The Postscript: A good bar of soap

A new year is coming, and I am focusing on the small stuff.

It is popular to make big, sweeping statements in a new year about the things that will change and be accomplished. I noticed a few years back that these grand announcements rarely had much effect.

What mattered, if I wanted to live a different kind of life, was the little things I did every day. I take my walk. I write a few words. I do my pushups. I’ve gotten used to watching in amazement how a tiny action, done daily, leads me to a place that seemed impossible just a few months earlier.

What I didn’t notice until recently is that i...