Food for thought

As a nonprofit fundraiser, I'm always looking for tips and advice from industry press, including a daily email I receive from the Case Consulting Services. Once a week, they share inspirational quotes, and I just had to share and document this one somewhere:

"What the new year brings to you will depend 
on what you bring to the new year." 

- Vera McLellan

What will I bring to the New Year? I'd love to bring energy, positivity (apparently that's not a real word, but I like it so...) and selflessness.

Here I am, getting caught up again in New Year's resolutions!

To resolve or not

I have a love-hate relationship with the New Year.

On the plus side, there's the excitement of a clean slate--the decisive end of what's past and opportunities arising from consciously embracing a new start. It's a chance to evaluate what was good about the year, and identify opportunities for growth in the coming weeks and months to come.

As I get older, though, there also comes a certain sense of dread. The thought of: "What am I going to resolve and not accomplish this year?" In other words, how am I setting myself up for failure?

I've tried many different ways to set realistic resolutions: making them measurable, time-driven, specific (setting SMART goals). I've tried bribery: If I accomplish X, then I can do Y. I've tried chucking all of my resolutions into one major goal of changing "try" into "do." (Just do it! Don't think about it so much and procrastinate! In fact, I think that was a post I wrote one year ago on this very blog.)

Yet the allure and temptation of self-improvement, coupled with a fresh start, is irresistible. And so I find myself here, once again, thinking about how I can make 2015 a great year.

In an ideal world--in my perfect, inhuman life--my days/weeks would look something like this:

• Sunday - attend church, hike or take a gym class, grocery shop and cook/package healthy meals for the week, meal plan, tidy the house.
• Monday through Friday - get to the gym or out for a run at 6am four or five days, arrive at work by 9am at the latest, work a full & productive day, eat a healthy dinner, meet up with friends or do whatever is scheduled for the evening, be in bed by 9:30 or 10:00.
• Saturday - early morning long run, followed by a day open to rest, relaxation and/or time with friends.

Of course, that's not what my life looks like these days. My Sundays are generally very productive (cleaning, laundry, errands, cooking), but whether I make it to church and/or workout is always questionable. Saturdays work well when I train with my running group. Though lately, in my coaching role I haven't been completing the runs.

On weekdays, I typically don't get home from whatever I have planned until 9 or later, meaning that by the time I wrap up the day (dishes, tidying, get ready for bed) and prepare for the next (lay out clothes/gym clothes, prep food for work), it's often close to 11. I go to bed late, so early mornings feel impossible, so workouts don't happen as often as they should. I sleep later than I should and end up rolling into work around 9:30 on a decent day, and shove workout gear into a bag that ends up sitting in my car. By the time I've worked a full day, it's often after 6pm, and trying to wrangle in an evening workout in the winter (dark) is virtually impossible... or I have plans in the evening that won't allow me time to workout, or I need to be presentable for them (read: not sweaty and dressed in running clothes). I feel awful because I'm not working out, so it becomes a vicious cycle. I eat less healthy because of time crunches or stress, which compounds the general feeling of being off kilter from where I want to be, and how I want to feel.

Because I think this makes my life sound less than ideal, let me clarify that I generally feel very happy with my life. I do a pretty good job of trying to hit my goals (healthy eating, active lifestyle, active social life), and I rarely lose sight of how important they are, even if I'm not always living in a way that advances them. I'm happy to be someone who cares about trying to live a good life.

So what do I do with all of this as 2015 approaches?

The fact of the matter is I know what I need to do to get closer to that "ideal" world version of my life. Eat well, exercise, get to bed earlier, and not overbook my weeknight calendar.

I'm going to focus on one step at a time. The first is food, and so I'll join in the national Whole 30 taking place in January. Having successfully completed one Whole 30, I know how much of a ripple effect it has on my general well being. And so I'll start there. 

It's not a resolution. As my coworker pointed out, it's a gift to myself. One month dedicated to taking extra care of myself. 

I make no promises this time about documenting my Whole 30, but I'd like to post any neat recipes or successes, challenges, or triumphs here.

Til 2015...