IF THERE is any advantage to losing a week in December to an illness that knocks you on your ass, it is that you are forced to slow down and take everything easy. You simply lack the capacity to do anything else.

I’m still playing catch-up on sleep, and because my strep-ravaged throat made swallowing a new adventure in pain, I haven’t eaten much over the last couple of weeks. As a result, I have lacked the energy to over-exert myself, as well as overindulge. Last night I drank all of two beers, the most I’d consumed in a fortnight. It’s hard to envision wanting to have more than that at any point in the near future.

For all of December’s joys, it can kick your ass. You enter January beaten up at the waistline and foggy between the ears from an entire month of self-destruction.

Not this year, though. I’m hardly a specimen of perfect health, but at least I’ll start 2013 with not quite as far to go as I usually do. | DL