Welcome to 2022! Each year we enter the new year with great hope that it will be healthier and more prosperous than the last! We enter with enthusiasm, with new goals and resolutions and a renewed energy that can’t be replicated in February! Sadly, however, many of us don’t succeed in keeping our resolutions or reaching our goals. Why do you think that is?

In a study published by the Mayo Clinic, many of us enter the new year with remorse, guilt, and a lack of restraint over the holidays. We slacked off on exercise, trading that for sneaking that additional piece of pie with the goal of jumping on the treadmill in the morning! Instead of enjoying the fact that the new year is upon us and we have 12 months to meet our goals, we beat ourselves up the first 6 weeks.

I remember waiting in line for workout equipment at the local gym the first week of January, so I quit going lol! Sadly, by the second week of February, some 80% of resolutions are given up and we are disappointed in ourselves. Some guidance from the Mayo Clinic on resolutions:

1. Think small. Throughout the day, find simple challenges that you make happen.
2. Build self-trust. Better to do the best you can than to fall short and wind up jeopardizing your growth capacity.
3. Invent challenges. Invent various challenges throughout the day to strengthen your ability to believe and to do.
4. Cultivate optimism. Positives may be eclipsed by a habit of pessimistic negativity; pessimists are used to being negative.
5. Develop critical awareness. With awareness, you shed light on your destructive, reflexive habits and thinking and on any self-sabotaging mind games at play.

At the end of the day, it is a mind game. If you don’t change your mind, don’t expect your health goals to materialize. You can do it, I have faith in each and every one of you! Push yourself away from the table (and the TV), think small, take the dog for a walk, stop by a produce stand instead of the local fast-food drive-through, try some seltzer with lime in place of that mixed drink, and above all, be thankful for everything you have and pray for those who have less. Stay well, stay informed, and stay tuned!