New Year, 358 Opportunities…

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Hello in 2017! I was so excited about celebrating a birthday here last week, that I skipped over the entire New Year’s Resolutions mumbo jumbo. I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but like I mentioned, that holiday has never meant much to me. Maybe specifically because this is my least favorite time of year.

Fortunately, I found myself uncharacteristically motivated in the days leading up to 2017. I think for once, I kind of bought into the hype of a clean slate, ‘New year, new me’ type of attitude. Unfortunately however, I was all talk and no action, as the first week of this new year has been kind of crappy and definitely full of same old, same old.

I am one of those people that believes people will never know I’m a failure if I don’t actually put my goals and ambitions out into the universe, so to speak. What I’ve failed to acknowledge time and time again is that while others may not notice I’m selling myself short left and right, I’m still creating a lot of personal failure, duh. Wow, so many uses of failure, dramatic. This is not actually dramatic, so keep reading, because this is not headed in a sad direction.

In my adulthood, I have basically never accomplished something I didn’t willfully want to tackle without writing it down.  For some reason, when goals move from my brain, to paper, I am much more likely to at least attempt the task at hand. (OH! And the fear that someone has seen the list and would hold me accountable?!) I have a dozen or so notebooks scattered across West Virginia and Ohio that are just filled with random notes to the likes of:

1. You MUST go get groceries. Do not get a McGriddle on the way to work!!
2. Do ten minutes of some sort of exercise today, even if it is just stretching.
3. Use your fluoride rinse today and EVERYDAY. Cavities are expensive.
4. Write a far too late ‘Thank you’ note to someone who has now totally forgotten they even got you a gift.

etc….

So, despite a running list of things in my mind that I wanted to implement for 365 days of 2017, I never touched pen to paper and massively failed on every account this week. As in, I’m dehydrated, stressed out, have become one with the couch, and probably haven’t logged more than 20 hours of sleep in all of 2017 so far. -____- And because I am the second biggest fan (behind my mom) of the sentiment, “Do not set yourself up for failure.”…… “But also, hold yourself accountable and let other people hold you accountable if you’re that lazy,” (<<< New addition) I am happy to share with you my seemingly incredibly simple, but personally arduous, 2017 New Year’s Resolutions: 

1. Work on eliminating run-on sentences. Haha, JK!! I love them. (See Above) Moving on…
2. Desperately try to get 7-8 hours of sleep every night. Anyone that knows me personally will know that I really struggle to fall asleep. Every. Night. Of. My. Life. In combination with recently kicking my anxiety meds to the curb, this task has become sometimes impossible. ‘Impossible’ seems dramatic to basically everyone I know, but to be clear: I sometimes never fall asleep for the entire night. It sucks! I’m going to take the necessary steps this year, i.e. stretching, exercise, half hour of calm pre bedtime, Zzzquil (hahaha) to achieve more sleep every night.
3. Drink more water. I think this has been a resolution of mine for 10+ years. Simple, huh? Nope! I’m one of those rare people who thinks water is disgusting and like… dirty tasting. But, the kicker is, I don’t replace water with soda or juice or any other alternatives. I would say one to two days a week, I’ve basically drank nothing all day. Which is 100% not good for you, so I need to work on it, and today, I can confidently say I have!
4. Get into an exercise routine. (*Note: This has replaced like 8 years of resolutions that were more like, Get six pack abs.) I do not want to set myself up for failure here, like I have time and time again when I go into fitness regimens with unrealistic expectations, only to give up six days in when I have no results, and am so sore that even laying down is a struggle. Personally, I cannot commit to exercising 7, or even 6 days a week. That is an unrealistic goal to set for myself when I work full time and and it takes me about 2.5 hours to fall asleep, and much, much, much longer if adrenaline is involved. I need to commit to four days of fitness, and fall into a routine so that it becomes a normal, healthy part of my life. (I’ll go from there like… maybe 2018 :D)
5. Eat smarter. In keeping with the above theme, I just know I personally can’t go balls to the wall here. I love pizza. I love candy. I hate chicken, which is apparently the meal of choice for every fit person on earth. I could put some real effort into say, only having one pizza night a week. (And not eating the entire thing….) Maybe I’ll save candy for special occasions instead of snacks. So on, so forth. We only have one body in this life, so I need to make an effort.
6. Stress less. This is a focus of mine daily. Unfortunately, I’ve fallen into a real stress rut. This happens to me in waves, but the last few months have been a bit of a doozy. I think a lot of de-stressing will happen once I’ve committed to all of the above, but in case I can’t do it alone, I start seeing a “Lifestyle Advisor” (??????????) in a few weeks. Definitely more to come on that!

And really, that’s all she wrote. I’m not going to let one week of complete and total failure keep me from striving to improve myself for the next 358 days. I hope to reflect on 2017 as the year I mindfully created a happier and healthier version of myself. Maybe you should write some things down and hold yourself accountable this year. Maybe, just maybe you should simplify your resolutions as well. I don’t know, read more, take a real vacation, improve your relationships… just resolutions for thought!

What are your 2017 goals?

xoxo moresleepin2k17