Re-Solve the Conundrum of Myself: A Re-Solution for the New Year
New Year’s resolutions. Start. Restart. Focus. Refocus. Set. Reset. Boot. Reboot. Charge. Recharge. Commit. Recommit. New. Renew. Renewal. Detox. Cleanse. Challenge. Promise.
These words comprise the language of the new year around health, wellness, weight loss, and self-improvement. These words energize and inspire me.
I love the idea of a fresh start, a new beginning, a way to change what causes me to act against my own self interests.
This is hopeful stuff — making myself better, being the person I want to be, improving myself without hating myself.
My hope is magnified this year because I have the privilege of hearing hopeful possibilities that others have for themselves through Transform Shadows.
Let’s Get to the Good Stuff
With New Year’s coming this weekend, the collective commitment to self-improvement provides a great moment to talk about the power of plants.
Moving to a whole, unprocessed plant-based diet is the most important action that I have taken for all aspects of my health, including weight loss and maintenance.
Most information around health and weight loss encourages eating plants in some way, so knowing the benefits of plants certainly was not news to me.
Still, I am stunned by the depth of what I have learned from delving into nutritional science. And, I am even more stunned by the differences in how I feel – once I got through the withdrawal from addictive foods.
Eating plants has transformed all aspects of my life.
Begin with the End in Mind
Three years ago, Thanksgiving weekend marks the time when I started thinking about making transformative change in deep, substantive ways.
I enjoyed the family holiday gatherings, but I felt terrible from the food. Food and leftovers tormented me for days before and after the holiday. This happened every year.
I was fed up – literally and figuratively. And, being fed up went far beyond the food.
All the lifestyle diseases that stem from obesity were becoming inevitable realities in my life. I felt heavy, achy, tired, and older than my years. This was not how I wanted to live.
To live, I needed new solutions to the lifelong struggles that plagued me around weight, health, and wellness. I had to face my shadows in new ways if I wanted to transform them.
The food turbulence of that holiday season made getting successful traction less likely for myself. I gave myself a few weeks to reflect, plan, and learn before starting.
I knew I had to begin with the end in mind. I started asking myself: Why do I want to change? How do I want to live? What do I want to do?