Happy New Year!

As I’m writing this, there is over a foot of snow on the roof and my shoulders ache from snow blowing and shoveling the driveway last night. As all good Minnesotans, we rankle at the idea of snow; cleaning it up, the cold, snow days, etc. but really I think we like it. Have you ever stood outside late at night while its snowing? The snow quiets things. It calms.

I need to calm. It’s perfect timing, being the start of a new year. It’s a natural restart, people are in the mood to redo, support others and it makes it easy to try. If I don’t put it out there, I’m not going to be held accountable, so my list of “me” goals, changes and how I’m going to work on them are here:

• Better sleep: going to bed earlier, waking up on time

• Health: using MyFitnessPal to track calories, macros, physical activity

• Drink less: pay attention to triggers, emotions, irritations

• Communicate: listen, talk and stop compartmentalizing and pushing things away

• Oral health: floss (‘cause I hate it.)

These are pretty basic, but my mal-habits have been running amuck and it shows. So, trying to be healthy in all ways. And I am starting all at once. But it goes together: I’m flossing my teeth, going to bed earlier, waking up on time, tracking my eating (this is the hardest, because it takes a lot of time and I’m annoyed at it sometimes!) I’m getting physical activity most days-granted, I hit the gym only once this week so far as its been snowing too much! But I think shoveling is one hell of a workout and the other evening I did a bunch of core exercises on my living room floor. I can feel the burn of something every day this week, so I’m doing the work. I also haven’t had an alcoholic drink since New Year’s!

The cutting back on drinking one is important right now. Since my dad passed away recently I’ve been drinking more, but not enjoying it. I’m realizing that there are plenty of other things that have piled up and make me want to drink too. Of course, having a couple drinks just covers up the issues, doesn’t deal with them, so I need to figure those things out and deal with them. Wish me luck.

Good luck to you and your goals, resolutions, dreams and plans for 2023!