January 3, the Day When New Year’s Resolutions Die

Have you ever made a New Year’s resolution that didn’t last? Famously I failed one of mine, which was to journal every day, on January 2nd, when I forgot to take my journal with me to visit my cousins. Normally, however, my resolutions survive two days, and then I go back to work and they are lost in the hassle of the day.

So this year, again, I decided to have monthly and/or weekly resolutions! This week my resolution is to meditate every day for at least 3 minutes. So far so good…. it’s Tuesday morning and I have had three sessions already! I’m slowly starting to get the hang of it, and not get overly anxious while trying to relax. Next week my goal is to watch one episode of a TV show every day, while crocheting or drawing, but having no other screen in front of me. Then for February I have the standard no sweets. You know, it’s the shortest month of the year! It will be difficult without my protein bars, but then I don’t plan to travel to the Temple either.

In March, as the days start to be longer again I want to go for a walk after work twice a week if the weather permits, in April I’ll plan to have two meat-free days a week instead of my usual one, and try to have at least one fully vegan day. It might be related that in April I want to explore Indian cuisine. May is time to get a pass for the swimming pool (hopefully it will reopen by then), and June…

Well, you can probably see an overall theme in my mini-resolutions. They are all there to help improve my well being this year. Yes, there is a hope for further weight loss (by the way, does anyone want a beautiful blue Maite Kelly coat? Size 52, I think), but the target is becoming ore healthy, both physically and mentally. I need to learn to purposefully set aside time for my own health and to pay attention to my own needs. Sometimes I need to “pamper” myself, but instead of doing something as a quick fix to provide some temporary but immediate satisfaction, like buying things, I need to learn to fill the underlying needs.

So my question for you today is: what do you do for your own wellness?