Inevitably on the 31st of December I spend a lot of time thinking about my New Year's resolutions. I'm tired of setting goals that are unrealistic and that end up making me feel guilty if I don't succeed. So for 2020, I'm trying to come up with a plan to change certain habits that will lead to a healthier and happier me.
The first has to do with exercise. I used to exercise regularly. I was on the cross-country running club and the soccer team in high school, I played soccer at the university, I used to run regularly. I ran the Pittsburgh Great Race with my father four years in a row. I still play tennis but not as much as I'd like to, and I love to ski, I'm no expert, but it's so much fun! I have ridden my bike to Washington, D.C. on the Great Allegheny Passage (a must do!) and used to go to spinning classes twice a week at the gym. Then I started working on my doctorate. All that exercise came to a grinding halt. This isn't good, especially at my age.
I'm determined to get back in shape. It's essential for me both physically and mentally, especially given the stressors of taking care of a son with mental health issues, working full-time as a teacher at the university, writing my dissertation, and taking doctoral classes all at the same time. I know that exercise has always made me feel more energetic and mentally alert, and yet I always have an excuse not to go to the gym. Until I read the article below. I had never heard of "pleasure bundling", but it makes sense to me! Read it and let me know what you think!
Fresh Starts, Guilty Pleasures And Other Pro Tips For Sticking To Good Habits
These series of Podcasts published by National Public Radio (NPR) provide several good tips for transforming your New Year's resolutions into habits:
NPR's Podcast Playlist for Transforming New Year's resolutions into habits
Tell me, do you believe in New Year's resolutions? What are yours?
I am never very good at resolutions, like, ever! But I really appreciate the links that you posted about turning the resolutions into habits. I was also super active a few years ago and once I had my son that exercise came to a grinding halt. It seems like such a silly thing to give up when life gets stressful, especially because it is such an awesome form of stress relief. This year and this time around with pregnancy, I have a post-baby power lifting plan in the works. My husband is an avid gym-goer and power lifter so he is looking forward to sharing this hobby he has with me. My goal is to use this new experience as something we do together and also as a stepping stone to a healthy life style. I know I will never be able to give up my love of snacks, both sweet and salty in variety, but I do think I can begin to exercise again. I will totally be looking into your tips and try to turn my new goal into my family's new lifestyle!
ReplyDeleteI can completely understand how life gets in the way of exercising. It is so important to get outside and take a walk or run, or even work out at a gym. It makes us feel so good to physically exercise, yet it seems to be the first thing that gets pushed aside when schedules get busy, or when the weather is uncooperative as well. I have a puppy, which helps to keep me going for walks and runs. A happy puppy is a non-chewed house. It is sometimes hard to keep up with New Year's resolutions, yet some work out movies and simple things like lifting hand weights at home helps to get an exercise routine started.
ReplyDeleteI completely concur with the dread of setting these NY's goals that often never materialize into something meaningful that you feel can translate to accomplishments. First, things typically get in the way, and as they will, they can tend to distort and slow one down. Additionally, taking a cue from the field of behaviorism, one must understand his antecedents that lead the undesirable behavior that also then translate into consequences. To this end, it is important to consider the idea of Pleasure Bundling where highs and lows come together to motivate and positively reinforce what you have to do so you can want to do it and make it work towards completing your goals.
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