The New Year celebration is seeped in tradition and folklore. Almost as much as Christmas. Kissing the one you love as the clock strikes twelve. Champagne to toast the New Year in, Fireworks and noisemakers that bring a loud sound of joy as one year passes and another starts.
New Year Eve has always been difficult for me. I realized early on that The New Years celebration changed nothing. You wake up of January first with the same problems you went to bed with of December thirty-first. I began not to celebrate because it didn’t seem like there was much hope in any new year,
This year is different. 2020 has been a year of unprecedented events. A worldwide epidemic that has killed hundreds of thousands, A presidential election that was full of surprises and controversy and our country being torn apart because of it. In my life a health threat so real that major life style changes have to happen in order for me to survive and live well.
2021 brings, as Star Wars, termed it “A New Hope.” We have hope because a vaccine against the virus is now being administered and our lives can eventually return to what they were. We have hope in a new administration that will try to pull our country together and personally I have hope that changes in my diet and my lifestyle will help me to become healthy again.
Towards that goal my sisters gave me a pedal machine. Just the pedal with a the knob to ramp up resistance and a computer to gauge speed, meters pedaled, time and calories burned. I will begin using this on the first.
Christmas made it very hard to stay on any diet. I tried but things got out of hand. I didn’t make a lot of treats but the ones that we did have were too good to pass up. That stuff will soon be purged from the house and the temptation gone. This will sound like an excuse, but Christmas should be celebrated, and we celebrate best with food. Food seems to be the cornerstone of all our celebrations. Between now and Christmas of 2021 I want to learn how to b just as festive without so many calories.
New Years seems to be a time to make Resolutions. Decisions to change things in your life. Most people make these commitments every year and rarely stick to them as the routine of daily life gets in the way. This year for me the decisions I make have to be stuck to. A healthy lifestyle is one that is developed. It does not occur with the touch of a magic wand. So starting January first the first step no sugary drinks. This includes fruit-based drinks, soda and juices. I will add no white sugar to any drink, but I will allow honey for tea. My main drink will be water with occasional skim milk. Skim milk will replace my current 0ne percent fat milk.
I will add exercise using the pedal machine my sisters provided and some exercises I know how to do on the floor. I want also for my Bible study time to be more active than it has been and I would like to read the biographies of people that overcame great obstacles to become better people. In short, I want to make changes that will effect my whole being, not just my weight.
I don’t know what you intend to change in 2021 but I do believe that this is a year of hope. Not a futile hope but one that is confident in what can be done will be done. I hope for you the best 2021 that there can be. Stay healthy friends.