January 1st 2024… It’s a new year and old me. What can I say, I’m a realist. Let’s go with honesty here! I could sit down and find a whole list of things that would be awesome! Most awesome things take years to obtain. Without instant gratification, that list makes it to the trash can faster than it took to come up with the list.
So what can people like us do to bring betterment to our lives in this new year? Any sort of change throws me and my entire world off the tracks. So like all things I hate, I’m going to have to force myself to make small changes, over time. I won’t be a “new me” by the end of this year. But I seem to have gotten a handle on this PTSD shit over the past 10 years. That’s right, 10 years to get to where I’m at with this shit.
Is a better me impossible? No. But there’s a difference between a “better me” and a “new me”. Nobody’s going to change because the year went from 2023 to 2024. Admit it you’ll likely spend the next several weeks writing 2023 on everything you have to fill out with a date on it. By February or March we may get the date writing down depending on how often we have to write the date on paperwork.
The point is, every day is an opportunity to improve yourself. If you’re trying any big changes, make sure to keep reality in perspective. I want to lose 50lbs it’s not going to happen by February, so I should take those bigger goals and break them down. 50lbs for the year is not unobtainable, but even with that the longer it takes to get to the goal, the more opportunity we give ourselves for frustration. Don’t forget the ups and downs that come with working towards a goal.
I can’t tell you how many fitness folks I follow. Over the years very few of them ever change. Sure there’s some who go from “skinny geek” to “muscle bound hunk” but most the people it’s crazy. All that working out, but very little visible change. It’s easy to think that writing a list of goals changes you. Some of the people I follow work out constantly, but it’s a “usual” thing for them so much so that they don’t change their workout and they don’t really gain or lose anything.
Then of course there’s the ladies who hit the gym all about building a better ass. Oh dear lord some of them are very successful but I wonder why nobody tells them soon as life happens and they can’t continue the amount of butt workouts they do, it’s going to go to fat. Many ladies with big assets, get sick, or pregnant, or even God forbid some sort of accident. You see them disappear because they can’t workout any longer. All that shit goes to fat, then they re-appear trying to get back what they had.
At that point it’s too late. Most of those, “real life” continues to happen and they will be in shape, yes, but never to “where they were.”
I can relate to those. I will never be where I was in the height of my physical condition. But yes it’s one of my long term goals is to at least not be a fat body sitting around waiting for a heart attack.
So in summary ladies and gentlemen… 2024 is a whole new year, but it’s not a reason to guilt yourself into depression and self-induced failure. NOTHING is worse for a person dealing with all this shit than adding to the list of failure and depression. Instead focus on the better goals of what can you do today to at least start the process of improving yourself. Little things people, little things that count. Once you get into the habit of small victories, your larger victories will find you.
Happy New Year everyone! Lets realize that each day is an opportunity to do something better than we did it yesterday.