Every year in December, like clockwork, we start seeing ads on TV urging us to buy fitness contraptions; ads in store flyers selling weights, exercise balls and blenders to make smoothies. Scroll through any form of social media and there are ads promising results in 2 weeks or your money back! Hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for anyone who wants to change their lifestyle, lose weight, build muscle or give up drinking, whatever floats your boat. But why does it have to start January 1st? When I got out of bed on New Year’s Day I was faced with a counter-full of empties, wine bottles, beer cans and coolers. My friend Donna used to say “we were hung over like a rack of tits”. (More on her later!) Thankfully the dishwasher fairy came the night before and cleaned up the dishes…you know who you are! Thanks a million. 😉 The fridge was packed with leftovers and I can guarantee you there was a leftover meatball and wing getting a fright that day. The feeling of the first day of January and you’ve already broken your new year’s resolution is not a good one. I’m sure the whole idea of the new year’s resolution is not to start January 1 by completely upending your entire lifestyle but rather resolving to make better and healthier choices throughout the year. Having said that I think we need to ‘revolt’ against the resolution. Stop making promises to ourselves that are often nearly impossible to keep. The fact that we made it through another year is a reward in itself. Instead of striving for physical perfection maybe we can strive to be a kinder person, more patient person, more compassionate person. If 2023 has taught me anything it’s that life is precious and fragile. In addition to caring for ourselves we need to look after each other as well.
Mental self care is just as important as physical self care. As the saying goes ‘You can’t pour from an empty cup’. That’s why it’s important to focus on your mental health as a part of your overall well being. Do something that makes you happy, makes you feel good, gets you inspired and excited. What gets me “high” is taking my camera in hand and snapping off a few rounds. I often say it’s the best therapy. On that note here are a few snaps of how I saw the world these last few months! Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them.
Remember my friend Donna I mentioned earlier? We met many years ago in the late 90’s while doing a Computer Studies program at Keyin College. We hit it off immediately and we’ve been friends ever since, albeit living on different sides of the Atlantic. She came back to Newfoundland from the UK for a family celebration during Christmas and we decided to meet for coffee. This was the first time we’d met face to face in ages. On my drive to the coffee shop I kept thinking to myself, “What if we have nothing to talk about? What if there are awkward silences”? I began making a list in my head of all the things we could potentially discuss in case there was a break in the chatter. Boy oh boy, was I wrong! From the moment we saw each other and hugged the talking started and it went from there. It’s like I saw her yesterday; still funny, still a wonderful story teller, and she hasn’t aged a day. I almost let my anxiety get the better of me and cancelled our visit but I pushed through the fear; best decision I’ve made in ages. The visit was nourishment for the soul.
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Revolution has another definition as well, coming from the word “revolve” meaning to move in a circular orbit around. That’s us; our life and world literally revolves around the sun. We are blessed to get another 365 days to spend whichever way we choose. The key is to make sure whatever we do in the next 365 days is meaningful and helpful to others and especially ourselves because we are often our own worst critics. Maybe then we wouldn’t feel the need to burden ourselves with new years resolutions that we likely won’t keep!
Until Next Time,
Andrea