Balance...

Happy New Year everyone!

 So lets talk about resolutions. My resolution, every single year without fail, is to get healthier and be super fit. It's a tad extreme but I think the reason that's my yearly resolution is because by early December, my relatively decent lifestyle gets tossed out the window and is replaced with a cake and wine marching band through my everyday life until New Years Eve. What is it about December? We are not
Grizzly Bears gearing up for the Jan 1st hibernation.  Has everyone ever heard of a fruit tray as a thoughtful gift to your clients and co-workers?  Come Dec 31st, I'm feeling like such a 'hoss' that I can think of nothing else but eating kale and steamed chicken for dinner for the next three months...and I welcome it.

Dec 30th was a perfect example. Instead of walking the dog or going to yoga or making a lovely breakfast on my days off, I was scouring the net for some quick 15 minute hardcore workouts I could do every morning to get back to my December 1st self.  I'm falling into the New Years hype by going "ya it will only take 15 minutes to negate all the damage I have done in the last month."

I found a great workout from the Dr. Oz website. As I am sitting there, eating Jelly Bellies by the fistful, I'm thinking "oh ya this will work, this is easy I can do this!" I watched, while sitting on my growing ass, the full 15 minutes, then I decided, why wait until Jan 01st? I'm going to do this workout NOW...as soon as I finish my Jelly Beans. So I did a quick change out of my pajama uniform I have been living in and restarted the 15 minutes....of torture.  Oh my god!!! I was going to barf after 3 minutes. I found myself going "15 minutes...who has time for 15 minutes of this shit??" I found time to sit around on the couch on Sunday for 15 hours though.

Today, after the three minutes of momentary insanity, my calves are completely screwed! I can barely walk they are so tight.  After such a let down of not being able to do the full 15 minutes, I of course was not going to stretch after. That would be absurd!

Every year its the same thing.  Ya know, I would love to have a new years resolution of being more patient, volunteering on a regular basis and doing more meaningful things in the upcoming year. Unfortunately, I sabotage it every year by going on a free for all with food and laziness in December and destroying all the good I have done in the last 11 months so I feel an insane urge to correct it...and FAST.  Does anyone else do this?

Now I am not going to pretend this has been my healthiest year. The first four months of 2012 were spent on my back and trying to get my spine to be pain free. With chronic pain an everyday thing, I did turn to the comforts of food...and online shopping of course but THAT'S not new to 2012. The three months of summer was really the only healthy part of the year.  It was a lot of work though...yoga classes 5 times a week, boot camp 2 times a week...that's 7 days with no break.  I felt I had to make up the damage of not being able to be physically active for the first part of 2012. It was all consuming though.  It could only last for so long without balance. Then come September I went on vacation and haven't been able to recover since.

If I make fitness/activity and healthy eating balanced with lounging and treats on a Saturday night, things wouldn't crumble so badly for special occasions. If  I allow myself more freedom to enjoy things I like instead of depraving myself so much, I wouldn't go so nuts come the holiday season, or vacation, or weddings, every Saturday night or lets be real, any special event.
  
Isn't that the secret of beautiful French women? They allow themselves tiny indulgences everyday? They only eat one square of chocolate because they know they can have a teeny square tomorrow as well.  If you knew you could have another treat in the near future, would you feel it necessary to eat the whole bar? I know I sure would.

With New 'Healthy' Year looming, I realizing going balls to the wall on Jan 01st, is not the way to go for me. With my back feeling healthier and stronger than it has in two years, I think 2013 is going to be about balance and treating my body with the respect it deserves.  If I set my goals so high, when I have a slip up, that's a pretty big fall of failure. Why would I be so cruel to myself? I want to set myself up to succeed not fail.  I'm not going to be going out running every morning in January and I am not going to purge my pantry of anything as sinful as...GASP...a carb! When I think of food or being lazy in 2013, I am going to try to keep in mind balance and kindness to my body. Is it necessary to eat the whole bag or lay on the couch all day? No it isn't but sometimes we just need a little treat or a little rest.  I plan on having a small treat everyday, whether it be food or a moment of laziness.  I am also going to be more active on a regular basis and more mindful of what I put in my body and what amount. I am not going to have to feel guilty about it because I am not overindulging. Were human, we need little luxuries to help us rest and recharge to power us through difficult days or to have energy to enjoy the wonderful days. The key is balancing those moments of indulgences with something good for your body and mind. 

So I guess my resolution in 2013 is to maintain a more balanced life. I am going to use tree pose as my reminder of what I promised myself I would do in 2013.  To me, Tree Pose is a wonderful combination of balance, calm, determination and indulgence. It is a wonderfully enlightening pose for me.

So Happy New Year everyone and may 2013 bring you much balance to you and your loved ones.

Namaste xo.