Tuesday, December 27, 2011

New Year, New Start, New Possibilities

Let's hear it for the New Year!

Yay, whoo-hoo, boo-yah!


For anyone who has anything about themselves that they dislike and would like to change, the New Year always brings with it a clean slate.  An entire year of possibilities and of believing that anything is possible.  We are leaving behind a year that, for many of us, held so much promise at the beginning and then slowly (or quickly!) went downhill.  We make our New Year's resolutions and decide to better ourselves.  And we do.  For a week.  Maybe two.  Some may make it a whole month.  But then life rears its ugly head ~ as life tends to do ~ and all of those positive thoughts of the possibilities of the upcoming days and months of the new year slide by the wayside.  Fast forward six months and those New Year's resolutions are long gone, out of mind and not to be thought of again...until the next New Year.

Guess what?  That's now.  The New Year begins in 5 short days.  How amazing is that?  Another clean slate.  Another year of possibilities.  Another year of believing that we can do anything and that anything is possible.  Just the idea of a New Year makes me smile.

But let's think about it now...what can we do to make certain that our resolutions to better ourselves don't fall by the wayside?

First of all, let's think in more specific terms.  This year I will not say that "I will lose weight."  This has been a resolution every year of my adult life and while, yes, some years I do lose weight, more years than not, my scale goes one direction ~ up.  So this year, I will make goals that are easier to understand and not as wide open.

Let's try it...this year I will:

  • I will exercise at least three days a week for at least 30 minutes.  This is good not only for weight loss but for every aspect of my health.
  • I will make water my drink of choice.  Like exercise, water will not only help with weight loss, but it will also be good for my skin, my organs and it will help wash other impurities out of my body.
  • Before I eat something questionable or not entirely healthy for me, I will ask myself  "will I regret this tomorrow?"  I know from experience that a year from now I will not regret choosing to not eat a roll with butter at a meal, but I will regret choosing TO eat it if it means that I end this year at the same weight or higher than I began it.
These are small things.  But these three small things can make a huge difference in every aspect of my life.  If I can go through this year keeping these three things in mind, I have no doubt that I will end the year 2012 much healthier ~ and smaller ~ than I am ending the year 2011.  

And it will be wonderful to end the year 2012 having lived the entire year proving to myself that I CAN do anything and that everything truly IS possible.  

Happy New Year!!