Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Why I Don't Make Resolutions, and You Shouldn't Either

Holidays are weird. Time loses all meaning, and the days run together. I would have no idea what day it is, except I do actually know it’s Wine & Wellness Wednesday, as this topic has been percolating in my brain for a while. Ha!

It’s January 1st, and after the glitter and confetti (or the hangovers, or whatever) settle from NYE celebrations, many of us will make resolutions about things we want to change in the new year.

Eat better? Exercise more? Spend less? Sure! All the things.

Here’s the thing.

Do them because you WANT to, not because people (and by people I mean anyone outside of yourself) say you should.

Anyone who knows me knows I loathe the word, “should.” So if I’m using it, you can bet I have a point to make. To be honest, it has become such a visceral reaction I have to actively stop myself on occasion and not respond with, “You should stop shoulding all over me.” (Except with my husband, the poor guy. He gets that reaction. I should really work on that.) Society has gotten incredibly lazy: “Oooh, you should check that out,” instead of “Oooh, I think you’d enjoy that.” Or whatever. Should, to me, is a negative, weighted word, heavy with obligation imposed from outside ourselves.

But I digress. (Seriously. Are you surprised by this?)

I’m not a fan of resolutions. Frequently, resolutions sound good, and folks charge into the new year ready with high-minded, virtuous resolutions, only to find themselves in the same old habits and patterns.

I’m a fan of goals. Specifically, I’m a fan of SMARTER goals. My version goes like this: the goal needs to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely; as I make progress (or don’t), I evaluate and revise.

Every day has the potential for us to make a fresh start on a goal, or, if you must, a resolution. The most important thing is to have a plan for how to make that goal a reality. Eat better, or have an accountability partner (or coach), or save money, or whatever the case may be. Whether it’s January 1st, March 19th, or August 17th, that’s a day that you can wake up and decide to make a change.

What positive change are you going to make in 2025?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Happy New Year!

(Today’s super-long subtitle: Why I Don’t Make Specifically Healthy New Year’s Resolutions)

Happy New Year! I have a glass of wine, so it seems like a good time for Wine & Wellness Wednesd! :) It also seems completely crazy that it’s suddenly 2018. And it’s suddenly the third day of January, 2018. Time flies and all that!

In December of 2015 I wrote a post about resolutions and themes for resolutions. Oddly enough, at the end of 2016/beginning of 2017, I didn’t post about resolutions. (So weird, right?) As 2017 drew to a close and New Year’s Eve loomed, I found myself thinking again about resolutions and how they are so often broken, usually fairly rapidly, and then we get discouraged. And I thought again about all of the resolutions I’ve made recently that were simply fun and occasionally constructive, but never related to health or weight or fitness.

Ummmmm…say what? Jolie, you’re a health coach. Shouldn’t your New Year’s resolution be about that?

Well, to put it bluntly: nope.

Here’s the thing. Every day is a chance to start (or maintain!) a healthy habit. Every day is a chance to build wellness improvements into our lives. Just because a new year begins on January 1 doesn’t make that the perfect time to start a massive change. And massive changes can be overwhelming and hard to maintain.

So I’ve been trying to figure out what fun resolutions I want to make for 2018 and coming up with way too many.

Walk the dogs once a week. (This mostly went well in 2017, although I missed a few. And as much as I love my dogs I am so very much NOT walking them when the high temp is -10F!) Bubble bath once a month. Work on the woodland faerie cross stitch project once a week. Sit in the hammock once a month at minimum, even in bad weather. (I actually, honestly contemplated this yesterday as the temp was up to 13F instead of -10F. And still…nope.) I may have actually settled on all of the above, which seems sort of silly, but all of the above are things that will add value to my life. Working on the woodland faerie will feel productive as I try to finish it up and give it to my mother. Hammock time will be relaxing, as will a bubble bath at least once a month. Walking the dogs will be productive, in that it’s both exercise for all of us as well as togetherness time.

What’s your resolution for 2018? Are you going to try to lose weight, run a 5K, read 100 books in a year, or have a bubble bath once a month? :)

Cheers! Here’s to your health!