Relaxing morning up in the mountains with my younger daughter while the older one and husband get in some final snowboarding before we head back to the city later today. Something on my mind as New Year’s goals/resolutions are popping about, As I’ve said before, my resolutions for years were, “don’t drink! Workout! Don’t drink! Workout!” Now that I’ve done that, there is nothing obvious/pressing that HAS to change, so I want to approach my goals in a fun, positive way, and still want to do things little by little. Maybe I’ll revise my list to pick just ONE goal for Jan, and then, if that’s going well, add one for February. I like the idea of doing just ONE new thing. It’s the time of year when our feed is full of “the five things you must be doing for X…”. And I’ve noticed myself bristling in response to certain podcasts I used to love. One in particular has great info about exercise, sunlight, all the basic mood and health boosters. But it lost me somewhere around “tape your mouth when you sleep!” And then again with some complicated prescriptions about “delay caffeine consumption until 90 minutes after waking for optimum X UNLESS you are working out hard first thing in the morning and then you SHOULD consume caffeine IMMEDIATELY, UNLESS x, y, and z.” Enough.

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We all want to be better, but I also want to improve in an achievable and sustainable way. If I feel like the wellness goalposts are constantly moving, the goals start becoming oppressive. And then I feel like, “oh no! I’ve been awake for two hours and not been outside!! My circadian rhythm and cortisol will not be optimal today!” Then I know I’ve lost the point and it’s time to take a step back. We’ve come SO far, and it’s ok to take January as a breather month to reflect and think about what would really make us feel satisfied in the coming year. Of course, we still hit plateaus, but those plateaus are an LOT higher than they used to be. And maybe this is because I have covid and feel a bit fatigued. But now 3x a week doing a five min meditation or writing seems like enough of a goal for Jan. I will try a gentle run outside tomorrow but may just walk and appreciate my body for how much it has healed in the past two years.