A Healthy Change for the New Year

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Feature image from BALLOONTIME

It is almost time for the new year.  This is the time when my life is filled with two things, New Years Eve plans and New Years Resolutions.  While New Years Eve parties are a grand farewell to the year past, it is our New Years Resolutions that keep up looking forward with fresh eyes and renewed promise.  Making resolutions is one thing, keeping them is something else entirely.  So how can we make sure we keep our New Years Resolutions for 2016 and what is the best way to make them?

For me, New Years Eve parties have always felt like a happy but final sendoff to the year gone by.  They are a finish to everything that has come in the previous year, whether it be positive or challenging (or if you had a nasty year, a really great wake).  New Years Eve has always felt like a goodbye.

New Years Resolutions have always felt like a hello.  To me, they are a way of welcoming the new year and of planning ahead to ensure my future will be a little brighter.

1. Begin by looking back over the past year.  Making resolutions of all the thing I want to change can often leave me feeling like a bit of a failure.  The act of sitting down and writing all the things I should do better, haven’t done or aren’t very good at, can be pretty demoralising – so instead I begin my resolutions by looking back on everything I have already achieved.

I divide my year up into different categories – for example, Family, Work, Health, Adventures, Love, Me, Education… (whatever you like).  Then write down every great thing that happened in those categories.  This makes New Years Resolutions more of a process of filling in the gaps.  Now take a look at the year that has past.  Which categories did you ignore?  Where could you focus more attention?

2. See how far you have come.  It is important to see how far you have come in just one year.  This process will put you in a positive mind to write your new years’ resolutions.  It will help you to see just how much is possible in a year and what you are already able to achieve.

3. Plan your next year.  Now you are ready to write your resolutions for 2016.  This is a great time to simply plan your year, look at what is ahead and start to get prepared and excited.  Make sure you are writing a positive plan for the year to come, with plenty of rewards, adventures and joy.

What does this have to do with ITP?  Have you considered your autoimmune disorder in your New Years Resolutions?  This year I am making a special mention of ITP as I sit down to plan 2016.  These are the questions I am asking myself…

  • What have I been wanting to try, but keep putting off?
  • Which treatments have I attempted but never really committed to?
  • What treatments have you been sceptical about?  And how can I be more open minded?
  • How am I going to approach my ITP this year?

 

2016 is a long time, and there are plenty of months to try, stumble and try again before you sit down to plan 2017.  Is this the year you try meditation?  Is 2016 the year you commit to returning to exercise?  Is this the year you slowly begin to overhaul your diet?

What are your New Years Resolutions for 2016?  Sharing your resolutions can help you commit to them and motivate you to see them through.

Add them to the comments below.

 

by Meg

Meghan Brewster is a writer and blogger. She is an ITP patient and launched ITP&Me in 2011. She is a coffee lover and a try hard dancer. @meghan_brewster

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