New year.. same old pressures
NEW Year’s Resolutions make my stomach churn because the pressure is all too much.
Three days ago we were milling into a Christmas dinner big enough to feed a large family for a week.
And now we’re being bombarded with new year mantras on how to beat the battle of the bulge.
According to new research out this week, Ireland is only second to the US when it comes to the number of calories consumed on Christmas Day.
Along with the UK, we chow down on 3,289 calories over dinner, from our lavish smoked salmon starter with lashings of mayo to our plum pudding laced with brandy butter and cream.
Not to mention the barrels of alcohol consumed for the month of December, sure we’re famous for the booze and then we’re expected to ditch it without a weaning process. Treated.com released the stats and it’s worrying the healthy calorie intake for the average adult should be no more than 2,000 calories.
How can we go from complete piggery to abstinence and not expect to slip up?
Our bodies go into a state of essential hibernation, clinging onto the calories, making us angry and down.
It’s no wonder January is considered the most depressing month of the year – we go from the highs of Christmas to body bashing.
We gorge ourselves until we’re fit to burst and then a week later we’re supposed to be pounding the pavements and binning all the sweet treats and vino, so lavishly bestowed upon us as glorious gifts.
January is a month of hibernation, the animals fatten up so they can hide in winter and maybe we should be doing the same rather than clinging on to an age-old myth that it is the month to get fit.
Staying in more, enjoying the warm fires and finishing off our treats would serve us better and eliminate the age old stereotypical drive of a complete health overhaul come January 1.
The over-the-top self-help books we were given over the festive season leave us destined for a fall, making us feel even worse about our bodies.
If we don’t succeed we feel like failures and inevitably take our lack of will power out on our nearest and dearest. The issue with New Year’s Resolutions is they’re all about what you think you should do, stop smoking, lose weight, give up sweets, get a better worklife balance.
Every year I end up doing what society thinks I should do and inevitably after week two I’m back on the booze and chocolates.
We look online or at magazines telling us to change our crap lives and how to become a better us.
But what’s wrong with gradually introducing small changes instead of setting ourselves up for an almighty crash?
Over a third of resolutions don’t make it past January and over three-quarters are abandoned soon after proving they don’t work.
Running out of steam is the issue, gradually introducing a change in lifestyle would serve us better.
Instead of saying you’ll quit booze altogether, maybe just limit your drinking to four drinks a week spread over the weekend.
Rather than binning the Cadbury Roses, why not allow yourself a cheat day.
Focus on fitness that you love, like a 20-minute walk or a Youtube yoga session from the comfort of your own home, instead of an overpriced gym.
Resolutions are all about goal setting but inherently if we don’t reach our goals we will feel worse than before.
They have a tendency to make you feel less than you are if you don’t achieve them, which if unconquered can leave you riddled with low self esteem and wreak havoc with your confidence.
The other problem is timing, we should be living in line with nature, spring is only a few months away, when the days get brighter and our energy naturally increases.
As January kicks off we get an initial burst of motivation followed by the depressing reality that the holidays are over and summer is looming six months away.
There will be 366 days this year – it’s a leap year – so if you want to make a change you should pick a day, significant to you and not kowtow to the masses. We could always add something to our lives rather than take away, living in the now and practising gratitude for all we have. That would be far more empowering than trying to beat ourselves with a stick. Let’s change the tune and love ourselves this January and perhaps we can find some kind of enlightenment on what’s traditionally considered the most dreary month of the year.
January is a month of hibernation, the animals fatten up... and maybe we should be doing the same