What a year. Thankfully one of the weirdest and wildest in modern history is drawing to a close, bringing a new sense of optimism about the coming year. Or so I thought.

Every year, I solicit New Year’s resolutions from friends, colleagues and newsmakers. This year, I expected big things: trips around the world after a year of travel-less captivity, crossing off bucket list items like skydiving and beekeeping school, and plans to reunite with long-lost loves.

Instead, it seems most people have small plans for 2021 — microscopic, in fact. Maybe that’s a result of expectation-setting or downright pessimism for the coming year, but either way … revel in their simplicity.

Rep. Eric Swalwell: “Potty train both kids. Potty mouth-train both parents.”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger: “Read less news. I still know what is happening but my blood pressure stays low. And more speaking out on the fear politicians use to raise money.”

Josh Gad, actor: “To grow fewer gray hairs from tuning in to the news.”

Ken Jeong, actor: “Travel less and spend more time with family.”

Andrew Yang, presidential candidate: “My resolution is to help New York City get back on its feet. And to cut down on late-night snacks.”

Brad Thor, author: “Take more vacation time. Take more friends to dinner. Take less for granted.”

Kevin Baron, executive editor of Defense One: “To go sit on the other couch. Kidding … I resolve to make more IRL family time, less screen time, work on my dad bod, and get vaccinated as soon as it’s my turn.”

Ashleigh Banfield, journalist: “Definitely vowing to drop the covid 20.”

Henry Winkler, actor: “Uniting my family, community and OUR country.”

Richard Marx, singer: “My No. 1 resolution is to become an expert at being authentically present in whatever moment I’m in. Not easy but worth practicing.”

Paul Stanley, rock star: “I want to make sure I let all those close to me know they are blessings and so important and also make sure I tell all those I love that I do.”

Noah Shachtman, editor of The Daily Beast: “Once this freaking coronavirus is over? Go to 50 shows. Hug 100 strangers. And cut this one, nasty pandemic beard.”

Ross Mathews, TV personality: “My resolution for 2021 is to go through every stupid email I get from every dumb store I order from online and ‘unsubscribe’ so I no longer wake up every day to 4,000 emails telling me that sweaters are 25% off and Tupperware ships free if I order by Friday. I’m all stocked up, thank you very much.”

Chris Mattmann, data scientist: “Spend more time appreciating and enjoying life with my friends — and, when we do start to return to ‘normal’ and I get to spend in-person time with people, really take the time to enjoy it.”

Tom Nichols, author “Our Own Worst Enemy”: “Try very hard to recover the empathy I lost over the past four years. Watching people vote against their own interests, hurt themselves to make a political statement during a pandemic, and risk my life just to make a point totally drained me of empathy for millions of my fellow citizens.”

Enes Kanter, Portland Trail Blazers: “Hope that God gives me and us more strength to be the voice for the voiceless, and a bigger platform to be the hope for innocence, and educate myself about the challenges women are facing, and fight against hate and racism. Let’s make this world better together.”

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