Ring Her In

The New Year is upon us, waiting to be met with fresh and eager hearts.

Be sure to ring her in tomorrow with all you can muster.

As you do, count the blessings of the 365 days gone by

and present her with your dreams for days ahead.

For you'll never get what you don't ask for. 

It's been just about a year since I started blogging in earnest and, as the year comes to a close, I thank each and every one of you who returns to read what I have to say in this tiny space on the Internet. I value your time and comments with all my heart.

Happy New Year's my friends.

See you in 2012!

Image from www.wilsonspyro.com

Guest Post: New Year's Resolution Success

With New Year's Eve coming our way, many of us are giving thought to New Year's Resolutions. I'm happy to have Sandy Woolfrey-Fahey, one of my bestest friends, offer up a guest post on this very topic and, hopefully, inspire you like she has me over the last year. Sandy and her husband Mark live in Mount Pearl, NL.  After her youngest child was born, she left the world of corporate communications and is now a stay-at-home mom to their three little boys, Alex 6, Liam 4 and Devon 21 months. She also provides childcare to two other children.  Her house is a busy one with lots of time for fun kiddy activities, but historically she`s put a low priority on time for herself. Throughout 2011 she made an attempt at changing this and started making time for herself, health and fitness. This year she has lost nearly 80lbs after sticking with this year`s New Year`s resolution!

New Year's Resolutions

by Sandy Woolfrey-Fahey

To some people New Year’s Resolutions bring great motivation, to others they bring dread and well others don’t give them a passing thought.

Historically, I was most often in that last group. I am not accustomed to making resolutions and even less accustomed to sticking with them, but when I rang in 2011 I vowed it would be different this year and approached it as a challenge that I wasn’t backing down from. My husband and I, as our resolution, wanted to start on a path to being a healthier and leaner couple and on January 2 joined with other family and friends in a two month biggest loser type challenge.

To back up a bit, at that time I had had three kids in just over four years and lost my mom in that time as well. I was tired, overweight and had not thought about scheduling time for me in a long time! 

So for the first two months in 2011, we were focused on us. We were going to succeed and we were held accountable by the weekly check ins that the competition provided.  He and I ended the challenge in third and first place respectively and we had set the foundation for success!

Fast forward to the end of 2011, we have lost a combined total of about 160lbs.  We have logged hundreds of kilometers, him running and me on the elliptical and most importantly become a healthier couple and better role models for our three little boys. Deciding to stick with this resolution was THE BEST DECISION I’ve made in quite a while! 

The easiest part is coming up with the resolution whether related to fitness and health, personal development, money management, philanthropy, or any part of your life you want to improve. The hardest part is seeing it through - believe me!  It has to be one that’s important to you and you have to REALLY want your end goal.

I like the sentiment, motivation and discipline that’s part of making a resolution, but I don’t have a cookie cutter plan for sticking with it (if I did I’d be pretty rich)! I do, however, think our success had a lot do to with our approach. So, what are our tricks to sticking with our resolution?

Make a plan including goals and time lines.  If it is weight loss, set a certain percentage by the end of the first month, by 3 months, by 6 months and the end of the year. This really kept me motivated! If it’s to read more, make a list of books you want to have read by the end of the year and pick a month for each one. You can make a plan for any resolution.

 

Find an easy way to stick with it to limit your chances of making excuses. If it’s an exercise based resolution, decide if you’ll be more likely to use a piece of equipment at home or at the gym or just getting outside.  Think about how exactly you’re going to most easily achieve your ultimate goal.  If you want to volunteer more, make a set commitment of a time and place to be each month.

Find support/partner and tell everyone!  I found this great for keeping myself accountable. The more people that know the more positive pressure you feel to stick with your resolution!

Celebrate milestone successes. Some resolutions may take a while to see the end results, but celebrate each step along the way.  Even small steps in the right direction are getting you closer!

Get motivated by making a resolution this year. We can all benefit from making one and positively changing our lives.

How do you plan to succeed?

Starting Anew

"It looks so bare."

"Sad to see it go."

"It feels so empty."

Said with big sighs, these are the feelings expressed by so many as holiday decorations come down for another year. I, however, don't share in the dismay. For me, de-Christmasfying the house is a chance to refresh and renew. It's a great way to bring in the new year.

Santas. Snowmen. Sparkles. All ready to be stowed away for another year.

Sure, the holiday magic is wonderful and lovely and good. But for me, it has served its purpose. December was delightful and celebrated in full and by early January, I'm ready to move on. I don't long to hang onto the holiday magic, perhaps because I see the potential magic and life in the year ahead.

So, today, as I pack up the santas and snowmen, return furniture to its rightful place, and sweep stray sparkles away, I'm rejuvenated and ready to invite in the new year.

New Year Perspective

Like so many others, with the start of a new year, I think about what I’d like to change – about myself, my life, my habits – in the year ahead. Some years I come up with actual resolutions, maybe even write them down. Heck, some years I even manage to keep a couple. And it’s all good. Setting goals for ourselves, challenging ourselves is how we grow and develop. However, too often the goals we (I) set for ourselves (myself) are about ‘fixing’ what’s ‘wrong’ with us (me). You know the drill – I’m going to lose X pounds this year because I’m heavier than I once was or I’m going to exercise everyday because I’m a little lazier than I used to be, and so on. And then, when we don’t hold up our end of the bargain, we consider it ‘failure’. But who says we really need fixing? Who says being a little larger or lazier is a ‘bad’ thing? And who says that just because we lost 8 pounds instead of 10 we've failed?

Perhaps that’s why this quote from Ellen Goodman resonated with me on New Year’s Eve:

{We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential.} ~ Ellen Goodman

Cue the light bulbs. No, flashes. No, fireworks! Instead of tackling the New Year with a resolution to exercise more because we’re less active than we were five years ago, perhaps we should strive to acknowledge what we already do to be healthy and our potential to build on that in the year ahead. Not to say we shouldn't strive to go for that daily walk more often, but maybe just think more positively about what we’re doing when we don’t take that walk. If we’re spending that time with our families or maybe learning something new instead, is that not also tapping into our personal potential to live healthier and happier? It may not take off that extra pound as quickly, but it might bring a smile to your face and make you stronger just the same.

Again, I’m not poo-pooing setting goals. Not at all. I strongly believe that having personal goals is key to living a happy life and that writing those goals down makes them all the more real and achievable. In fact, I have my own life list (that’s another post for another time!) and some of those life goals will make it onto a 2011 shortlist (again a soon to be post). I just think that we all, myself included, could use a new approach to coming up with New Year’s resolutions. Instead of trying to ‘fix’ ourselves, let’s accept who we already are, what’s already great about ourselves and look for opportunities to tap into that more in the New Year.

After all, we don’t just sell our house because the kitchen paint is peeling. Instead we accept its solid structure, treasure its place in our family memories and pick up a new can of paint to restore the beauty it already holds. And that’s also how we should treat ourselves.

Thank you Ms. Goodman for the perspective.