It's a week into the new year & I'm refusing to accept that the holidays are over. We had such an amazing time staying home - we slept in, watched a ton of movies, cooked, ate A LOT & actually did a little work around the house. It was a dream. But sadly, it's back to reality. The month of January is here & it's time to start fresh.
Every year I struggle with the concept of New Years resolutions. In general, they always just sound like a giant set up for failure. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of examining my life & seeing how I've changed over the last year - good & bad. I do think it's crucial for me to see what I accomplished in the past year as well as the different ways I can improve in the coming year. But, like so many others, I have these grand ideas of how I'm going to change as a person & in my head, they sound great...but basically, I'm setting myself up to fail. Resolutions are made to be broken.
So last year, I took a different approach. I made a list of all the things I was unhappy or unsatisfied with & discovered a common thread. I live in a crazy amazing place & I was NOT taking advantage of everything this town & state has to offer. So I decided in 2017, I was going to "Do More Shit." Looking back, I am pretty satisfied with everything I did. I got a tattoo, took a long-awaited trip to San Francisco/Napa/Sonoma, went to a wine festival in Santa Barbara with my girlfriends, celebrated my mom's 60th in Vegas, made a trip back home for my nephew's 4th birthday, ran my first 5K, explored multiple art exhibits, pop up museums & markets, tried a ton of new restaurants, saw two iconic musicians perform, discovered my inner activist, became president of my HOA, took on an incredibly challenging position on a new (for me) show, watched my Spartans win their bowl game in San Diego etc. Overall, it was a busy, but incredible year!
2017 was A LOT of fun, but while I was so busy doing shit, I let my overall general health slide. I became very complacent with working out after my favorite spin studio closed. I drank more soda & destroyed my nail beds (a bad habit I've had since I was a kid) while stressed at work. I skipped doctor appointments because I just didn't want to make the effort. I watched too much TV late into the night & didn't get nearly enough sleep as I should have. I spent more time staring at screens (damn you Insta stories!) & less time reading. I let our condo become a cluttered mess. I ordered in more & cooked less. I could keep going, but I'm starting to get depressed. Last year's approach of coming up with a more general goal instead of specific resolutions worked really well for me. So I decided to spend the first week of the new year coming up with my 2018 mantra: Be better at being healthier.
It would be an unrealistic expectation to look at ALL those things listed above & say I'm now going to work out 5x a week, drink 100 ounces (or whatever you're supposed to drink) of water every day, get 8 hours of sleep every night, go see all the doctors, read for an hour every night, cook all my meals etc. If I tried to change ALL of these things at once, I would 100% fail. So instead of trying to unrealistically succeed at every single one of these things, I really just want to be better.
If it means working out at least 2x some weeks, or drinking at least half the water I should be...that's progress. I'm looking to be better...not to drastically change who I am. I'm still going to order mac & cheese if it's on the menu at a restaurant & I will still have the occasional Coke because, well, I don't want to live in a world where I can't have SOME fun. But I will make more of a conscious effort to not ALWAYS splurge or not ALWAYS stay up until midnight watching a Friends episode I've seen at least 12 times. If I can just try to be better sometimes, that's growth.
So finding a general thread & working towards "being better" is what works for me. I know it's not for everyone, but I encourage you to find a way to grow in some aspect this year. With all that said, I do have one very specific challenge I am going to partake in this year that falls into this spectrum...but I'm still working out the kinks with that. More to come later this week!
Happy New Year everyone! Can't wait to see what 2018 has in store!
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