New Year Approaches...

Hmmm, 2012 is around the corner, this is traditionally the time of year where everyone looks back on what they did/didn't do in the past and prepares to make some lofty (and often unachievable) resolutions for the next year.  I think this is a horrible thing to do to oneself this time of year.  We often make a long list of sundry things about how awful we are and what we need to change about ourselves in order to be more "ideal".  Often we are not prepared mentally and emotionally for those changes because they are often based on someone else's vision (media and celebs).   And many times these "resolutions" come at a price of being nasty to ourselves:  "I need to lose ____ pounds because I'm overweight and gross and everyone's always looking at me" or whatever your internal monologue happens to be that day.

Usually we are focusing on our flaws and how we need to be "fixed" and that ultimately sets up for resolution failure sometime around February (if you make it that long).  If you've dealt with children or dogs or watched Harry Potter you know that negative reinforcement has an effect for only so long.  You can guilt or shame yourself into something for only so long before you rebel.  When you aren't kind to yourself you set yourself up to spiral out of control and can end up worse than before.  None of us are perfect which is the beauty of life, could you imagine a world full of perfect people?  What would we do for entertainment?  It is our mistakes and our failures (stop treating it like a dirty word people!) that help us develop into well-rounded and wiser people, if you did everything right the first time you wouldn't learn a damn thing.

So with that, I challenge you to not make 2012 about resolutions of how you need to be "fixed" make it about goals you want to achieve.  Give yourself something to work towards so when you accomplish it, 2012 is an amazing year.  As you achieve things in your life, other benefits come along for the ride.  When you achieve something you gain pride in yourself and pride in yourself allows you to eat better, to take the time to work in exercise, to de-stress, to sleep better, etc...  because you start to value yourself.  And until you put yourself ahead of others because you value your health and well-being, your wellness will be second fiddle to someone else's desires.  You are responsible for you, no one else can make those choices for you.

My 2012 goal is to run a 5K, 10K, and a half-marathon.  I figure that's a pretty big one and a lot of things need to be done to meet it, so that's really all I'm going to worry about this time around :-).

Think about what you want to say you accomplished a year from now.  What is it you want to do?  What goal would you like to achieve?  Remember, you do not need to be "fixed" work towards a goal and life can and often will fall into place around it.