First let me tell why I think that January 1st is the absolute worst time for resolutions for the new year.  We all just get through two months of holidays and all of the stresses that go along with that.  Those stresses include food that we may not normally eat and in the amounts that we may not normally eat them in.  Another source of stress is visiting with family that may include traveling or having family visit us.  And finally the shopping that a lot of us do that we may or may not have budgeted for.  Here we are just getting through all of this craziness and now we add a completely new stressor onto the mix called a New Year's Resolution.  No wonder most people can't follow through!

     Adding a resolution that causes more stress is not a good idea at this time.  There are no more stressful words that we can say to ourselves than the words Diet and Exercise.  The reason why these are stressful is because we are forcing ourselves into major life changes by following a "program" or by changing our schedule and paying some hefty gym membership fees.  We all should be getting more sleep and paying attention to eating better.  And by eating better I mean paying attention to what we eat and how it makes our bodies feel after we eat it.  We should also be focusing on any debt we got ourselves into during the holiday's and paying it off.  (Congratulations if you didn't!)  The focus should now be on taking care of ourselves and gently at that.  Have you ever noticed how many people end up sick during the months of January and February?  Don't you think it has as much to do with stress as the lack of vitamin D due to shorter daylight hours?

     So when is the best time for resolutions?  In my humble opinion, the best time is at the beginning of spring.  By the time spring comes, you have had time to recuperate from the holiday season and get back into your normal schedule and rhythms.  Instead of New Year's resolutions, I would call them Resolutions of Renewal.  Instead of focusing on fixing what's "wrong" or "bad" you should be thinking of ways to renew your life.  Now that has a much different energy to it doesn't it?

     Make your new resolutions things that will make you feel good both physically and emotionally.  It's time to get outside and think about the exercise you want to do.  You may decide that it's hiking, walking the neighborhood or biking.  You should have already been paying attention to the food you have been eating after the holidays and how it made you physically feel.  Any changes you made over the first few months of the year in your eating habits can be further refined by making new goals like eating more of the fruits and vegetables that are now in season, or even better, growing some of your own.  Even if you don't plant a garden, you can very easily buy a pot, some dirt and some seeds and plant something edible.  Or it just may be cutting out more sugar from what you eat.

     Changes we force ourself into never last.  Small changes repeated over a longer period of time are the ones that do.  So what Resolutions of Renewal are you going to make for yourself this year?
 


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