Your Most Important Gift This Year
By: Sean Barker, Cpt
Tags: Healthy Habits, New Year Resolution, Positive Change, New Year Goals, Goal Setting

Your Most Important Gift This Year

Photo by Eugene Zhyvchik on Unsplash

Christmas is all wrapped up for another year but there is still an important gift you haven’t received. There is also something you need to say good-bye to.

With today being New Year’s Eve and this crazy challenging year of 2020 almost gone, I wanted to give you this gift before you ring in 2021.

The gift of introspection and self-reflection.



As we are quick to want to brush this year off, don’t brush this important gift off. If you are not willing to spend 10 minutes on yourself to reflect on the year gone and the one to come, you need more than 10 minutes.



You see your health and happiness is simple when you follow this Stoic philosophy quote below. I said simple, not necessarily easy.

“Control what you can. Cope with what you can’t. And concentrate on what counts” — Seneca

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

After a year like 2020 when it seems like the world around us is falling apart and spinning out of control, we need to learn how to find focus and find something to hold on to.

Most of the time to get clarity and confidence and feel like we have our feet on the ground, we need to drill down and find something to focus on that we CAN control. No matter how trivial it seems at first.

That usually starts with turning down the noise of the world and turning up your healthy habits at home.

Cook a healthy meal

Exercise

Turn off the news

Put your phone down

Get outdoors

Play with your kids

Brush your teeth

Go to bed

Here’s the problem. It’s easy to nod your head and agree with this list of healthy habits, but when it comes to actually do them consistently, we brush them off and get distracted with things going on around us that are out of our control. That’s when you lose your power.



Below is an excellent Year-End Ten self-reflection exercise to do before the year ends. It takes only a few minutes to review where you need to improve.



1. What am I doing right with my health?

2. What am I doing wrong with my health?

3. Where do I waste time that isn’t healthy?

4. Where do I struggle with bad habits and temptations?

5. How can I overcome them?

6. Who do I need to be around for positive support?

7. Who do I need to be around less as they are too negative?

8. What was my biggest victory today?

9. How can I have that victory again tomorrow?

10. What is one thing I am grateful for today?

Photo by Renee Fisher on Unsplash

As you introduce new healthy habits, it’s also time to say goodbye to the unhealthy habits and self-sabotage that don’t serve you.

Time to say goodbye to the tired old excuses of time, money, and age. Plus relinquishing the power you give to politics and even pandemics.



Time to say goodbye to everything that holds you back from the healthy happy life you deserve.

And a time to say “HELLO!”

Hello to a New Year with new opportunities. Taking care of yourself is an opportunity, not an obligation.



Hello to making better choices based on what you need for the long term, not always what you want for instant gratification.

Hello to turning renewed inspiration into movement and motivation and creating the health and happiness you deserve

Let’s take the tough lessons learned in 2020 on the chin and keep our head up to make 2021 the best year of your life, and let nothing, no one, and no excuses stand in your way!

But, you cannot do this on your own.

Stop ignoring this fact. We all need expertise, systems, social support, and accountability. This we know.

I know you are probably sick of hearing about wearing masks, but don’t forget about this other mask warning we have always heard long before the pandemic.

When boarding an airplane “in the event of an emergency you must put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting others” because you need to be at your best to help others who depend on you.

More importantly, you need someone to hold you accountable to take action on implementing a better mindset to create better habits, rituals, and routines in your days and weeks, to keep you consistent.



Simply put, support to help you do what is needed in your life to get the results you want to get with your body and lifestyle habits.



I invest in coaches for my fitness, my business, and my personal and professional development. Although it’s common for us all to look for the cheapest option. The ones that have helped me the most over the years, always cost the most, because the more you pay, the more you pay attention.

When you invest in yourself, you are more invested. The people who lose sight of their goals are the ones with no accountability or not enough skin in the game.



So to pick yourself up this year, you need to drop the excuses you used last year. You need to drop the ego and get help.

“Ego is the Enemy” — Ryan Holiday

Remember that our results are a reflection of our habits and our habits dictate our future.

I hope this gift of self-reflection and introspection serves you well for a happy and healthy new you, in the New Year of 2021!