So, everyone's making 'em. New Year's Resolutions. Well, I am going to try to do things to improve my life. But I don't want to make too many goals or I'll be discouraged and overwhelmed and end up not achieving them. So here's the gist of it:

~ Start eating low carb/high protein. -- I have decided not to follow the Atkins diet. Not exactly, anyway. I hate the idea of leaving myself deprived of anything. That tends to make me want it more. And I hate measuring stuff (not that you have to do that with Atkins... I'm just sayin'). And I don't want kidney stones (Mom tells me such horror stories!). I don't want a plan with a name. I just want to do it on my own. Joe and I were discussing this, and I'm going to make a real effort to swim a few times a week, do Yoga a few times a week, just to be more active. I also plan to lift weights, because it's relaxing and helps tone my muscles. Aside from that, I'm going to make a real effort to reduce the amount of sugar in my diet, and eat veggies, lots of meat and tofu, and only a small amount of carbs per day. Gradually, I will lose weight. Gradually is okay with me, as long as it happens. Mostly, I just want to feel healthy and energetic. But I don't think I need to follow someone else's program to do it. I'm going to do this on my own and feel all the more empowered because of it.

~ Stretch my feet daily

~ Spend less time browsing stuff online and more time writing, reading, and playing video games. Oh, and being outside of course!

~ Write three pages of freewriting every morning when I wake up.

~ Wake up earlier in the morning and go outside, be happy, meditate.. just as long as I'm outside. I tend to be really, really happy when I start my day that way.

~ Drink more water.

~ Give up caffeine.

~ Write something, somewhere, every day.

And you know, all of these things are things I've wanted to do for a long, long time. And now I'm finally feeling the motivation to do it. Taking care of myself is something that has finally crawled its way to the top of my priority list. I used to think I was treating myself by letting myself eat pizza, dessert, etc. But now I see that not only did I not really enjoy eating those things very much anyway, they don't make me feel good and they do make me gain weight. So yeah, time to do something new. I feel really good about all of this, too.

They're not really resolutions or set goals. They're just things I've been wanting to do with my life for a while, and now I plan to follow through with so that I can be a happier, healthier person.

And I think that's a good thing!

~~Meg