New Years

A 2017 Christmas

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Another Christmas has come and gone and now it’s time to prepare for a new year. As my husband and I put away the Christmas decorations I found myself feeling a little sad. No more tree, no more twinkling lights wrapped around the bannister, and no more presents waiting to be unwrapped. This also means it’s almost time for me to head back into the office… (Early mornings, blah).

We had a pretty low key, but enjoyable Christmas. My parents and sister stayed in Kansas so it was just myself, the hubs, and pups on Christmas morning. The dogs were very excited that Santa Paws brought them new Rae Dunn food/water bowls and of course lots of treats. After opening our presents we enjoyed some cinnamon roll french toast casserole by the fire. (The casserole was amazing and super easy to make. Check it out!)

Later in the afternoon we heading to the Hub’s parents house to exchange gifts with the rest of the family and stuff our faces with prime rib. We spent the rest of the evening playing games.

While I am sad to see another great Christmas come to an end I am excited to see what 2018 has in store. Wish us luck as we are heading out in the bitter cold tomorrow night for dinner out with friends. I will never get used to this cold weather!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

-L

 

 

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Here’s to Better Mental Health

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Most of you have already been going strong with your New Year’s resolutions and while we are already halfway into January, it’s never to late to come up with some additional goals for the new year. After all, there are always ways in which we can improve ourselves.

It has been a little while since I have posted anything mental health related so, with the start of a new year,  I thought it was the perfect time to take a minute and talk about improving our mental health. More specifically, what can you do this year to improve your overall mental health? Well, I’m going to tell you…

With the commencement of 2014, it is a good time to step back and take a look at the past year and identify some areas of your life that you would like to improve over the next year. No matter if you are suffering from a pre-existing mental health condition or not, everyone can benefit from a resolution to improve one’s overall mental health. Many individuals think that New Year’s resolutions are a waste of time because most people will end up failing to keep them anyway. However, even if you were unable to keep them for the whole year you still made some sort of progress toward bettering yourself and that in itself should be praise worthy. Transition and reaching new goals isn’t going to happen overnight, but when you put your mind to it and keep a positive attitude it can be done.

Examples of resolutions for mental health

When you actually sit down to write your new year’s resolutions identify some specific goals you have about improving your overall mental health. This can be anything that is important to you, there are no resolutions that are better than others. In order to get you started here are some ideas that you could include in your 2015 New Year’s Resolutions:

  • Make a commitment to develop better sleeping patterns: When you don’t get enough sleep it can exacerbate many health problems, which includes mental health issues. Getting higher quality sleep will have a more positive effect on your mood.
  • Consider eliminating toxic people from your life: Surround yourself with good friends who are going to be supportive and not bring you down. Identify those who are beneficial to your happiness and are not going to bring about constant negativity or any type of physical or emotional harm.
  • Don’t sabotage yourself: We are the strongest cause for our own unhappiness due to our own thoughts and beliefs that we have about ourselves and the world around us. Changing the way in which you think about yourself and view the world can do wonders for your overall emotional well-being.
  • Identify ways to reduce stress: Daily life can bring about a lot of stress, which can exacerbate the symptoms of a mental health condition. Write down some ways that can help you relax and when you find yourself becoming overwhelmed take a break from the day to relieve some of that stress.
  • Make peace with the past: Many individuals have things in their past that are keeping them from living the happy life that you want to live. Make it a priority to move past those old issues so that they are not able to hold you back anymore. In some instances it may be a good idea to go see a therapist, if you don’t already, to help you work through any issues that may be getting in the way of achieve overall good mental health. A therapist can help you develop a plan that to work through all of these issues and to allow you to take on 2015 as a happier and healthier individual.

Remember that a new year is a chance to start over and to reach personal goals that we have set for ourselves. It is a time for personal growth where we can independently work on our overall well-being, it should not be a stressful time filled with guilt.

Ringing in the New Year

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Happy 7th day of 2015! I hope that everyone had a great time ringing in the new year. I had a great date night out with the bf at RPM Italian and then spent the rest of the evening on the couch with some bubbly. I have to say I enjoyed that much more than New Years past, most of which were spent at a crowded bar where you paid over 100 dollars to basically get one drink, a piece of food (if you were lucky), and a half glass of champagne at midnight. No thank you!

After writing my last post I  spent quite a bit of time trying to come up with the perfect New Years resolutions. Then the more I thought about it I decided that I didn’t want to pick one specific thing such as: get in better shape or don’t eat as much junk food. While those are good goals to have I decided to look at the bigger picture and make 2015 all about being happy.

What do I mean by this you may ask? 

For 2015 I have decide that my overall goal is to just be happy. I am going to let what happened in 2014 stay in 2014 and start over fresh.

  • I am going to try to be more mindful, thinking about the here and now instead of worrying about something that has already happened that I have no control over.
  • I am also going to get rid of all the negativity in my life, which also includes leaving behind those individuals who only bring me down.
  • I want to take more time for myself, ensuring that I get some more me time. Whether this is a nice bubble bath or a whole day spent lounging around reading or watching TV I am going to allow myself the time to relax and recharge my body.
  • Have a more positive attitude throughout the day instead of focusing on the negative.

Those are just a few of the things that came to mind, but you get the idea. I hope everyone else is well on their way to a great 2015!

-L

Christmas Past

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Christmas is over once again, which means that many of us begrudgingly made our way back to work this morning; peeling ourselves out of our nice warm beds still reeling from all the holiday merriment. Myself I was completely exhausted, having spent a week with my family and getting back to Chicago late on Sunday night. In retrospect I should have cut all that family bonding time a day short and come back on Saturday so I could have at least one day to recover. (Next year I think I’m just going to head some place tropical…)

But in all seriousness I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and is ready to welcome a new year! (I still can’t believe that it is going to be 2015). And the good news is that in another couple of days we get another day off from work to nurse that New Year’s Eve hangover that always so pleasant. I fully intend to spend the day holed up in my apartment, binge watching bad television, and eating super unhealthy food. (What else is New Years day for?) This is of course right before my New Years resolutions to eat healthier and get in better shape set in.

Speaking of what are everyone else’s New Years resolutions? I haven’t really sat down to think of mine yet, but I know I won’t be the usual “lose weight and get in shape” that most people choose.

Side note: This time of year is hell at the gym because everyone tries to start of the year sticking to their resolutions, taking over everything for a few weeks before they finally give up. So frustrating! I am all for people wanting to be healthier, but learn some gym etiquette or just work out at home. I don’t want to go into a yoga class and deal with rudeness. 

I’m going to take a little time to think about what my resolutions will be and then I will be back to share!