The following blog post was written by Chris DeCicco, Counselor to the Borough President.

​On July 8, 2017, I picked up my copy of The Daily Stoic to read that days short reflection. It included the following quote from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius:
 
“Enough of this miserable, whining life. Stop monkeying around! Why are you troubled?  What’s new here? What’s so confounding? The one responsible? Take a good look. Or just the matter itself? Then look at that. There’s nothing else to look at. And as far as the gods go, by now you could try being more straightforward and kind. It’s the same, whether you’ve examined these things for a hundred years, or only three.”
 
This passage is a good reminder that social media has been both a blessing and a curse in our daily lives. It’s a blessing because it allows us to stay better connected to friends and family, and it also provides elected representatives with a more efficient medium to communicate directly to their constituents. But at the same time it’s a curse, because it provides yet another forum for far too many to whine, criticize, and compare themselves to everyone else.
 
Complaining is easy. Solving problems is hard. And social media has become the place where folks can mistake the act of complaining for actually doing something to better the situation. 
 
At some point in the last year or so, I said “enough.” A big part of my job is dealing with social media, so I can’t totally disconnect - but I’ve done the next best thing: I’ve deleted those on my personal social media channels who filled up my timeline with complaints. I don’t want to expose myself to their daily negativity about how bad they think things are. Did you ever notice that the worst offenders never offer any solutions to fix the problems they are identifying? Complaining has become the norm, and I simply refuse to participate. In my own life I’ve made a conscious choice to, quoting from the lyrics of an old song, “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.” 
 
It has worked. I’ve successfully banished most of the complainers from my social media feeds, and I feel less stress because of it. And in my attempts to focus on the positive, I’ve noticed other additional benefits; most notably, I realized that in the past I spent way too much time envying other people when their hard work led to good things for them. This flaw, too, I’ve taken steps to eliminate.  
 
Ultimately, the reality is, and has always been, that we all will experience problems and challenges during every stage of our life. Growth happens when we take responsibility and deal with those problems; it is so much more productive and healthy to work on the steps we can take to make improvements, than it is to carp online to our social media “friends.”

The following blog post was written by Chris DeCicco, Counselor to the Borough President.

You may have had the opportunity to see our newest social media series we are calling “You Oughta Know.” As part of this series, Borough President Oddo is highlighting American service members who sacrificed his or her life in service to our country.  The goal is to focus on things that are important in an era when we spend so much of our time engrossed in things that don’t matter, like celebrity gossip.  It’s an honor to play a small role in this series.
 
While working on it, though, it made me once again recall my own inadequacies. For the past two years or so, I have continually had a nagging regret, once that I can consider one of the larger regrets of my life. That is, the fact that I never served in our country’s military. 
 
The fact is that men and women of my generation fought, bled and died in places like Fallujah, Baghdad, and Kandahar.  Kids my own age were facing down their fears of IED’s, while I was living comfortably and forcing myself to not think about it. 
 
I am going to be forty years old this year. I am too old to enlist - and I regret that I never did. As a younger man, I did make inquiries. In the days after 9/11, while in law school, I did have preliminary conversations with an Army JAG Corps recruiter on campus. That went nowhere, mainly because I didn’t pursue it. Soon after, I had conversations with a local recruiter, in fact, several. But I had a young child and the thought of being away from my family for extended periods of time stopped me from pursuing it. That and the fact that my physical condition was nowhere near sufficient for me to seriously pursue it. 
 
So I just started living my life. I had a job I was advancing in, and on the news I began to see the body count coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Frankly, it was easier to sit on the sidelines.
 
I think of people like Lt. Michael Murphy often. A Long Island native and Navy Seal, he was killed in Afghanistan during Operation Red Wings on June 28, 2005. Lieutenant Murphy was a year older than me and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. 
 
