Good calls

By Melissa Kirsch

• Nothing changes if nothing changes. — Kristine Tobin Balasz, Charlevoix, Mich.
• If it’s meant to serve you, and it doesn’t (and it’s affordable), replace it. Daily things like your bag, your water bottle, your socks. Find ones you actually like using. — Alissa Gulin, Laurel, Md.
• Before your kids go to college, find something you are passionate about other than work. — Sandra Beaulieu, Bellevue, Wash.
• You don’t need to tell everyone everything that goes into making the chicken soup. — Hannah Schoff, New York City
• Your parents are also doing things for the first time. Cut them some slack. — Katie Claytor, Richmond, Va.
• Don’t think harder, breathe deeper. Most of us are surviving on shallow sips of air. — Carly Sotas, Los Angeles
• Never second-guess going to a funeral. — Kathy Nechanicky, Lakeville, Minn.
• We tend to forget that baby steps still move us forward. — Becki Moss, Sarasota, Fla.
• Good conversations have lots of doorknobs. — Samantha Good, Portland, Ore.
• It’ll be fine or it’ll be over. — Nathalie Cunningham, Tacoma, Wash.
• Do dishes when the baby does dishes. — Lisa Francomacaro, White River Junction, Vt.
• Ask yourself: What if there was no problem to solve right now? — Brianán Kiernan, San Francisco
• Write what’s bothering you down on a piece of paper; put it in a little box. A year later, read what’s in there and see if you don’t start laughing. — Diane Huebner, Merced, Calif.
• “Wear the ring.” — A jeweler who cleaned a family heirloom I’d kept in a box for 50 years for fear of losing it. — Arline Sirkus, New York City
• Best advice for decluttering: If you didn’t own it, would you buy it again? — Margaret Roberts, Kodiak, Alaska
• Stop trying to calm the storm. Calm yourself, the storm will pass. — Lyn Banghart, Easton, Md.
• Go outside first thing in the morning before you do anything else. — Carrie Swift Heck, Lee, Mass.
• Your job needs to leave you enough time to go for walks with your old dog. — Gillian Williams, Madrid, Spain
• Ask for a favor, get advice. Ask for advice, get a favor. Asking for a favor can put someone in an uncomfortable spot, but asking for advice taps into their intelligence and shows respect. It may feel slower, but it ultimately gets you what you want more effectively. — Max Zawacki, Conroe, Texas
• Even in the hardest of times, you have the ability to whistle in the dark. — Kate Chimenti, Los Gatos, Calif.
• Don’t make what someone told you into your narrative. — Jean Anderson, Winter Garden, Fla.
• When going on a trip, ask yourself: Are you going to see places or show yourself? Then pack accordingly. — Marina Selcuk, Oakville, Ontario, Canada
• Always have a bottle of Champagne chilling in the fridge. — Helen Labun, Montpelier, Vt.
• Don’t pick up the rope: When someone is starting to argue, state the facts calmly and walk away. — Laurel Givens, Houghton, Mich.
• Why don’t you get hearing aids? — Amy Kepple Strawser, Columbus, Ohio
• In order to fall asleep, you pretend to fall asleep. Perhaps that’s how everything works … cheers to faking it ’til you make it. — Christen Bakken, Pine, Colo.
• Anxiety is not intuition. — Kaylee Davis, Fuquay Varina, N.C.
• When your 100-pound German shepherd takes off after a squirrel, drop the leash so you don’t end up with a broken arm. — Cherie Walker, Pickens, S.C.
• From a fellow vegetarian: Don’t bother ordering the sad, token meatless item on the menu when they drag you to a steakhouse. Just get dessert, and relish it. — Emily Wasserman, Portland, Me.
• Sometimes, you have to let people lie to you. You don’t always have to be right or call people on their nonsense. — Rob Lancia, Nanuet, N.Y.
• Put away your phone whenever there is a human being in front of you. — Emily Herrick, Vashon, Wash.

• Russia launched waves of missiles and attack drones at Kyiv as President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine prepared to meet with President Trump on Sunday to discuss a plan to end the war.
• Trump exempted a lead-spewing smelting facility from air-quality rules. All the facility had to do was email the E.P.A., The Times found.
• Trump said the targets of airstrikes in Nigeria were Islamic State terrorists responsible for killing Christians. But experts say the situation is much more complicated.
• A lot has happened during Trump’s past year in office. Times reporters in Washington took a look back at some of the biggest moments.

• Josh Safdie’s Ping-pong comedy “Marty Supreme” is chock-full of cameos, including a “Shark Tank” investor, a supermarket magnate and N.B.A. All-Stars. Here’s a guide.
• Many film and TV hits this year seemed to agree on one thing, the critic Salamishah Tillet writes: The best vantage for exploring our times is the political middle.
• A new villain aligns with a familiar one in “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the third installment in James Cameron’s franchise. Watch Cameron dissect a scene from his film.
• Kate Winslet’s directorial debut, “Goodbye June,” is based on a script written by her son.

• Perry Bamonte, who was a roadie and guitar tech for the Cure before he joined the band full time as a guitarist and keyboard player, died at 65.
• “The End of an Era,” the Disney+ series exploring Taylor Swift’s globe-trotting concert extravaganza, has come to an end. These are the biggest takeaways.

• The British police dropped their criminal investigation into a band that chanted “Death, death, to the I.D.F.,” in reference to Israel’s military.
• The singer Barry Manilow has lung cancer and will undergo surgery. He postponed several concert dates.

• Italian craftspeople have built scenes depicting Jesus’ birth for generations. This year, some are including Trump statuettes in the Nativity.
• Puzzle designers are always searching for that “satisfying click.” Here are some of the best creations from the past year.
• Robert Redford, Roberta Flack, Diane Keaton and Brian Wilson are among the cultural luminaries who died this year. Here’s a tribute to some of them, in their own words.