FAMILY blog
T he New Year is a time for celebrations, a time for
a fun activity to be more active. I like to mix things up to
resolutions, a time for new beginnings and of
stay interested and motivated, so my plans might include
course, a time for my favorite, champagne! While
hiking, indoor rock climbing, swimming, paddle-boarding
many get nostalgic about the passing of another
year, some can’t wait to forget about the prior year all
together and hope for a better one ahead.

People tend to use the New Year as a time to reflect and
commit to improving themselves in some way – whether it
be to eat healthier, be more active or learn something new.

or trying a new sport.

Another personal goal is to be truly present in the
moment and enjoy life more. As cliché as it sounds, I truly
believe this would benefit so many of us. And I feel it’s
pretty simple to make happen — by putting your phone
Others just continue to live their lives as usual and will pass
down twice as much as you normally do and looking
another year coasting on cruise control.

around to take in the world around you. Have more
Personally, I am a believer that the New Year is a great
conversations with the people who surround you and
opportunity to review how far we’ve come and plan
spend less time in front of a device. Replace that screen
where we hope to go next. Resolutions are fun to make but
time with something new, like taking a walk to explore new
extremely difficult to maintain. It is very important that we
do not set unrealistic resolutions that ultimately fail, and in
turn leave us feeling like failures.

Rachel Ornstein Packer talks about this challenge in her
article on page 10. She recommends a “work-in-progress”
approach, with more realistic goals to keep you moving in
the right direction, even if there happen to be roadblocks
places and getting out of your comfort zone.

Whatever your New Year’s resolutions, it’s hard to keep
the enthusiasm months after you’ve drank the champagne
and swept up the confetti, but it’s not impossible. We all
tend to get off track and stray from our goals. Life gets in
the way of our best intentions. Just remember you are a
and detours along the way. This year, I’m trying to adapt
“work-in-progress,” so take a deep breath and keep up the
more of this “work-in-progress” approach to making my
good work!
resolutions. And from our FAMILY to yours, Happy New Year!
Losing weight is probably the most common resolution
most people make. (I know I’m guilty of this every year!)
Instead of putting a number on my weight loss, I will
instead commit to make better overall eating choices. That
way I won’t get hung up or discouraged by the scale, but
instead feel better about what I’m putting in my body to
fuel my day.

Another popular resolution is telling yourself this
Pauline Ray
year, “I’m going to work out more.” Instead of running
Account Executive
out and buying a new gym membership, I will write (in
Washington FAMILY Magazine
Sharpie!) on my calendar the days I will commit to doing
6 January 2017 washingtonFAMILY.com
pray@thefamilymagazine.com