Mid-Year Resolutions

 Resolutions are normally something reserved for the New Year. Fueled by the sense of a new year meaning new beginnings (not to mention all the booze and brandy butter) we all make resolutions. Some of them may just be whispered to ourselves while falling asleep on New Year’s Eve, but they are made. Unfortunately come February when we realize we haven’t even started them, let alone achieved anything, we tend to give up and resolve never to make resolutions again.

I am one of those people that is continually determined to try and improve myself, and am often most enthusiastic about this on a Sunday night when lying on the sofa watching TV. Come the cold hard truth of a Monday morning it inevitably gets delayed another week, or two, or three.

So this year I have decided enough is enough and I am making some resolutions. However these are mid year resolutions with a 6month expiry. I am hoping that making a change during the summer months, when the nights are lighter and the days are occasionally warmer might help me to stick to them, so that by the time autumn creeps in they will have become natural and therefore easier to maintain. Then there is the reward of Christmas at the end of it all as something to look forward to.
I am a little late writing all this up, so although it is now August, these have been in place since July, meaning I am already one month through- hurrah!

What are these exciting resolutions I can hear you asking? Well I have it down to 3 main ones and will be listing them up here over the next few days, with what they entail and why I am doing them. The first one I am going to cover today and is probably the most obvious and clichéd of all resolutions!

Get Healthier!

I don’t just mean get fit and lose weight, (though if that is a side effect- bonus) I mean generally be healthier with all my choices. I think for me this breaks down into 3 areas:

Food- As you can see from my Monday ‘this week’ posts I like my food, and I think we generally do pretty well with this mainly cooking proper meals from scratch, (let’s not mention a joint weakness for Billionaire type deserts) and eating several pieces of fruit a day. However I am sure we could eat a lot more vegetables, I think most people could always eat more vegetables, and so I want to try and expand and improve my cooking so that we eat more good stuff. Eating more doesn’t sound like too much of a chore, so am hoping this will be more fun and informative than tough.

Fitness- Start exercising again. Before 2 years of ill health and operations knocked me back a bit I used to think I was fairly fit. At my best I was running 5k 3 times a week and we were regular hikers. We have started back walking and I was really pleased to get up Bowfell in the Lakes at the end of last year, but I paid the price for the days afterwards in sore aching muscles. Therefore I am starting back at the running, although it is painful being right back at the start and having to patiently build it back up. Luckily working from home with the countryside right on my doorstep (why does it have to be such hilly countryside!!) I can fit a run in during my day, whether it is an early pre-work one or more likely a lunchbreak run. My aim is to be able to run 5k again by the end of the year, which should also mean I can do a long day’s hike too.

Strength and flexibility- This goes with the fitness above, but I specifically want to focus on building my strength back and trying to become more flexible. I have never been bendy- much to the annoyance of my ballet teacher when I was younger- and if I can touch my knees it is good, let alone my toes! So I am going to build some yoga and some gentle weight training into my days to try and remedy this. If I can touch those toes at Christmas (probably best tested before I start eating turkey) then I will consider this a massive success.

So there we go, that is my 'healthiness' goals for the 6months. While I don’t expect to be some sort of Jessica Ennis/Gisele fit freak by the end, (although secretly I would love that to happen) I do want to feel stronger and better in myself. Any tips on how to stick to all this or to improve this would be greatly appreciated.

Little Owl