugging him. And he's getting inflammation. Yeah. And it's a culprit. I'm telling you. A lot of people become lactose intolerant as they get older. And I mean, dairy, that's a whole conversation. The whole industry in Canada, that's a big... My dad, since we were kids, said, why is dairy a food group? And part of the food guide is something that he pushed back against.

for a long time. And it's like, yeah, exactly. Anyway, we will talk about that, but welcome to your bonus. We're going to do more bonus content. I love bonus content. Me too. You can swear. That's the best part. Well, it's great. Fuck. It,

It's just, Jesus. It's just, thank you. Anyway, love you guys. Thank you so much. I love you. Happy to hear it. Julie, I have a drop by thing I want to drop off on your doorstep as well. And I know your road and I know where you are, but in my mind, I can't remember which road it is to go down. So if you can just fire me your address and Adam, you have something coming to your address and I know it's not going to be there. And Caitlin's got something too. And then I got worried about her going away. Okay.

And it's just silly stupidness. But you know what? I'm curious to see what you think. Okay, good. All right. Well, welcome to the bonus content and goodbye. And we will see you soon. And I'll talk to you guys next year. No, this year. This year. 2022, season one. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Totally new.

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