Healthy Steps in the Right Direction

So we're beginning the start of only the second week of the New Year and I've already LIED about my resolutions. I said in a previous New Year post I was set to start back with my trainer on the 3rd, but I canceled that session. There were several reasons, like being out of town, but one of them was I just wasn't mentally ready! So tomorrow is the day, and I'm not canceling this time. You heard it here.

As the most popular resolution each year, with billions of people falling in line, it's no wonder we get sick of hearing about everyone's renewed attempts to win back their bodies. I know I do. It's so easy to get jaded, and as the years drag on and you give up diet after diet or gym membership after gym membership, we just stop listening at all: to the commercials, the discounts, the new fads, and most importantly, to our bodies.

The scariest thing to me about now being in my late 20's is how I am already so willing to live with pain and discomfort. I know certain foods don't play nice with my intestines. But I eat them. I know sitting on my ass doesn't make it any smaller. But I'm apathetic. I know I'm dropping years off my life by bad sleep habits. But I'll still play on my iPhone until 2am. I am part of the lazy, uncommitted thousands that wish with their heart to have changed lifestyles and bodies, but don't actually ever fulfill the dream by getting up and doing it. My body is shouting at me, and I keep muting it. Well, that's getting harder and harder to do, so it's time to get serious about "healthy," all around. Not just my physical well-being, but the over-all balance in my life. 

What I love about our calendar - not the Mayan one - is that each new year we are given the chance to shrug off our failed attempts, and have at it once again. That's not to say you can't do this at any old time, but January just sticks as the month of "trying." So here I go again, with the trying. First, I am going to "try" to be realistic. I know myself. I know myself well enough to know that if my goal this year was to train for a marathon, I would surely fail. Why? I have pretty much zero desire to run a marathon. It really just sounds like a big ball of joint pain and terrifying chafing. In fact, I hate running. Well - I hate exercising completely, really, but running is the bane of my existence. What I do desire is to feel better, sleep better, and look better. I want to have more energy and less pain. I want to get smarter. I want to feel like my brain is working - not half-asleep. These desires were at the forefront of my mind when I revised my goal list for this year. These are actual desires, things that I really want, things that I need to be healthy, and they are attainable with just a little effort. So this year I will be making realistic and healthy (baby) steps in the right direction, in the hopes that - unlike some dietary change I can't get hooked on, or the running regimen I am doomed to drop out of - it will stick.

Today, I'm getting specific about two of my resolutions. Here's the full list, for a refresher:

1. Buy local, Cook more, Eat better.

2. Save money instead of Spending money: pay off debt.

3. Study a foreign language.

4. Watch less TV, Read more books, and Journal/Blog regularly.

5. Maintain active lifestyle and be dedicated about strength training.

6. Work hard at building my business, and plan for the future.

7. Visit Susanna & Nathan in Scotland (tour the UK).

8. Organize my life, my data storage, my business, get rid of everything we don't need!

9. Try new things instead of falling into habits.

10. STRESS LESS.

4. Watch less TV, Read more books, and Journal/Blog regularly.

I was that little girl that could read a Nancy Drew novel in one sitting. What happened to that little girl? The same one stayed up until the wee hours reading in secret by the glow of a nightlight. No wonder I have terrible eyesight. Now I stay up blog-stalking by the glare of my phone, and I'm lucky if I finish a book over three months. What??? Put that shit down and turn some pages. I don't have to be told. I know without a doubt that I always sleep better if I read before bed. It helps me unwind, it lets my brain relax and travel somewhere else besides my worries, and if it's a bad book it puts me right to sleep. I've heard several people Facebook-mention their goal of reading one book per month. I think I can do that, even at my busiest. So I will be unoriginal and claim the same goal of reading a minimum of one book per month. But I'm going to work on my Blog regularly resolution at the same time, and write a monthly book review of each book I read. This month I'm reading: Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter. The book was a christmas gift from my mom who, I suppose, recalled me complaining that in order to keep my attention these days, a book had to be a really good story and adventure. So far it is that. I am also taking recommendations.

I also want to commit to keeping technology to a minimum while in bed. I already work from home. I don't need to work/play/piddle around on my phone from my bed as well. I need to silence my phone before getting in bed, and leave it that way. Give my thumbs a little rest. I can't guarantee I will do this every night, but I'm committed to making a strong effort.

5. Maintain active lifestyle and be dedicated about strength training.

WALK! I feel like an old lady by saying this, but I know what a huge difference it would make in my life this year, and subsequent years, if I would just get outside for a simple walk everyday. Not to mention, it would be good for Mr Dog. He's just so cuddly, I just want to CUDDLE him all day, not bag his poop. But it would be tremendous for us both if we went for one or two short walks a day. Perhaps, we could build this into one or two long walks a day, and - dare I say - potentially a run here or there. It also gets me outside, which is important. So, a resolution nested under my larger "Maintain Active Lifestyle," is to simply walk more. Of course, once a week I'll go get my ass kicked by trainer Diana, but the other days of the week Mr Dog and I will be nosy (walking) neighbors.

Also a focus here, would be finding FUN ways of being active, so that I don't just hate it completely  For me, this means doing things with other people. It's one of the reasons having a trainer works so well for me. She's funny, she's distracting, and she keeps me on task and accountable. She makes me (sort of) forget that I'm gasping for breath and wanting to strangle her with the last clench of my flailing hands. In the same vein, I want the Hubs and I to do more active things together, but also with our friends. For example, some friends and I are registering for The Color Run in Austin this May. What's more fun than getting tie-dyed head to toe with a bunch of your friends? Wanna join our team? Leave me a comment.

A final point? Yoga more. I miss it.

I have a feeling just these two minor changes will really help me accomplish number 10.

Leave me a comment and link me to your own Resolutions so I can cheer you on! I love to read them and cheer, way more than I love to make them happen:)