New Year’s Resolution. What types of emotions or thoughts does that phrase elicit? Do those words fill you with excitement or dread? Hope or fear? Relief or regret? For me, all of these feelings showed up in the days leading up to January 1st as I watched the world replay highlights from 2021.
The new year can often stir up a mixed bag of emotions for people, especially these past two years. If 2021 has taught me anything it’s to expect the unexpected and that there are a multitude of variables we cannot control. If we hope to live a life that is meaningful and joyful, we have to find a way to shift our perspective in order to deal with whatever life throws at us.
My husband and I started a New Year’s tradition back in 1997 of chronicling the year’s highlights and writing our resolutions in a journal. It’s something we all ( even our kids) look forward to each year. This year, while rereading our journal on New Years Day, I noticed that my husband and I vowed to lose weight and eat healthier every single year. It made us laugh because it was basically the same resolution every year. Some years were more successful than others.We always stayed on track for a time, but obviously were either never satisfied with the results or by the time the next year rolled around we had fallen back into bad habits. Either way, it was never a lifelong change. Obviously those things were important to us, but making a resolution and relying on the excitement about fresh starts, new beginnings and a better tomorrow only carried us so far, never fostering real, lasting change. So after 25 years of repeating the same thing without any meaningful results I am finally determined to recalibrate and I invite you to join me.
Over the past year the reality that I don’t bounce back as quickly as I used to has hit me hard. Between Covid, 2 hospitalizations with pericarditis, and dealing with perimenopause and the toll they have all taken on my body, I’m realizing yes, I am indeed aging and my body needs more time to recover. However, it does not mean there aren’t steps I can take to accelerate recovery and continue to lead an active and amazing life. Reading the latest books and research about all the strides being made in regards to nutrition and medicine, and more specifically food as medicine, really intensifies my ambition to make changes. It’s remarkable how powerful food is in either promoting or preventing disease. That’s truly empowering and that knowledge is what makes my intentions for the new year different this time around.
I recently watched an incredibly inspiring Rich Roll podcast (https://youtu.be/kUTumPCkrKg ). His guests were three Olympians and they were discussing goals and resolutions. It really resonated with me because they stressed the significance of defining your values and understanding why they matter to you. They pointed out that this step is critical in making change. I reflected on my previous 25 years of resolutions realizing when I made them I certainly wasn’t factoring in how they fit into my value system. I just knew I had failed at losing X number of pounds and ate too much junk and therefore wanted to do better. But WHY? And why did I end up every year for 25 years committing to the same resolution? Clearly I’ve been approaching it all wrong. I need to reframe my intentions in such a way that they are meaningful and more impactful on my motivation to pursue any goal I decide to set for myself.
In order to do that, I first have to define my values. Many things are important to me, but the ones that I’ve chosen to focus on are: taking care of my family, promoting good physical and mental health, encouraging others, building our family mission to spread hope through music, and honoring God in the process. Next I need to evaluate my goals to see whether they support my values.
One of my immediate goals is to continue educating myself about nutrition. This is essential because I want to do whatever it takes to avoid another health scare. It supports my values because I will be taking care of my family by providing them with building blocks for good health so they can pursue their mission and in the process we will be honoring God by taking care of the bodies He gave us and using them to spread a message of hope. When I think about being healthy this way it is much more impactful than simply saying, “I want to lose weight this year.”
Another recent thought had a profound impact on my mindset: How would my kids describe me? If they had to make a list of adjectives to describe their mom what would those words be? Quitter? Complainer? Someone who doesn’t follow through? Passive or lukewarm? To be honest I know I have a tendency to be all of those things, but the thought that my kids could legitimately use those words to describe me really makes me want to do better. Instead I want them to think of their mom as strong, someone who is a fighter and a motivator, someone who is hopeful and doesn’t give up. I want them to think that I am bad ass and proactive and that I follow through even when faced with difficult challenges. When I consider my resolution and goals for this year and then I think about my values it becomes much more meaningful than just trying to lose weight or be healthy. Tying them together is definitely more impactful. But when I think about what my inspiration is — my kids — and how I want them to see me, it takes my ambition to a whole new level. I know with every choice I make I am determining how the most important people in my life view me.
I highly doubt that my kids care about the number I see when I step on the scale or if I chose to eat Oreos for dessert instead of fruit. But what I do know is they care about having fun together and working together on our mission. Me being healthy is critical for our family to be able to pursue our goals. By defining what’s important to me and understanding why and seeing how each specific goal I have fits into my overall value system, it truly makes me excited. It feels profound. I’ve never really taken the time to sit back and think about things this way, but already I can sense a shift in my perspective.
Even on the days where I tend to get overwhelmed with everything that’s ahead of me, if I pause to think about what’s important to me and why, and who my inspiration is, it enables me to move forward one step at a time knowing I am working towards what I value most. (Yes, it even works while I’m doing laundry or cooking dinner.)
If we all just simply resolve to try our best each day to make better choices and always ask ourselves if what we’re about to do is going to work toward those things that are most important to us, just imagine how powerfully positive that could be. We can’t control viruses or politics or so many other crazy things going on around us, but we can control the choices we make each day and what we focus our attention on.
What are your resolutions or goals for 2022? What are the five most important values you hold and why are they important to you? What can you do each day to work toward upholding those values? Take some time to reflect and then write down your answers. Then take a deep breath and allow yourself to feel excited about each small step that is before you that will help you attain your goals and uphold what you value most. I sincerely hope you are able to find joy in the new year and I wish you much success in working toward your goals.
“A really great goal has a clear objective, along with an understanding of why it matters to you and how your life might be different as a result of achieving it.” ~ The Plant Based Athlete.
Recalibrate— to change the way you do or think about something
Value — one’s judgment on what is important in life