From the dawn of time the idea of a new year has permeated our lives and mythologies since it is the promise of the starting of new life in the spring, a lengthening of the day – a renewal.
A new year can be a double-edged sword, however. It makes it seem like we can start again, wiping out all of past defeats and giving us a clean slate by which we can change into the person we’d like to be. But the hope and enthusiasm to make these changes, especially with health and fitness, can turn to disappointment once we find that results don’t come easily and require effort and sustained focus. And this disappointment can reinforce itself if this pattern is repeated over the years.
One of the most common items on our New Year’s Resolution list is to improve our health, whether it is to stop smoking, lose weight, become fit or increase our fitness level. Recreation can be a big part of this change to a new lifestyle. In fact the word recreation means to “re-create” yourself – to renew and begin again. Each time you engage in a recreational activity you are revitalizing your body, but you are also forgetting about the stresses of the day, you are proving to yourself that you can achieve a goal, you are (hopefully) having fun, and feeling good. That in itself is monumental. What other endeavour can give you so much.
There are many different tools that people can use to keep them on track and sustain the drive to change their lifestyle habits for the better in the new-year. Each of the methods has benefits but only if the method works for you. If you are a meticulous person who likes to plan and set down goals, then use that tool. If you are a very social person, you may have more success exercising in large groups of people such as an exercise class, hiking group or sports league. It all depends on what works for you.
Putting our goals down on paper can be a helpful tool for many people. Write them in the positive instead of the negative. Part of the reason why we write down and examine our goals is to create a set of instructions for achieving and revising goals, to see our journey of change in the long-term, but also to frame it in a positive light.
Here are a few more helpful hints. Inform yourself about the issues that you are most concerned with, but go to reliable sources. In the fitness and diet field there are enough fly-by-night schemes and bogus ideas out there that do not work and are all designed to get your money. And as long as there is a credulous marketplace, these schemes will continue endlessly. Find out what the sources are for solid, scientific research is and go to those sources for reliable information. The best defense against charlatans is knowledge.
Finally, if you have the wrong attitude about fitness, you’re already setting yourself up for failure. Most people look at exercise as ‘hard work’, ‘boring’, ‘painful’, ‘time consuming’ and even as a ‘punishment’. If you think of exercise in this way, is it any wonder that you might not succeed? Nobody wants to do something painful, boring or obligatory. If you look at exercise in a positive way, it will be enjoyable and you will maintain it as a lifestyle. After all, we all exercised when we were kids because it felt good and we had fun. Find an activity that makes you feel that way.
• Kerry Senchyna holds a bachelor of science degree in kinesiology and is owner of West Coast Kinesiology in Maple Ridge (westcoastkinesiology.com).