Here is the official citation signed by President Bush: 
 
FOR CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY AND INTREPIDITY AT THE RISK OF HIS LIFE ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY AS THE LEADER OF A SPECIAL RECONNAISSANCE ELEMENT WITH NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE TASK UNIT AFGHANISTAN ON 27 AND 28 JUNE 2005. WHILE LEADING A MISSION TO LOCATE A HIGH-LEVEL ANTI-COALITION MILITIA LEADER, LIEUTENANT MURPHY DEMONSTRATED EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM IN THE FACE OF GRAVE DANGER IN THE VICINITY OF ASADABAD, KONAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN. ON 28 JUNE 2005, OPERATING IN AN EXTREMELY RUGGED ENEMY-CONTROLLED AREA, LIEUTENANT MURPHY’S TEAM WAS DISCOVERED BY ANTI-COALITION MILITIA SYMPATHIZERS, WHO REVEALED THEIR POSITION TO TALIBAN FIGHTERS. AS A RESULT, BETWEEN 30 AND 40 ENEMY FIGHTERS BESIEGED HIS FOUR-MEMBER TEAM. DEMONSTRATING EXCEPTIONAL RESOLVE, LIEUTENANT MURPHY VALIANTLY LED HIS MEN IN ENGAGING THE LARGE ENEMY FORCE. THE ENSUING FIERCE FIREFIGHT RESULTED IN NUMEROUS ENEMY CASUALTIES, AS WELL AS THE WOUNDING OF ALL FOUR MEMBERS OF THE TEAM. IGNORING HIS OWN WOUNDS AND DEMONSTRATING EXCEPTIONAL COMPOSURE, LIEUTENANT MURPHY CONTINUED TO LEAD AND ENCOURAGE HIS MEN. WHEN THE PRIMARY COMMUNICATOR FELL MORTALLY WOUNDED, LIEUTENANT MURPHY REPEATEDLY ATTEMPTED TO CALL FOR ASSISTANCE FOR HIS BELEAGUERED TEAMMATES. REALIZING THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF COMMUNICATING IN THE EXTREME TERRAIN, AND IN THE FACE OF ALMOST CERTAIN DEATH, HE FOUGHT HIS WAY INTO OPEN TERRAIN TO GAIN A BETTER POSITION TO TRANSMIT A CALL. THIS DELIBERATE, HEROIC ACT DEPRIVED HIM OF COVER, EXPOSING HIM TO DIRECT ENEMY FIRE. FINALLY ACHIEVING CONTACT WITH HIS HEADQUARTERS, LIEUTENANT MURPHY MAINTAINED HIS EXPOSED POSITION WHILE HE PROVIDED HIS LOCATION AND REQUESTED IMMEDIATE SUPPORT FOR HIS TEAM. IN HIS FINAL ACT OF BRAVERY, HE CONTINUED TO ENGAGE THE ENEMY UNTIL HE WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED, GALLANTLY GIVING HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY AND FOR THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM. BY HIS SELFLESS LEADERSHIP, COURAGEOUS ACTIONS, AND EXTRAORDINARY DEVOTION TO DUTY, LIEUTENANT MURPHY REFLECTED GREAT CREDIT UPON HIMSELF AND UPHELD THE HIGHEST TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVAL SERVICE.

SIGNED GEORGE W. BUSH

What was I doing on June 28, 2005? I’m not sure. Probably preparing for summer and living my life in reasonable comfort.
 
When I read more about Lt. Murphy I’m struck by how similar our lives were. He grew up in Long Island and played sports as a kid. I grew up on Staten Island, playing sports throughout my youth.
 
He was a political science major and so was I.
 
One of his favorite pastimes was reading, particularly classics, and so was mine. 
 
He was accepted to several law schools, and so was I. 
 
The difference is he decided to forge a different path, and with that decision he set into motion experiences and actions that made him an American hero.
 
As I sit here writing this out, I think about what it was like being so far away from home, being mortally wounded, and putting himself in an area without cover to communicate for help, knowing he would be killed.
 
My chance to serve our country in the military has passed me by. At this point, my own version of “heroism” is much more mundane. I try my best to take care of my family and ensure my kids grow up respecting people like Lt. Murphy. I try to do my job to the best of my abilities and try to improve my community.
 
Lt. Murphy, besides being immortalized as a Medal of Honor winner and having his actions documented in the 2013 movie Lone Survivor, has been immortalized in other ways. Each year during Memorial Day weekend, thousands of gyms around the nation celebrate Lt. Murphy’s life by performing his favorite workout. I have done the workout, which he called “Body Armor,” but is now universally known as “Murph” in his honor, three times. Each time, I have gotten emotional when I think of Lt. Murphy doing this same thing, full of life and vigor and a desire to serve our country. It is a small way to remember Lt. Murphy and his compatriots who died for something greater than themselves. I will be doing it again this year during Memorial Day weekend. 
 
