A New Year

  • : Assigning the return value of new by reference is deprecated in /home/pachydom/public_html/modules/modules/vbcore/vbcore.module on line 430.
  • : Assigning the return value of new by reference is deprecated in /home/pachydom/public_html/modules/modules/vbcore/vbcore.module on line 430.
  • strict warning: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/pachydom/public_html/modules/modules/vbcore/vbcore.module on line 213.
  • strict warning: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/pachydom/public_html/modules/modules/vbcore/vbcore.module on line 213.
  • strict warning: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/pachydom/public_html/modules/modules/vbcore/vbcore.module on line 213.
  • strict warning: mktime(): You should be using the time() function instead in /home/pachydom/public_html/modules/modules/vbforumblocks/vbforumblocks.module on line 230.

It’s January already? Really? It’s also a new decade? As hard as it is to believe, a new year and a new decade really are upon us. In some circles resolutions are considered ridiculous, but I’ve always found January to be a perfect time to find things to improve upon.

Here in the United States, the weather is less than ideal and springtime seems entirely too far away. The holidays are over and my mind wants something new to focus on. The solution? Self-improvement!

Although they don’t all coincide with the beginning of the calendar year, many cultures have an annual tradition of reflection, atonement, and resolution. The month of January was named for Janus, the mythical Roman king with one face for the future and one for the past. He became the symbol for resolutions and change for those zany Romans . The Babylonians chose the beginning of their calendar cycle to return a borrowed item from the previous year while a custom of the Chinese New Year is housecleaning.

Of course you can change anytime during the year, but it *is* January, so why not do a little improving now? Pick something big or small. Pick one thing you’ve wanted to change for a long time, or pick a list of small things to work on.

Whatever you choose, write it down somewhere. Do you blog or journal? Maybe you want to discuss it with the rest of us nuts on Mellophant? Neuropsychology experts agree that writing things down helps us remember. Beyond that, by sharing the information we are inviting others to help keep us engaged and invested. We’re opening up our plans to people who may have personal or professional experience to give us tips or information. If nothing else, we’re getting support and someone who is on the outside who might just provide a different way of seeing the issue with fresh eyes.

Don't let people tell you that resolutions are always broken. Should that stop you from trying to improve what you can?

"I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot... and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that's precisely why I succeed.'' - Michael Jordan, basketball God and all around badass

Now that we have *that* out of the way... Are you looking to lose weight this year and make it permanent? Maybe you want to get organized and have a clean house. Perhaps this is the year you go back to school or change your career. What about planting a garden this year? It could be that you’ve wanted to take a class in something. Crochet? Knitting? Dance? Cooking? Why not work on your credit or finances this year? Do you want to read more or see more movies? There has to be some goal you’d like to set.

I’m always trying to find ways to improve my own little universe. This year is no exception. One goal is to stop eating meat completely. I’m counting on the experience of others in our community to help me out with their hard fought knowledge and culinary skills. In return, I hope to offer what I can to someone who has chosen something I know a little something about.

So even if you don’t normally do resolutions, find something you’d like to work on and join us for a little support in the forums. For my part I plan to keep coming back to our front page to provide tips, tricks, and ideas to help with improvements of all kinds. So if you have any topics you want information about, give me a yell and we'll all put our collective thoughts, experiences, and educations together and work it out. In any case, I’ll guarantee you one million internet dollars that you’ll get some kind of feedback that you find helpful. You have my word on it.

Comments

I am super, super busy...my husband and I have two kids and both work full-time, so the house is like go go go all the time. I've never been into "working out," but have always been fairly active. With less and less time to do anything these days, and with getting firmly into middle age, I need to figure out how I can work exercise into my routine, even if it's just a little bit. Does anyone have any tips for that?

Quote Originally posted by Sarahfeena View post
I am super, super busy...my husband and I have two kids and both work full-time, so the house is like go go go all the time. I've never been into "working out," but have always been fairly active. With less and less time to do anything these days, and with getting firmly into middle age, I need to figure out how I can work exercise into my routine, even if it's just a little bit. Does anyone have any tips for that?
There are all kinds of ways to incorporate exercising in with spending time with the little ones, since kids are so hyped up all the time. Just spending time with my niece, doing what she wants to do, is good cardio, upper body strength and abdominal workouts.

Dancing while cooking is probably good, too.

Yeah, it's true that except when I'm at work I rarely sit still, AllWalker! But I can't call it real exercise. What can I do in 10-15 minute bursts? I know that cardio isn't really going to be effective in that time frame, but maybe a little bit of strength training or stretching?