A Refreshing Resolution

New year's resolutions.  A fresh start.  New beginnings.  Start of a new year.  These are common terms eagerly tossed around every January, but too often represent the same "new" goals year after year.  If you find yourself stuck setting a repeated goal each year, may I suggest a slight adjustment this year to refresh your resolutions?

Is your goal realistic and attainable?  
Does the goal you are trying to reach have an underlining core issue that needs to be addressed?

Let's consider weight loss as an example due to it's popularity.  If you have decided every January that your new years resolution is to lose weight, obviously something is going wrong throughout the year to prevent you from moving on to a new goal.  Maybe it's not weight loss you need to focus on, but rather living a healthier life.  Our society seems to have confused skinny with healthy and they are not the same thing.

Being healthy feels good.  A five mile run is great exercise, but if your body is not trained properly to run five miles, it will not feel good and you will likely not be motivated to run again tomorrow.  However, if a 20 minute walk feels comfortable and energizing, you will likely be motivated to walk again tomorrow.  As your body becomes more adapted to exercise, you may be motivated to walk longer or at a faster pace.  The key is you will look forward to exercising, because it feels good.  If you make choices that feel good, you will be motivated to make more choices that feel good.  This inevitably will lead to improved health and consequently allow your body to naturally balance it's weight.

Maybe you exercise great and you want to be healthier, but you are an emotional eater.  In other words you tend to eat when you are under stress, anxious, or depressed.  It will be crucial for you to face your emotional well being if you are going to improve your physical health. 

I like to categorize healthy choices into four different categories:

1.  Sleep
2.  Nutrition
3.  Exercise
4.  Mental Wellbeing

Each of these areas closely impacts the other.  By making small changes in one area, you will probably notice improvement in the others.  Which one of these areas do you neglect the most in your own life?  What is a simple change you could make in that area that you know would feel good?By taking care of yourself physically and mentally, you will notice a positive impact on your relationships, career, and overall fulfillment in life.

I am including the following resources to supplement these concepts:

Delta Delta Delta and key partners are raising the nation's consciousness about the dangers of fat talk and the impact it has on women's self-esteem and confidence. Click on the link below to see their presentation on You Tube.  It is a very powerful message and a must see!

Fat Talk

If nutrition is an area you struggle with, I highly recommend the book Intuitive Eating.  It is a great resource to shift your thinking from dieting to eating healthy.  You may find the book on Amazon by clicking the link below.

Intuitive Eating

Focusing on the bigger picture can assist you in refreshing other resolutions as well.  Want to stop smoking?  Rather than just picking up nicotine patches, consider setting a  goal to learn new ways of coping and managing stress.  Need to get out of debt?  Change your focus to appreciating the things around you rather than wanting what you don't have.  When you address the core issue of the identified problem behavior, the problem behavior naturally resolves itself.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share your refreshing resolutions.  Your idea's might touch the lives of other women.

Happy New Years Ladies!