I’ll end where I started. I regret that I did not serve in our military. No, I don’t have a death wish, and I am happy I did not die in the barren mountains of Afghanistan at age 29. But still, I wish I considered more strongly as a younger man the great privilege it would have been to serve our country in some meaningful way.
 
I encourage you to read our You Oughta Know series and learn more about other soldiers who heard the call…and heeded it.  ​

The following blog post was written by Chris DeCicco, Counselor to the Borough President.
 
I'm not a doctor.
 
I don't play one on TV.
 
What I am, though, is a person who has been fortunate enough to sit through many meetings on a variety of health topics - all featuring prominent Staten Island physicians.  
 
From heart disease to lung cancer to breast cancer, I have heard the experts discuss one of the most difficult conundrums vis-à-vis the health of Staten Islanders. Relatively speaking we are an affluent borough with a high percentage covered by  health insurance, yet we have some pretty bad health markers. Usually, more affluent communities have better numbers than less affluent communities. Staten Island is an exception to this rule. I won’t spend time discussing why this is the case, I’ll leave the technical stuff to my Health and Wellness Director,  Dr. Ginny Mantello, and others actively engaged in solving this issue.  
 
In sitting through these meetings, though, some common themes have emerged no matter what the topic of discussion is.  I will call them “five tips I have gleaned from Staten Island physicians."   
 
As I said earlier, I’m not a doctor and I don’t pretend to be one, but I have heard some really smart doctors engaged in important work share these tips in a variety of ways. I hope they can be helpful to you.

The following blog post was written by Chris DeCicco, Counselor to the Borough President.
 
If it seems that the word “resolution” is used only during that two or three week period straddling the holiday season, it’s probably because it’s true.
 
The dictionary definition of the word is “a serious decision to do something,” and at its root is the Latin verb “resolvere,” which generally means to “loosen, undo, or settle.”  When we use it in relation to the New Year, it means an individual has settled in his or her mind to act - or not act, as the case may be - on something during the upcoming year.
 
Although it is by definition a serious decision, we have all unfortunately learned through experience that resolutions usually fail.  We sooner-or-later come to a realization that what seemed like a good plan on December 30 or January 3 is really more-than-difficult to achieve, and usually involves substantial work and sacrifice.  That is why the overcrowded gyms of January inevitably regress to the point where by spring you can step onto any one of a dozen treadmills at any time of any day. 
 
Yet, the decision to use a milestone like the first day of the year to help us make decisions about the future is an important one, because those decisions are the result of serious self-reflection.  It is a time when we look back with objectivity and identify our shortcomings and weaknesses, and look forward with hope and a resolve to do better next year.
 
Personally, I don’t like to make resolutions. When I think of the term, I’m reminded of the great Puritan Jonathan Edwards who, as a young man around 1722, drew up a list of 70 resolutions on how he would live his life and serve his God.  Here’s an example of one of Edwards’ formal resolutions:  “Resolved, To ask myself at the end of every day, week, month and year, wherein I could possibly in any respect have done better.”
 
Reading Edwards’ resolutions, and reflecting on how seriously he took them, makes some of our modern day resolutions look trifling in comparison.  This type of resolution-making is a trap into which we are destined to fall, and leads to self-flagellation occasioned by our inevitable failure to keep them.
 
I’d rather set simple goals for the New Year, which is, after all, an arbitrary but convenient place to begin pursuing them. 
 
I have always been a voracious reader.  I can remember staying up all night when I was a kid reading through an encyclopedia that was about ten years out of date. This love of reading, particularly non-fiction, has stayed with me throughout my life, and I recently realized that I don’t do nearly enough of it these days. 
 
The distractions of electronic devices are a big culprit. In the past I would sit on the couch or flop into an easy chair and read a book.  Now, it is easier to read an article or scroll through Twitter on my phone. It is for this reason that e-books just haven’t worked out well for me: the lure of other content on my web-connected iPad, time and time again, proves to be too strong to resist. 
 
Another reason is simply the fact that I am simply too busy doing my job; it is easier to unwind by doing something that doesn’t require much thinking.
 
A third reason is that my young children require – and deserve - a great deal of attention, and it is hard to delve into a good book when you are constantly distracted.
 
But when I dig deep, my reflections on the past year lead me to but one conclusion: I am just making excuses. My goal, then – not my resolution - is to read more in the coming year.  Maybe I won’t read as much as I used to, but I will stop making excuses. I won’t be dogmatic about this and beat myself up if I don’t read as much as I think I should: when life gets in the way, I will let life win out.
 
