My Specific "Get Healthier" Goals for 2018

Everybody sets healthy goals for themselves in the new year “new year, new me”. And I totally do it as well but, as with anything having to do with my health, it is not a simple thing. Some people join a gym, hire a personal trainer or start a new diet. I’m not going to do any of those things. 

Biking to Work

The biggest new healthy habit I’m going to start is riding my new bike to work a few days a week. But even this isn’t simple. Being recovered from an eating disorder I have to be careful to not over exercise and use that as a way of “purging”. Sometimes I can feel guilty about things I eat and my immediate thought is “what can I do to reverse what I just ate?” That’s when I get tempted to restrict my eating or go exercise for far too long. My brain wants me to believe this and everyday I have to consciously decide to not. 

So I’m switching the way I think about riding a bike. I cannot tell myself that it’s exercise. I have to tell myself that it is healthy transportation. And I am going to have to start off slowly. Just riding to work once a week for a couple weeks, then twice weekly and then maybe three. And then maybe my boyfriend and I will ride downtown on the weekend for brunch or a Sunday matinee. 

Continue Meal Prepping Healthy Lunches

Last year we made mason jar salads mostly every week. We make our own dressings sometimes. Other times we choose vegetarian options just cuz. And if we have too much going on and it just doesn’t happen for a week, that’s ok. We don’t beat ourselves up about it. 

For this year we are signing up for a bi-weekly veggie box. So we are hoping to include more seasonal fruits and veg in our weekly salads. We are also going to try making soup or curry to take to work so we don’t get too burnt out on salads. This has been a great habit for us in the last year and I’m so glad to continue building this habit. 

 

Bullet Journaling 

In case you haven’t heard, this is the idea of creating your own planner and journal in one. You map out your own calendars and weekly planners but you can add in other pages. So I have a “brain dump” page where I write mental health reminders and things like that. I have added in “monthly summary” page where I can take note of how I did in that month, be it health, work or finances. I’m also trying out an expenses tracking page where I track what I buy, what I paid with and whether or not it was a want or a need. 

This feels like a huge step for my mental health. I’ve tried countless organizational/planner apps and tools on my phone but I just have to actually write things out.  I think I need the physical act of writing. The muscle memory thing just works for me. 

And those are the specifics of my “get healthy” goals for this year. Goals are great but if you don’t plan how you are going to achieve them they become much more difficult to achieve.