To Resolve Or Not
Welcome to Element Nutrition and Happy 2022!
As the first official post of the year and of this page, I’d like to simply take you with me on a thought journey. Most of this site will be focused on optimizing health and nutrition, but just for today, let this be a little introduction.
In meditating on the passing of time and the changing of the year, I am filled with a gratitude and appreciation of time and the wisdom that (usually) comes with it. What I find most striking, as I scroll through health blogs and listen to podcasts, reading up on how to best achieve your New Year’s goals, is the populaces’ strong desire for a return to “normalcy.” My first reaction is, “how can people be thinking about this right now!?” My second reaction is, “Yeah, me too. I, too, have similar goals for this year.”
I remember last year, 2020, when these holidays rolled around, no one was really in a “celebrating” mood and some even opted out; most likely thinking that this will be over soon and there was no need to “re-calibrate” the way that holidays were celebrated.
Now, we find ourselves 21 months in, what can only be described as, a whole new world. (Cue the Disney fans) So what do we do with our New Year’s resolutions? Are we so yearning for yester-year that our resolutions echo 2019? And if so, is there anything wrong with that?
We all still need to lose the weight, set a budget, be better people. That human situation certainly did not improve, for most, during the last 2 years. As a nutrition therapist, I was witness to how profound the impact on both physical and mental health has been, on so many levels, for our society. What I also observed, both in myself and others, was a different type of introspection. Some people actually got a chance to work through chronic stress, make moves that would not have happened otherwise, gain insight about themselves and their relationships. Some people got chance to experience a different dynamic in their families. Some people actually DID improve their health and well-being. I was so humbled by the strength of the human spirit to keep on, keepin’ on. I was also grateful, in many cases, to have supported those people’s successes.
After much pondering about this last year, I accepted that making New Year’s resolutions does not mean that we are ignoring the reality of a changing world. Despite its multi-layered origins, making New Year’s resolutions has become, I think, a step of taking responsibility for our lives. While many focus on the resolutions they did not keep, I like to think about the 8% of people who keep their resolutions. Do you know anyone in this category? I do and I am constantly inspired by these individuals. Watch them closely because they are a special kind of unicorn.
With that said, I hope all of you, at some point this month, create a goal or resolution that affirms self-responsibility and a desire to improve and grow!
