Well another Christmas has come and gone...now to close out the old year and bring in the new. With the new year comes new possibilities, new plans, dreams and resolution.
Although I have never been much for publicly announcing my resolutions, I have in years past made them. I have at times even written them down and attempted to make them happen. But often times, I have done as many do, reverted back to my old habits and ways shortly after the new year.
According to "experts" it takes about 21 days to create a habit, or 30 to 40 repetitions of a behavior for that behavior to become a new habit. I have also read that you can develop a taste for a food you don't like after trying it as few as seven to as many as fourteen times.
So if these facts are true and accurate, then many of us don't repeat our desired new behavior that long into the new year for those resolutions to become our new habit. I know with myself, changing my eating habits and preferences took time to develop. I didn't wake up the first morning craving yogurt and fruit and passing the biscuits and bacon without my mouth salivating.
And the first few days I didn't have my usual morning dose of Dr Pepper weren't easy...the headache alone was enough to send me running back to Sonic for a route 44 size of my drug of choice. But after a week or so the caffeine was out of my system and I no longer had that desire for the dark brown fizzy stuff. Now, I don't know if I could finish a glass of that sweet syrup-y drink or not. Just so you know, I'm not going to try...because with anything, it can become a habit again. I haven't been delivered from my human nature yet, so I realize that the whole act of creating new habits works in reverse also.
With exercise it takes more than just a few times of pushing yourself to get up off the couch and putting on your gym shoes and pushing your body beyond what it wants to do. Even after months of repeating the behavior, there are times when I really don't want to get up and "just do it". But once you see the results of your hard work, and you know how much better you feel after the workout, your more likely to get up and repeat the behavior for the reward...not necessarily because you want to exercise, but the reward becomes the motive to propel you to repeat the action again and again...At least I find this true for me.
The way I feel after I complete a workout is what drives me even on the laziest of days to get up and move. I have so much more energy and feel more mentally alert and the endorphins kick in to lift my mood to such a level that I want to repeat this feeling again and again. It gets to the place that on a day that I can't workout for some reason or the other, I am actually upset or disappointed that I missed that workout. Along with the pleasure I get from seeing the results on my body and watching the pounds fall off and my clothing size shrinking.
I am at a point now, where I want to push beyond my current physical level and see what else my body can do. I want to change my idea of what a women of 43, 44, 45 and so on can do. I want to show my children that they don't have to become a statistic. They don't have to become over weight, under active and plagued with health problems...
Instead of trying to start my weight loss journey at the beginning of a new year, I find I do better by just picking a time and doing it. So I chose August of this past year to really get serious about my health and weight issues. So far, I have lost twenty-five pounds and feel so much better physically and mentally. I still want to lose fifteen to twenty pounds in order to reach the goal I set for myself. And to reach the goal that Wii fit said I needed to be for my height and age.
As New Years Resolutions go, I suppose mine would include continued weight loss and fitness goals. Continue to incorporate clean eating, getting more natural and pure with my food choices. Which would include adding more fresh real food, cutting out more refined sugar and flour products. But one resolution I have is to grow more of our food this year. I am planning a raised bed garden for our backyard that will provide fresh vegetables for the family. I want to find a source of fresh eggs, milk and meat. I plan to eat more locally produced foods, and rely less on the standard grocery stores. I want to help support local, small farms to help keep their lifestyle part of our culture. Since I can't have my own farm like we did a few years back, I want to help those who do, continue their way of life. Perhaps by helping them, I can come closer to living the life that I desire.
I want to continue to simplify my lifestyle. To not only rid myself of excess things, but to set aside ideas, thoughts, behaviors, habits and attitudes that no longer serve or support the lifestyle that I am seeking. I don't want to be bogged down by things that are contrary to who I am becoming and the direction I am headed. Knowing however, that a mind that is to wide open can be filled with garbage and untruth, so I will continue to hold to those truths which will never become old or outdated, but will always remain...I don't want to be led astray, down a path of deception, so I will continue to seek Him in all my ways...
My plan for this year is to start to train for a 5K. I want to run my first this year, hopefully in the spring or early summer. I know this will require more discipline of me and demand more physically from my body. I feel that I am ready for this challenge more so than I have ever been. I am ready for this next step. I am hoping that this is something that Andrew and I can do together, something that we can work toward as a couple as well as individually.
Some books that I plan to begin to reread in the coming year in order to refocus and renew my convictions and passions in these areas are:
Because it is my road map for this life and the one to come.
This one inspires me each year to plant, even at times when I have been unable to do so.
Because I need to readjust my priorities ever so often.
Because this is the way I want to live my life.
For inspiration and a reminder of how we should be eating.
There are many others I will add to that list. All of these are ones I have read before, more than once, but continue to find inspiration and something new with each reading. I have others on my shelf I will list at another time, for now, life is calling, and that is one call I want to answer!
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