Last Friday of the year, debauchery week is ending; the last fun day arrives in hours, and then we get to wring it all out of our systems. For anyone looking to get a headstart on annual planning and resolutions through headaches, we can help. The big story includes a link to a yearly review with seven simple questions to help you work on "U" in 2023. We touch on another Queen who lived in England, lots of inspiration, and an earth clock you need to see. Happy last Friday of 2022!

The Curiosity Chronicle is Sahil Bloom's newsletter, and his week/year wrap-up will help you review the year and prepare for next year.  

Bloom, a new father, talks about pulling back on how much he can teach his child. Good insight from a new father, some of us took years to figure this out. Use your life to set an example and be consistent with that example, which is hard enough. If you are lucky, when kids grow up, that is what they follow.

Questions 2 and 3 are about energy with our thoughts. A week of debauchery, and some of us have consumed more sugar this week and month to kill a gorilla. As we prepare for a week's worth of celery in the new year, we discover that all that crap we have been putting into our bodies affects our energy levels even more than our waistlines. Insulin imbalances, food comas, and hangovers do not make for good workouts or sleep. Clean living can significantly improve energy.

Question 5 is a big one in the "News as Reality" era we live in today. Bloom uses the analogy of a hermit crab to explain how hard it can be to leave people that hold you back.  

Find better people; is it hard to do? Sometimes, compare it to jumping off the high diving board at a public pool for anyone old enough to remember the high diving board. There is hesitation, then exhilaration, then joy. If you find better people and put yourself out there honestly, the new relationships will provide as much energy as good food.

Question 7 ties everything together

Question 7: What did I learn this year?

Your year will be better if you can become a lifelong learner and incorporate the learning into all the other questions. If you have conversations with people and you want to learn from the people you talk to, your conversations will be better. Your life will improve if you search for answers, strategies, and better methods.  

If you continue to seek and learn, you live better. If you think you know everything and everyone around you is annoying, you aren't living your best life.

The best part about Bloom's Annual Review - you can download a copy and work through it on your own.

Reuters produced a short video with stories that will make you smile. Over the past few years, the human race has faced too many one hundred year "fill-in-the-blank." It is important to remember there is always a hand willing to help us back up, a kid that will make us see joy, and people ready to carry on.

Chef Popo is worth the entire watch of this video.

We talk a lot about punk rock music and attitude but less about punk rock fashion. For the uninitiated, it can look like ripped-up jeans and leather jackets. For Vivienne Westwood, it was her music; she could say the same thing the Sex Pistols said by way of clothing, accessories, and makeup. As Chrissie Hynde said, "I don't think punk would have happened without Vivienne..."

Punk is uncomfortable with comfort and conformity. At its heart, it is not aggressive; it's non-compliant. These are the ideals Westwood worked to promote and to display throughout a long career. She did not compromise or stop standing up for the causes she believed in as she got older—a whole life with all the scars that come with it.

In typical Axios fashion, we get a chart with a year's worth of trends. In addition to the chart, Axios tells us what they are watching. Throughout the year, all the significant stories showed up. Our question is, who was talking about Elmo?

Below the story of the trendy year was a new report on the value of Twitter posts going "Private." Fidelity, who was part of the group that helped finance part of the loan Elon Musk used to buy Twitter, slashed the value it assigned to its investment by $30M within the first 30 days. Do you ever get the feeling we are all playing with pretend money?

Words | Music | Art | Unknown

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With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.