A Different Kind of New Year

Every single year since I can remember, I have made New Years' Resolutions.  Sometimes they are broad, like "Take Better Care of Myself" and sometimes they are more specific, like "Lose X Pounds by X Date".  But I have always been motivated by a chance for a fresh start, a new Monday, a new month, and the first Monday following New Year's has always been the mother load.

This year is different.  I have three resolutions, of sorts.  The first two are rather concrete, and a little bit of a departure for me.  The first is "Get an in person sight/smell of the ocean at least once a month." Why?  Because it is my happy place, my zen core, and I feel healed and renewed every time I encounter it.  I have a concrete and realistic plan for this, with a little help from my parents' beach house and a friend in FL.  The second Resolution is also quite concrete- "Run or compete in at least one physical event per month."  I also have a plan for achieving this for most of the months, although January is going to be a little dicey.  There's only one event I'm interested in and I'm not sure yet if I'll be free.  But I'm registered for events in February and March, and have plenty of planned options for April and beyond.

The third is kind of my usual deal, but is already shaping up differently.  I want to take better care of myself, like I often aspire to, and part of that is achieving my weight loss and fitness/health goals.  This is especially important to me in this year of turning the big 4-0.  But even before the new year turned over I was already resigned to a couple of things on this front.  One, I am mentally not in a place to be trying hard-core diet programs right now.  Our house is on the market, and adding that to my already full plate of mommyhood, work being fairly busy, etc. has me maxed out mentally.  Two, every year this "all or nothing with a deadline" approach has consistently and reliably failed.

So, I am actively pursuing the first two concrete resolutions.  And the third?  Well, I am thinking about ways to take better care of myself, and I am working up to the kind of healthy eating I want to be doing. I am trying to reduce any unnecessary obligations, and focus my time on the stuff and people that are important to me.  I do hope that I will be able to make some progress before all of the milestones I have coming up, and it would help a whole freaking lot if we could sell our house and get to buy and move into the one we want and be done with it.  But mentally I am in a whole different place than usual, and maybe being forced to sneak up on this goal gradually instead of boxing myself into a "diet" plan and schedule will actually help, for a change.