The Postscript: Year-end ambitions

It’s the time of year when I look back and see where I’ve been and wonder where I’m going.

On the shortest days of the year, I like to do a little recalibration. I take a look at what I had hoped to do and ways in which I want to change my thinking. Some years I have had major changes in the works — going back to school or starting a new career. Other years, my biggest ambition has been to finish off the last of the Christmas cookies before the year’s end in case they have an end-of-the-year expiration date and pose a danger to those with a less robust constitution.

This year is somewhere betw...