I have always loved making resolutions for the New Year. The anticipation and momentum building up to that 1/1 date gives me the energy I need to start the year off on the right foot. As this year comes to a close, I love reviewing what went well and what didn’t. What we accomplished and what is left undone. I love using it as a marker for how I want the next year to go, and what changes I need to make in order to maintain balance in my life. This past year, a lot went right but I also received a big wakeup call in regards to my own health.
A little recap
2017 was a great (BIG) year for my little family. All set to move to Los Angeles, my husband was transferred to the Miami office totally last minute. Staying on the East Coast is a definite blessing, but we had already taken several house hunting trips to LA and even had a rental lined up! The change of direction, also meant going back to square one in finding a place I was comfortable with to raise our kids.
I was pregnant over half of 2107 with our rainbow baby, which meant additional doctors visits and a whole lot more anxiety and worry leading up to her birth. We sold our beloved home in Georgia, moved in with my parents, went on another house hunting trip to Miami (with two kinds mind you), threw in a few extra travels to NYC and the beach and finally, made the long trek to our new home in Miami, just in time for the holidays.
Once we moved, my toddler started having behavioral issues, her eczema was flaring up again and in the middle of unpacking, juggling repairmen, starting working from home again, I was trying my damnedest to figure out how to heal or “fix” her.
With my head down in “mission mode” since pretty much 2016, I didn’t realize what was going on around me, I wasn’t seeing that my body was trying to tell me something. After delivering Everly, I had recurring episodes of mastitis, thrush, and the flu, I needed an emergency root canal and had issues with PPD. Through all the crazy, I hadn’t slowed down enough to let my body heal. I ended up in the ER. I wasn’t eating like I should, sleeping like I should, and though I wasn’t freaking out externally, internally my stress levels were through the roof.
Fast forward a few months and I found myself, yet again, in the hospital. Want to know one of the first things the doctor asked me? “Are you under any stress?” My body was screaming at me. I needed to take a good, hard, long look at my current lifestyle. I had always considered myself healthy, I exercised, didn’t drink soda, ate organic and was up on all the natural remedies, I figured that I was the last thing I needed to worry about. I just didn’t realize with the chaos of life I had slipped down a slippery slope – the previous me was an avid horseback rider, I loved hiking, jogging and cooking – now I was surviving on minimal sleep, coffee, protein shakes/bars, not enough water, and wine – not the whole foods and water my body was craving. I was doing the bare minimum for myself and consequently was seeing first hand, the connection between food + body + mind.
2018: Reset + Refresh + Renew
I wanted to share this with you, because as a mom, especially in these current times, we are faced with so much EXPECTATION that often times the thing that gets left behind is yourself. There is pressure to perfectly balance it all, look good doing it, have perfectly dressed and well behaved kids, work full time, mother full time, run a house full time, keep up with the Jonses or whatever IG mom that seems to have her sh*t together, etc, etc.
Sometimes I rock it. Sometimes I put my phone in the refrigerator.
I thought to myself, will my life ever be with out stress, worry and utter chaos? That’s highly unrealistic. So when so much rides on you as a mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, neighbor, employee, etc. how can you set yourself up to better serve those who love you, rely on you, and cherish you?
This spurred my goals and areas of focus for 2018 – enriching my body, mind and soul.
BODY
- Focusing on nourishing my body, not just solving the feeling of hunger. Viewing food as preventative medicine, not gross vegetables.
- Getting more sleep. Burning the midnight oil like a college kid with NO kids is not an option for me anymore. Go to bed earlier, because kids will wake up in the middle of the night and get up really, really early.
- Exercise. Good for the body and the mind!
- Detoxing. Internal and external.
- DRINK MORE WATER.
MIND
- Practice stress management and find new ways to manage the inevitable stress in my life. The effects of stress on your health and happiness is astounding.
- Keep a Gratitude Journal. I had started this after I lost Michael last year, with moving I had gotten out of this habit. Excited to start this back up!
- Make a schedule. Now that we are in our new house and the girls are older, refreshing our schedule and getting into a groove will be key.
SOUL
- Pray/meditate. The only way to experience true peace is to continue filling my soul with the knowledge and love of Christ.
- Cultivate relationships. Enrich the old and nurture the new!
It may be the broadest resolution I’ve ever decided on, and I’m sure I’m not alone. However, after seeing first hand the intricate connection between the three this past year, it’s hard to focus on one without the other two.
I’ve always had an interest in health, alternative medicine and natural ways to support a healthy lifestyle, now, with my own health needs and my daughters special dietary needs, I have already poured hours and hours of myself into researching the various connections between food + body + mind. I’m excited to share what I have learned and continue to learn, over these next few months! One of my favorite ways to educate myself, is to talk to other people who are also doing the same research for their own families. I’d love to hear the ways you work to balance your own body + mind + soul and I would love to hear what your New Year Resolutions are!
I hope you have a blessed new year!
xo J
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