We are half-way through the month of January. Have you kept your resolutions? Did you even make any? A new year is a good time to make some changes, but much of the time we make those decisions under the pressure of advertisements and the crowd around us. Perhaps you resolved, like a large percentage of the population, to lose weight. Whether you want to lose 100 pounds or 10, it requires work. Or maybe you decided to not focus on the weight-loss, but on your health. Did you declare that you would walk daily? Start going to Zumba classes? Join a gym? Try yoga?
Are you still doing the things you set out to do as the new year began? It was easy that first week, wasn't it? Motivation to succeed moved you to make good choices. Sadly, the majority of us who make New Year's Resolutions fail to live up to the goals we established, and most of us are probably eating ice cream instead of Greek yogurt, scrolling through Pinterest instead of walking, or watching TV when we could be reading a really good book.
The truth is, we must daily decide what we will accomplish and how we will take care of ourselves. Being the best you can be is a gift you give yourself. It isn't about how you look; it's about who you are. No one can gift you the best of you except for you!
I think the best decision I made starting the new year was to read some classic literature. I spent some Google time and made a list of books I would like to start with. My first piece was Robinson Crusoe and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Yesterday I was trying to give my husband a synopsis of the story and was so excited and caught up in it I realized I sounded like a silly school girl and that my ramblings meant little to him but much to me. Today I will say it is my new favorite book...until I read something else that will, most likely, take its place. Next I will be reading The Hiding Place. I read it many, many years ago. I have a friend who met Corrie ten Boom once, which makes her story a little more real to me now. I look forward to visiting Miss Corrie again as I read the pages of her story.
Yes, I did decide to lose weight this year. I decide that every night. Tomorrow is a new day. Like my twin friends say, thank God his mercies are new every Monday! Seriously, though, taking care of yourself by eating well and moving more is an important matter. But can I be honest here? When it is so cold outside, I want warm, comforting, creamy soup and hot, crusty bread - not apples and lettuce! I did eat a salad for lunch yesterday, though. And it WAS good. But a big bowl of cream of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich would have been better! HA! To be brutally honest, my wallet needs me to follow through here because I can't afford to purchase a new wardrobe. Yes, I know, comforting food can be prepared wisely and in a healthy fashion. I will start working on that today as I cook dinner.
Be good to yourself, my friend. I am deciding to be good to myself every day. Life is too precious and far too short to let the days waste away wishing I had treated myself better. Instead of wishing I "had done" I am going to get out my list of things I want to do and start marking them off. It's not a bucket list. It's simply a list of things that need to happen and/or things I want to do. Things like painting the front door and the chest in the foyer. When we get a day that warms the attic enough, I'm cleaning all that junk out of there! I am going to enjoy this life while I have it. May I challenge you to do the same?
Don't beat yourself up because you have already dropped the ball and fallen back into your old ways. Get up and plow forward. Decide now to do that thing you are dreaming of and find a way to make it happen! I am!
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