Saturday, January 5, 2013

New Year, New You?

It's that time of year again, when everyone and their uncle is touting diets ("Eat and still shrink!") and exercise ("Just 10 minutes a day for 5 weeks for a bikini body!"). Am I the only one who feels WAY to pressured by all these so called "resolutions"?

My husband jokes all the time that I suffer from O.D.D. (Oppositional Defiance Disorder, it's a real thing!) and when I find my e-mail, magazines and facebook account bombarded with all these "shoulds" and "shouldn'ts" I think to myself, "Don't tell me what to do!".

This year, instead of making resolutions to lose weight or exercise more, I'm committing myself to living passionately and fully! This might mean going to CrossFit with my husband more than my usual once a month workout. Is it just me or does it take anyone else a month to recover from those WODs?? But it also means trying new things (painting class anyone?) and doing more of the things I love (cooking and yoga please!).

It's so easy to say, "There's not enough time. I have work to do. I should be doing laundry or bills" (there's that "should" again!). One of the messages I love to bring up in my classes is that yoga practice is a gift to yourself. You are worth the time! It is an hour and a half out of your day when you can fully commit to yourself. You owe it to yourself, really! And it doesn't just have to be yoga. Listen to yourself and follow your passions!

One of our personal "resolutions" for this year is focusing on eating more organic and sustainable food. We've gone back and forth in the past, telling ourselves organic just isn't in the budget this month, but this year we re-assed our priorities. Would we rather cut back on eating out and use those savings towards good, whole foods or save a few pennies by buying foods full of preservatives and ingredients we can't pronounce? When we thought about it this way, the choice was clear. The food we ingest literally becomes the proteins that make our bodies. It's pretty incredible to think about it that way! It may make for a more expensive grocery list, but we are passionate about being healthy, so it makes our resolution list!

I would love to hear how you're planning to live passionately this year!