But I will try. I have chosen the books I want to read - or re-read - and have already begun. Of course, the distractions life throws my way means that I might still be reading this same book come springtime, but I will keep reading – because that is the goal I have set for myself.  If I had, instead, made this a “resolution” I think it’s clear I would be setting myself up for failure. 
 
So it’s a goal.
 
I will leave the significant resolutions to people like Edwards for now, and focus this year on achieving small victories if I can, when I can, and as I can.  So maybe, at this time next year, I will be able to look back with pride and see achievement, and leave disappointment to the resolution-makers.
 
Happy New Year to all. 

The following blog post was written by Chris DeCicco, Counselor to the Borough President.

​Someone I know well recently asked me, obviously tongue-in-cheek, if I believe my intensive workout regimen will prevent me from aging or dying.

Here’s the simple answer, indeed, the only answer: no, of course, not.

But I will readily admit that I do work out with an almost religious zeal, and go out of my way to make sure I eat in a healthy way.  Why?  Because I want to ensure when I do age, I will age well.  I want to give myself the best shot at entering my 70’s, 80’s, and beyond living an active life, mentally sharp and independent until the day I die.  That’s why I wake up at 4:30 every morning to work out.  That’s why I turn down dessert when it’s offered. 

It seems like almost every day new research is released showing that the benefits of exercise are even greater than we thought.  Not only does it have positive effects on our hearts and other internal organs, but also our mood, our energy, our ability to stay mentally sharp - and who knows how many other benefits have yet to be discovered. 

So many maladies facing Americans today are preventable, based on simple lifestyle choices we can all make – that is, if we choose to make them. 

Personally, for a long time, I didn’t make the right choices.  Working out was a bothersome chore, and when I did motivate myself to get on the treadmill for a few days in a row, I quickly became discouraged because I didn’t see the results I so unrealistically expected.  I didn’t understand that health, wellness, and fitness is not a sprint, it is a marathon properly measured in years and decades.

It requires an unrelenting effort - week after week, month after month, year after year. 

We spend a great deal of time at Borough Hall thinking and talking about these issues, because we want to share with Staten Islanders the steps they can take to improve the quality of their lives, both now and in the future. And we preach baby steps.  A person who has not worked out in decades and eaten poorly for years cannot make a total lifestyle change a short term goal.  While that may happen for a rare few, it certainly doesn’t happen often.  But, there are definitely a series of smaller steps that can be taken to bring you closer to your goals.

Here are a few tips that I can share from my own experiences that may be helpful:

1.     When changing your diet, begin by making small adjustments. If you drink sugary drinks, start by cutting those out and see how you feel. Once you have successfully managed that change you can then begin making additional changes that, taken together, will lead to big results. 
2.     When designing a workout regimen, look for something that is fun for you. Working out doesn’t necessarily mean spending hours on a lonely treadmill – unless you like that “alone time” to reflect, or perhaps listen to music.  Do you like to bike?  Then bike.  Do you like to dance?  Find an active dance program. The number of activities that can form the basis of a sustainable workout regimen are infinite and limited only by our imaginations.
3.     Workout with someone, or a group of people, that you like to be with. Especially in the beginning; it can get discouraging when you aren’t seeing progress. So find a friend - or group of friends - to commiserate with during those difficult first few months. 
4.     Focus on this: Living a healthier lifestyle can be fun. You will find yourself able to do things you were unable to do when less fit.  Is playing with your children or grandchildren something you are forced to avoid because it knocks you out?  Exercising and eating right may give you more energy, keep you more alert and allow you to enjoy your loved ones in a manner you may have been missing out on for years.
5.     Keep the big picture in mind.  You are changing your life in a meaningful way for both the short and long term.  If you miss a day of working out here or there, or eating a “cheat” meal on occasion, it’s not going to ruin all your progress and it’s not grounds for quitting  
6.     Find the time! We are all busy with work, families, school, and probably a myriad of other activities. But there are 24 hours in a day, and we must utilize those that work best for us. That is why I work out in the pre-dawn hours - it doesn’t interfere with either my job or my family. 
I follow my own advice on all six tips, they work for me, and I can’t imagine living any other way – but it’s a decision you have to make for yourself.   I believe that if you do, you’ll look back on it as one of the best decisions you ever made. 

We here at Borough Hall will continue trying to provide you with information about the tools that can help you on your journey.