I googled the top New Year resolutions and number one is lose weight. Number 10 was get healthy. In-between those two big resolutions were quit smoking, dress in style more often and listen to my favorite music more. Crazy how we put listen to more music before get healthy.
What were you doing this time last year? What was your life like? How many changes have you made? When January arrived, did you look back on 2016 and celebrate all that you accomplished? Or are you wishing you had done more to improve your life?
I googled the top New Year resolutions and number one is lose weight. Number 10 was get healthy. In-between those two big resolutions were quit smoking, dress in style more often and listen to my favorite music more. Crazy how we put listen to more music before get healthy. It seems to me that getting healthy should be number one. If you were to concentrate on becoming healthier in 2017, most of the other resolutions would fall into place and you’d accomplish a great deal in this coming year.
What does “get healthy” mean to me? A few years ago it meant that I had to accept the fact that I was a drunk and find a way to ask for help. This step was so incredibly difficult. I’d tell myself that I’d change on my own; that I’d just work harder at being stronger. I’d tell myself to change my drinking. I spent many a New Year’s Day mornings telling myself, “This year is the year that I will drink less.” I did not however, say, “This year I will Quit!” I never really wanted to quit. I just wanted to drink less.
I literally watched myself get more and more unhealthy. I saw myself in pictures and could not believe the person in the photograph was me. I was gaining weight, getting a double chin and adding a tire around my waist. I was doing nothing that resembled exercise. I was always promising to start my new regime tomorrow, because today I was either hungover or already sabotaging myself by enjoying a Bloody Mary. I loved my Dirty Bloodys with lots of olive juice, a pickle and a whole garden of veggies in a tumbler. I would say that I was having my daily dose of vegetables in a glass. Healthy, right?
It’s funny how I talked myself out of doing something healthy, because it would be so much work. I chose easy or lazy every time.
It’s funny how I talked myself out of doing something healthy, because it would be so much work. I chose easy or lazy every time. I continued to drink, lie, cheat; and be destructive to my family, friends and my body. Fear stopped me from doing what I needed to do. And it was fear that became my motivator to stop. Fear of death. In 2012 I chose to live. I drank for one month and 11 days. My sobriety date is February 11th and I celebrate joyfully that day every year.
This year I made a New Year Vision. I wrote down all I envision for myself this year. I imagine what it looks like to accomplish each goal. I looked at all areas of my life. My health, relationships, work, even my vacations! I know that I need to have fun to stay balanced and healthy. I also have a big dream that has my heart beating and my palms itching. I’m ready to dig deep and create that new dream this year.
Every day that I put drinking in front of healthy, I cheated myself out of life. I misused, mistreated, hurt or destroyed some part of myself. My wish for you is that you make YOU a priority today and for the future. Start by writing your own New Year’s Vision. Our horses and I are waiting to help you begin enjoying your life in Recovery.