Renewal

I am hearing it and seeing it everywhere.  Clean eating!  Lose more weight!  My diet vs. your diet showdown!  Exercising is fun and new again!  I have to ask myself, what's new and what's different? Or is this the same old/same old thing?  We follow up the excesses of holiday celebrating, eating and overindulging with a push towards restraint.  Sometime in later January, however, for a lot of people, those "new year's resolutions" start to fade, and the old habits creep back.

Stop the madness, and stop it now.  Every day of the year is a good time to commit to a healthier, happier, more balanced lifestyle.  Every day of the year is an opportunity to balance wants and needs, a little restraint with "mostly right most of the time" and a little indulgence.  In January, we are surrounded by reminders that now is the time to push these goals to the forefront and commit to them. I have to admit, it does make it easier to look at gym clothes at the front of Costco stores instead of the towering gift baskets of chocolate and cookies and cakes.  I'd rather look at Target ads for gym equipment than ads for holiday MnMs in every flavor.  However, that's not enough to make me do anything.  It's a reminder of what I already know.

Taking good care of myself is a commitment that has to be taken seriously year-round.  In Weight Watchers, we do just that.  We set ourselves up for success by tapping in to the reasons why we come in the first place.  We write down our very clear "whys" so that we can refer to them at any time.  We surround ourselves with a supportive group of like-minded people who can inspire us and help us along.  We make efforts and reap the rewards.  We also make choices we regret sometimes, and then we consciously move on.  In short, we keep going.  No matter what.  We keep choosing to move to the future.  That's where our success lies, and we have to keep directing our intentions in that direction:  renewal.

New Year's Day can mark the start of something great.  It can be a continuation of some great things that have already been happening.  It can be a slam of the door to 2015 so that we are unburdened as we go into 2016 with a clean slate.  No matter what, it is a time of renewal on many levels.  Let's keep this cyclical image in mind as we change and grow and travel the circuitous path to self improvement.  Let's commit to continuing this process, getting better at it all the time.  I am in.  All in.  Are you?