2016

This is the reason why I never start a new year's resolution...

Something always comes up, people from out of the state visit and there's just way too much things to do when you're off holiday break.

At the end of the year, T and I decided that we wanted to start eating healthier (aka eating less junk food and making the slow transition to healthier ingredients in our home cooked meals) and eating at home more often...that was broken the first week of January due to out of state guests, but we never made it our official new years' resolution--because honestly, the phrase itself is already making me want to break it.

I've made SO many resolutions over the years and I've failed the first few minutes of the new year. A friend said I should be nicer, and five minutes after midnight, I accidentally insulted someone. See how this isn't working for me? I always tell myself that my resolutions to work out more and be more self-conscious about what I'm putting in my body will be IT this year, it never is the year to do so.

We're dedicating our eating healthier habits to ourselves and to our wedding (before you become the 174,298,757th person to ask, we're still undecided on the date). We want to fit in our dresses--I mean, I want to fit in my dress and he wants to fit in his suit.

The "new years' resolution" stresses me out so much that I just usually abandon the whole concept with it. Last year, we vowed not to eat at McDonald's for a whole year, see, this became a fun challenge because it wasn't called a resolution but a challenge for ourselves. This became a competition to see who succumbed to McDonald's first--we've both come close to giving in to our fries and McFlurries cravings, but we did it. We're still going strong on not having a single fry or a nugget from McDonald's for over a year and half now.

So many people beat themselves up for not keeping their resolutions, and in the end they start feeling bad and going against their own resolutions. I have a solution for you...

Stop calling it a resolution.

Start calling it a personal challenge, because each day you hurdle that personal challenge, you feel REALLY GOOD. A personal challenge could be something specific or a very general challenge you could do each day. This could be exercise or could be something you shouldn't eat until the weekends.

"Today... I didn't think about McDonald's savory fries. YOU GO SARA JANE!"

This year we're thinking somewhere of those lines, "You didn't have five pieces of pizza EACH today, YOU GO SARA AND TAYLOR!" or "We didn't spend ~$40 on meals today, but we had an amazing home cooked meal, YOU GO SARA AND TAYLOR!"

Personal challenges sound so much more fun, doesn't it? It sounds less stressful than a resolution.

It's a challenge everyday, but we're both enjoying it. Of course, we indulge ourselves in some treats and eating out here and there--but we're looking forward to the rest of the year!

Next personal challenges?

Getting my butt to the gym and setting a personal goal of jogging minutes per day. I'm up to three minutes of continuous running! (Dude. I don't run. This is a personal achievement, now pat me on the shoulder!)

Drinking a WHOLE less sodas, and treat myself with an occasional soda. This would be the toughest personal challenge I'll attempt, but here goes!