The Holiday Season is upon us and along with this comes social parties, family gatherings and the additional holiday stress that comes with the season. All of these added activities force us to trim or scale back our usual routine in order to fit in these extra 'once a year' responsibilities. This maybe excused, if it is understood that it is only a temporary solution. However, this solution usually results in unwanted outcomes. Welcome to the New Year’s resolution!
Just the idea of beginning from scratch is overwhelming and unappealing to many, so why is it that so many of us allow this to happen over the Holidays? Simply put it is the decision to take the easy path that creates long term problems. Yet, this does not necessarily have to be the case in maintaining your daily physical activity. This negotiation of letting a couple of days go by without engaging in some type of physical activity can easily add up to a couple of weeks, to months, and before you know it, you are back at square one. Having to start all over again at getting back into physical condition. The solution is to manage your valuable time. To evaluate and prioritize both your daily activities as well as those seasonal traditions. Whatever those choices may be, maintain some level of physical activity. Make a conscious decision to set aside time to be deliberately active. Make it non-negotiable with your other seasonal activities. You will be the winner. You will find that you are able to do more, your energy level, mood, and self esteem will all be up. You will have more self control and decreasing those extra cravings for cookies and other things you know you should not be eating. Not only is a long-term commitment to physical activity beneficialy healthy, it is also Mother Nature’s key to anti-aging. Who doesn’t like the sound of that!
As this season brings on new challenges not only to personal schedules, but also to nature’s schedule (shorter periods of day light). You are afforded a wonderful opportunity to be creative and change your physical activities! Such simple alternatives like walking around the mall, try going snow shoeing or sledding with family and friends. Walking around the neighborhood and enjoy and admire the creative Holiday decorations on your neighbor's homes. Shovel your neighbor's sidewalks is a great way to keep active, burn calories, and it also makes a great gift.
The truth is this time of year can pack on a lot of challenges and extra stress, why add to that stress? Set definite non-negotiable times to create new and invigorating strategies. So that by the first of the year you are starting out on the path to success, not joining the ranks of so many who are having to undue the damage caused by holiday weight gain with the elusive New Year’s resolution.
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