It’s that time of year again! Tis the season for wiping the slate clean, conquering a challenge, or setting your sights on a new goal. Ok, so, if you’ve been around here for a little while now, you know I’m not a huge fan of resolutions. Why? Oh so glad you asked. It appears when January rolls in, every post, ad, text, or email has the same message. A reminder that just because the calendar flipped into a new year, you are due for a new you too. Goals are wonderful, but when we brand our goals as “resolutions” they suddenly become … shall I say … different. Perhaps unattainable, doomed to fail + be ditched in the first few weeks of the new year. Some resolutions are so important to make + to keep! So, together, let’s figure out if there are any New Year’s Resolutions Worth Fighting For + how you can fight for them.
Tara’s Tuesday Tips:
New Year’s Resolutions Worth Fighting For
Statistically speaking, resolutions are doomed to fail. However, did you know that simply by setting a goal for yourself, you are ten times more likely to change your behavior?!?! You also become overall more optimistic. With that in mind, I will start by saying that you are wonderful just the way you are, and don’t need a reboot or to be wiped clean just because it is January. However, if you want to challenge yourself, set a health, financial, personal, or relationship goal in 2023 then let’s fight for it! Here are a few to get you started that I think are worth fighting for and chances are, so do you.
Learn to Cook
- eat more at home, find joy in creating a meal that you enjoy + share
- How To Find Happiness In The Kitchen
- Guide To Cooking Recipe-Free Meatless Meals
Find Your Tribe
- people! you need them! people like you, someone you can call or go for a walk with or eat with!
Be Prepared
- meal prep, grocery shopping, stocking the pantry, packing the lunches, making breakfast foods available
- 10 Things To Do On Weekends To Make Weeknight Cooking Easier
- What’s In My Pantry
Finding Gratitude
- I know I say this all the time but this is a wonderful resolution, totally attainable, will absolutely change your life!)
Minimum Daily Movement
- the minimum amount of purposeful movement you MUST do each day to feel good, any movement!
- Tara’s Tips For Plant-Powered Athletes
- Eat, Move, Live, Repeat
Be Kind to Yourself
- ditch the negative self talk, if you wouldn’t say it about someone you love … don’t say it about yourself!
Start Doing Something Instead of Stop Doing Something
- try this for a change … instead of “I won’t eat any more chips”, perhaps “I will drink 8 glasses of water every day”
- Improve Your Health By Adding Not Subtracting
Eat More Plants!
- seriously, you didn’t think I was going to make a list of the best resolutions ever and not put eat more plants on the list?!?!?!
- Easy Ways To Eat More Plants
- How To Stop Meat Cravings As A Vegetarian
- Why You Should Be Eating Green
- Easy Ways To Eat More Beans
- What Is Plant-Forward Eating?
- 10 Easy Food Substitutions For Plant-Based Eating
Remember: Awesome Begins When You Say It Does
With the fresh start of the new year, I know lots of you reading this have decided today is that day. Awesome begins today. I’m with you and here for you on that journey! Prioritizing your health is certainly a resolution worth fighting for. Find something on my list + make it your own! There are just some things in life worth fighting for. Your health, relationships, peace of mind, and self worth are a few of those things!
The Day I Found a Resolution Worth Fighting For
When I started running, I could not run even one mile. I started by going out the front door of my house and running until it got too difficult and then I would walk. When I caught my breath, I ran again. I repeated this process until the running intervals got longer and the walking intervals got shorter. Want to know what else happened? My physical manifestations of my stress went away, I slept better, I chose more nutrient dense foods, I made life-long friends, and I fell in love with running. That day that I decided to run, I decided I had enough. I was going to put one foot in front of the other and just run. And so I did. Now, only a few years later, I have enjoyed 21 marathons (including the Boston Marathon!), 28 half marathons, countless miles with my forever friends + hubby by my side. I am so eternally grateful that I found a goal worth fighting for. I made the right goal for the right reasons. You can too.
Tara’s Top 5 Tips to Help You Fight to Keep Your Resolution
Start with ‘Why”
When you understand your “why”, the reason behind your choice to set this new goal, and your New Year’s Resolution aligns with your priorities, it is far less likely to fail!
Be SMART
SMART goals. (S)pecific, (M)easurable, (A)ttainable, (R)elevent, (T)ime-Based. Following this forces you to make goals that are specific + clear. Know yourself but don’t limit yourself.
Be Prepared to Fail
Plan for the hiccup. In the overall picture of the 365 days in 2023, it does not matter if have a day or a week that your plans get derailed. What does matter is that you have a plan for when you drift off track and an even better plan to get back on that track and stick to it. Failure doesn’t feel good and can be very counter-productive. Make your resolutions realistic and challenging but don’t make your goal so unattainable that you set yourself up for failure.
Bite-Size Pieces
Set mini goals in order to achieve the big goal. Break your goal into small milestones. If your goal is to run a 5K in 2023, then resolve to walk for 30 minutes and then build on that by incorporating 30 seconds of running every 3 minutes and keep increasing the running time every week. This is how I started running!
Don’t Overreact To A Setback
Don’t let one small setback derail your entire plan. In the nutrition world, it is called “counter-regulatory eating” but it certainly can be applied to any goal. Eating one donut may cause a person to feel as though they have blown their entire day’s eating and they end up eating the whole dozen + more. If you give yourself permission to eat + enjoy one donut without all of the donut baggage, you won’t have such an emotional setback.
Food For Thought
This yearly ritual that many of us participate in has the power to be a motivation instead of a disappointment. Choosing the right goal and the right process to attain that goal can be the difference between success + failure. Be kind to yourself, give yourself grace, be flexible, realistic, and above all celebrate every little win along the way. What matters is the journey not the destination.
🎆 Happy 2023 friends + fam. If eating more plant-based is one of your goals, you have certainly come to the right place. I am so happy + privileged to be along for the ride with you.
All the best,
Tara 🥳
⭐Did you make a New Year’s Resolution Worth Fighting For? Let me know in the comments!
📸I love to see your creations! Follow me on Instagram @myvegetarianfamily and hashtag it #myvegetarianfamily
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