Happy 2015 Everyone!
I just wasn’t ready to say good-bye yet, so you’ll have to put up with more of my Dr. Oz-ing. It’s my blog’s one year anniversary and I’m going to have to change some things over time. I have to make it look prettier, make the writing a little snappier and spare my Facebook friends by setting up a blog page on the social media giant rather than clogging their news feeds with my musings – stay tuned for that in the upcoming weeks. I’ll also be interviewing people that inspire me, and hopefully you. Lastly, I’m doing away with the monthly topics. I found them too hard to stick too and sometimes, it just didn’t interest me by the end of the month or I wanted to explore the topic a little bit more but it didn’t fit the format. Sometimes being a little more free flowing is better.
Since today is the first day of a brand new year, I thought it only fitting to do a little fun research. Did you know that there are more than 1 billion search results for “New Year, New You” – you read that right. Think about this for one minute – “New Year, New You” – is there anything truly wrong with the old you? “You…Only Better” enjoys more than 682 million search results. That tells me that no one is happy just being “YOU”! Maybe if we stopped pressuring ourselves to magically change every January 1st, those dastardly New Year’s Resolutions could just change into small improvements that could lead to healthier, happier lives. The reason why resolutions rarely work is because people get frustrated when they can’t achieve a goal immediately – that’s why gyms clear out January 31 and only those that are truly dedicated stick around.
Why not make small changes to your habits throughout the year to help you meet your own personal objectives? Or even just make one or two resolutions that are achievable? Losing weight isn’t truly an objective, sure it’s measurable but it’s not specific. It becomes an end game for people and when it’s not coming off quickly, they give up. Last year, when I decided to make 2014 the year of being healthier, I broke it down into components:
- Get my blood work re-tested after my first physical since I was 21
- Get annual mammograms which reminds me, I have to make an appointment for a physical
- Be more mindful of my iron intake because after being tested, my iron levels were a 7 – normal is 70 – it’s way too low
- Eat much less processed food – I can count on two hands the number of frozen dinners that I’ve had since March – they are way too high in sodium and shouldn’t have been part of my weekly diet
- Eat more whole foods – this was pretty easy for me – I’m a vegetable lover
- Keep up with my good habits like flossing every single day – it really makes a difference
- Recognize that with the pursuit of good health, it’s not all or nothing, it’s a lifetime of forming good habits, and sometimes enjoying a few bad days here and there
Nothing is ever going to be perfect, but the end game is good health, not arbitrary numbers on a scale that can be pretty fickle. We’ll see how everything goes after my annual physical. I’ll keep you posted.
Today, I’m grateful that I decided to be very unproductive. Every once in a while, it’s exactly what’s needed. New year, lazy you!
