It is officially a brand new year, and like always, I am looking forward to a fresh start. I know that you don’t need a new year, a new month, a new week, or even a new day to get started. It’s hard not to want to start on something new at this time of year, though. After all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and reflecting on the year that has just passed, something new to look forward to is refreshing.
I started off 2022 by reading from a meditation book called More Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie. My mom read from her first meditation book (The Language of Letting Go) every single day. I have her copy and it is bookmarked on the day before she died, the last meditation that she read. I bought the new book not long after she died but never opened it. I decided to start of this new year by reading the meditations and to my delight, some days even come with activities. That will help me with my goal of getting back into journaling.
I also completed my first run of the year yesterday! I ran a virtual race, Breaking Stigma in Stride 5k. This race, hosted by Still I Run and Altra Running, is meant to start the year off on the right foot by talking about and running for your mental health in order to break the stigma. I was chosen to be a Still I Run Ambassador for 2022, so I proudly donned some of my gear, hit the pavement, and shared about this wonderful group that I am part of. I will share even more with you about this amazing mental health/running community as the year goes on. I ran 3.11 miles in 39:18 – my goal was to finish in under 40 minutes. I also did a magic mile for my 2nd mile of the race. My magic mile time was 10:42 and will help me with my training goals coming up. I plan to try to do a magic mile at least once a month in 2022. My next race will be an in person race on February 5th – the 2022 Winterlaufe 8k will be my 100th (in person/official) race!
Another health related goal that I want to start my year off with is trying to drink more water. A friend of mine also shared this goal. We sent each other pictures of our drink cups and we each have our own daily goal – mine is to drink at least one of my 20oz bottles of water each day. I know to a lot of people that seems like nothing, but I really struggle with drinking ANY fluids during the day. It is a habit I have tried working on time and time again. I am hoping that by starting out with a small goal, I will have more success.
My friend texted me the other day. She said she had read my blog about my goals for 2022 and that she had an idea. She wanted to cook through a cookbook together! I got out a few cookbooks that I thought would have a variety of recipes, but not be too long that we couldn’t tackle all of the recipes over the next year. She picked out Hungry Girl Fast & Easy: All-Natural Recipes in 30 Minute or Less by Lisa Lillien.
I started flipping through some of the recipes this morning, and I am really excited to tackle this one! There were a lot of recipes that I saw that I want to try. I also already know that I will be making some adjustments to recipes (I know some people love riced cauliflower but give me the real stuff please!) and she will too just based on our individual tastes, preferences, allergies, etc. My friend and I are meeting up this weekend to pick out the recipes we want to try first! I will be sure to do a “recipe round up” at least once a month to share the recipes that I have tried from this book.
Something else I am working on this month is getting my house more organized, cleaned up and decluttered. With the help of my friend and some googling, I put together a spreadsheet of different tasks to complete over the next month to help me get started. I actually found a lot of different calendars, lists, etc. for cleaning that I think I will use throughout the year to guide me and change things up to keep our house tidy. My first project was to declutter and reorganize the shelves in my bathroom where I keep my (really ridiculous) collection of Bath and Body Works soaps and lotions.
So far, I feel good about this fresh start. I really enjoyed having a week off from work to spend time with family and friends. It also gave me the opportunity to get organized and ready for the New Year. I am looking forward to seeing what 2022 has to offer!
RD on the Run 