Happy New Year 2021!! Last year was extremely difficult for everyone, regardless of where we are in life, we were all impacted in a major way, so I’m not going to dwell on it, because you already know what kind of year it was. This year, I’m hopeful that things will get better for everyone, that a change in leadership will mean a new start towards a better future, and that we can all be healthier, happier, and safer than we were before. Here are my hopes and goals for New Year 2021.
Health & Wellness
When I had a gym membership, I noticed year after year that around the New Year the gym would become so full it was almost unusable, but within 2 weeks it would be empty again as hundreds of people gave up on their New Years Resolutions. I’ve found that making traditional resolutions never works, at least for me. What I’ve focused on in the past was making healthy lifestyle changes that are easy to stick with and require almost no effort. One year, we went through our pantry and refrigerator and made note of how much sugar was in every single thing we were eating. I couldn’t believe how much sugar was in jams, sauces, condiments, and even the drinks and dry mixes we had. Next, we cleared out everything with too much sugar and either binned what was expiring soon or took what would be unopened and good for at least another year to a local food pantry. Going forward, we consciously sought out and purchased healthier brands with less sugar and higher quality ingredients going forward, thereby decreasing the amount of sugar we ate drastically without sacrificing anything, while also helping others in the process.
Last year, my husband and I decided we wanted to spend more time together without distractions, and that we both wanted to work out daily. To do this, we cancelled our gym memberships, and began going for at least an hour walk/jog every evening, so we could discuss how our day went, talk about our plans for the future and our goals, and just enjoy one another’s company. Around June, we added in daily strength workouts as well, plus we did the Alexis Ren 30 Day Workout Challenge, and we began doing yoga together for an additional half an hour each day to improve our flexibility and decrease our chances of being injured while working out. Our main objective was being together, and our goal was to do that while being productive and improving our fitness, so we were able to multitask those while walking, jogging, and working out together. We didn’t even have to spend anything to do this (except for the AR workout challenge, but that was a one time fee of $33, and some of the best money I’ve ever spent!).
This year, I’m focusing on my mental health more than anything else. I mentioned in my last post about how hard the past year has been for me, not being able to see friends or family, being unable to work or travel (which for me are the same thing), and being stuck inside most of the time when I hardly ever spend time inside on a typical day. I want to shift my mindset towards gratitude and work on focusing on what I do have rather than what I may be missing out on, and I want to prioritize taking care of myself whether that means spending more time stretching, spending more time talking with my loved ones, or cooking more plant based meals, which help me feel my absolute best.
Travel
This is really difficult for me to talk about, because I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I’m trying to stay optimistic that this year will be better, and that I will be able to travel once again. This year, assuming things improve enough to make this a reality, I will be taking the trips I had planned last year to places like North & South Carolina, Alaska, Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Wyoming, New York, and Florida. It sounds so unlikely to happen, but I’m really hoping that my trips to Austria, Switzerland, France, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Spain, Japan, Guam, Norway, the United Kingdom, and a few other places take places pan out. I miss seeing new things, new places, and having new experiences! I’m really hoping we will be able to visit our family over in Europe this year too!
Looking to the Future
No one knows what the new year 2021 will hold, so let’s all hope for the best while continuing to stay home whenever possible, always washing our hands, avoiding touching our faces, and wearing a mask whenever we go out, so that this can all be a distant, bad memory. I’m confident that we can make this happen, so life can be even better than it was before! Happy New Year!
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