Happy New Year! At this time of year, many of us are reflecting on last year’s accomplishments and gearing up for the year to come. If you are looking at the future with trepidation because you haven’t quite met last year’s resolutions, you’re not alone. Many of us start the year with good intentions but falter as time marches on. If this is you, don’t despair! Think about what you did accomplish last year and give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it!
As you plan for the coming year, it may help to review the challenges you previously faced. Perhaps you didn’t get quite as far as you wanted last year. Perhaps you were focusing on one area of your life that led you to neglect another. Maybe family or work demands got in the way, or perhaps the goals you made weren’t realistic.
If so, it may be that your resolutions were disruptive to your life instead of being integrated into your life. Rather than supporting your life as a whole, they put too much emphasis on one area while sacrificing too much of another. What if this year, your resolutions and goals strengthened other areas of your life rather than competing against them?
Our friends at Delta Health Coaching have shown us how an integrated plan can support your success. Balance of Nature offers its Preferred Customers complimentary health coaching through Delta Health Coaching. The Health Coaches at Delta Health Coaching act as guides along your individual journey by focusing on Dr. Douglas Howard’s philosophy of the Triad of Health.
Delta Health Coaching’s Triad of Health is a philosophy that encompasses your Physical, Spiritual, and Chemical health. The Physical side focuses on exercise and movement. The Spiritual side is all about mental health, belief systems, and emotional well-being; and the Chemical side comprises what you eat, breathe, or absorb through your skin
By setting your goals with this philosophy in mind—that changing one area of your life will affect the others—you can consider the advantages and disadvantages your goals will have on your life as a whole. Seeing the big picture will help you adjust your goals so that they support other areas of your life instead of disrupting them.
Let’s imagine your resolution is to start a regular walking routine to get more exercise. While thinking about how to successfully accomplish this, consider these important questions: how much time will I spend walking? When will I fit walking into my schedule? What will I have to sacrifice or change to be able to accomplish this? Do I have shoes and attire I can wear, or do I need to purchase them? How will this help or hinder my life?
Answering questions such as these can help you create a plan that is sustainable and beneficial to other areas of your life. You may realize that getting up early in the morning to walk is challenging and leaves you drowsy in the afternoon; conversely, walking during your lunch hour is easy and energizes you for the rest of the day. In this case, choosing to walk during your lunch hour removes the obstacle of disrupting your regular sleep schedule and gives you the benefit of more energy in the afternoon.
That extra energy has the potential to help you be more productive, perhaps increasing your value at work, freeing up time to spend with family and friends, or enjoying a hobby. In this hypothetical example, the choice to walk during a lunch break not only paves the way for a regular walking routine but also supports other important areas of life!
An integrated approach to your New Year’s resolutions, or goals set at any time, can set you up for success. The year ahead is full of opportunities, so don’t shy away from your hopes and dreams. Take a balanced approach as you move forward, and see how far you can go!
