Tammy’s Healthy Living New Year’s Resolutions

nothing-can-be-done-without-hope-and-confidenceOne of my favourite parts of bringing in the new year is making healthy New Year’s Resolutions. I rarely ever make just one and generally they have to do with health and fitness.  2013 has seen some pretty amazing changes in my world. I learned to snowboard, raised another $2300 for PRO Kids (the grand total is now just under $7000), completed the EPIC Darmouth iron-distance triathlon and qualified for a spot on Team Canada to compete in the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in China September 21, 2014 (read my story on why I decided to take this opportunity), opened a health and fitness studio on 229 Lincoln St., Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, studied to become a canfitpro Nutrition & Weight Loss Specialist (recently completed the exam, just waiting for the results), increased my mountain biking skills, purchased a cyclocross bike and learned a whole new skill set for cyclocross racing, remained injury free and never got sick once. Wow, it really has been quite a year.

2014 is going to be another crazy year for me, with loads to accomplish, especially the Worlds in China. However, as I continue to charge through life at what seems like an increasingly faster rate with each year, it’s time to learn to slow down.  Being so busy all the time is becoming a very annoying thing to say to my family and friends, and to be honest, it’s starting to weigh heavy in my heart. Besides, it’s not healthy to be so busy. I’m often stressed out and that is one of the top contributors to health problems. While I work so hard to do many great things most of the time for my health, I am too stressed. I have no balance of wellness. I’m tipping the scale and it’s gotta stop. My main goal for 2014 is to de-stress my life!

With all that said, here are my healthy living New Year’s Resolutions for 2014, which all revolve around the ultimate main goal of reducing stress:

1) One of the biggest things I need to figure out is a better way to participate in my business.  I am doing too much. Not only do I teach most of the classes, I juggle all the accounting, marketing, writing, promoting, social media management, videos (creating, editing and publishing), website building, programming, public relations, management of properties, management of staff, cleaning and the list goes on. My goal is to fix this, it won’t happen overnight, and this will be a work in progress that will probably last the whole year, but I’m determined to do it!

arriveatgoalstartsanother2) Write more – I love to write and it’s a great stress reliever when I have the time.  I plan to blog more on topics of food, fitness as well as publish my work.  I also have a few projects up my sleeve for my business. Pretty exciting stuff!

3) Purging – I want to purge my life of “things” as the clutter and disorganization stresses me out in my home-space.  I started purging my house last year. While I have to emotionally separate from the material things that I’ve had so long, having them gone is a huge relief. I love the open and free space I’m creating in my home. There’s less to clean, organize and maintain. This year I am cleaning out the attic, all my books, my son’s baby clothes and toys, and collectibles.  I sold off a bunch of art, my precious pool cues, jewelry, and some antiques.  It feels so good to get rid of stuff! Again, this will probably take me another year to get to where I want to be, and again, I’m determined!

4) Social media – while I need it to advertise my business and promote my existence (which helps me make moola), I want to use way less of it.  I am setting up a schedule of posts and going to ask myself “do I really need to post this?” before I do.  This is going to be tough as I use social media a lot to advertise and promote and. However, it eats up a lot of my time and causes stress. Time flies by on facebook, and what a waste that is. This is an addiction I need to crack.

5) Eating goals – I learned so much through my Nutrition and Weight Loss Specialist course. While I already eat healthy and have a solid understanding of nutrition, there is always much to learn and always changes to make. I will continue to reduce the amount of sugar I eat and concentrate on healthy fats.  The biggest change I need to make is more vegetables and greens.  While I eat plenty of fruit, nuts, seeds, etc. I do not get enough variety in vegetables. I now have a Magic Bullet blender and juicer which is going to help me a great deal. I am not a fan of spending a lot of time in the kitchen, I’d much rather be out on my bike. So this Magic Bullet will allow me to get the raw nutrition into my body efficiently. In my course, I learned the key roles of many hormones and now that I understand better how food effects hormones in our body, I will be able to regulate my diet better.  I can imagine I release a lot of cortisol due to my stress levels. I have to get this under control and better nutrition accompanied with less stress will help enormously.

dosomethingnowfuturelife6) Fitness goals – because I’m naturally active, it is my fitness goal to reduce stress by establishing a better sleeping regime. I will stop work early enough in the evening to settle my mind and go to bed roughly around the same time each night. I will not take my work to bed with me like I have been doing for the past 4-5 months.  Horrible!

7) Spend more time with family and friends – this may be listed last but it’s not the least important, it’s the most important.  I need to get my life structured so I can see my mom and dad more often who live just 5km from my house. I need to get things organized so when my boyfriend, Justin, is home (he works out west), I can be with him in Cape Breton (so this means in 2014 I hope to be living part time in Riverport and part time in Cape Breton). I also need to pay more attention to my son and push him along in life.  I have to stop telling my friends “I’m busy” or “I’m tired” every time they invite me out to do something. Not having time for my family and friends hurts my heart and causes me a lot of stress. What is life about if you can’t spend time with those you love? I’m sacrificing the wrong things. I have always struggled with this and now it’s time to make some serious changes. Time goes too fast. I need to build more memories with family and friends and less memories working my ass off and stressing.

So these are my main goals of 2014. I really have to make an effort if I want to change my life for the better. I still remain determined!

What are your goals? Write me and tell me about it. Maybe you have something to offer that will help me on my way. And I hope that this blog has inspired you to make some healthy changes too.

Happy New Year friends!

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    1. Thank you Mom. I need to cook more homemade meals, so maybe you can help with recipes. If you could write down on a piece of paper your turnipcraut recipe and homemade hot coleslaw, that would be wonderful. Don’t email it to me because I need to get off the computer. Let’s do it the old fashion way, on paper with pen. Plus it would be nice to have something in your handwriting. Love you xo

  1. Sooo proud of you Tammy. You will have a far better sleep if you don’t take your work to bed with you. I can so identify with this post. Your friends, family and heart will thank you. You rock. xo

    1. Thank you Nancy. I remember you making this a goal in your life too. I really have to learn to shut down or I’m gonna drive myself mad and everyone else around me. It’s so hard thou, but like you said, my friends, family and heart will thank me. I believe you, xo