Today's the day our calendars start over. Just about everywhere we turn this time of year we are inundated with images of how to best start over at he proverbial annual starting line of life. Social media feeds, television and radio commercials, store displays are all encouraging me to jump on some band wagon in an effort to start anew.
"Buy a Peleton, you can save $500 now! (still a $2000 investment with the discount...say what?!?)"
"Join a gym."
"Watch what you eat."
"Participate in Dry January or begin a round of The Whole 30."
"Write down your resolutions and stick to them."
"Make 2022 the year your commit (something...anything....anything at all)!"
"Spend less, save more."
There's so much noise in the world. How do we decide what to pay attention to and what to tune out? If only I knew! Despite feeling a little overwhelmed by all the noise, I do know that while it might be the start of a new year it's also the continuation of my life (you know, the one I've been living the last 39 years and 7 months). Just because it's January 1st of a new year doesn't mean that I want to all of a sudden create a new me. Truth is....I kinda like the old me, the current me. That doesn't mean that I love everything about myself or my habits. I'm like anyone else, there are things I want to change...things I want to do better.
I've been reading a book recently about how to best fuel our bodies for specific outdoor activities,
Peak Nutrition: Smart Fuel for Outdoor Adventure, and the authors talk about a 1% mindset. Everyday aim to do one thing 1% better than the day before. Whether it's improving your diet and exercise routines or improving your relationships, whatever you choose simply aim for 1% growth. While 1% may not seem like much from day to day, overtime 1% is massive. Even if you only manage 150 days out of 365, that's still an improvement of 150%!! And the amount of effort it takes to improve by 1%...let's be real, it's minimal.
As 2022 gets underway, I've decided that I don't want to create a "new" me. I like the me I am right now. What I do want is to be a better version of the current me. So this year I'm going to take it one day at a time, aiming to be better by 1% each day. That ought to add up to something!
